Eliza Power talks to the Dirty Stop Out production team and London-based film company TEAfilms about their latest Edinburgh collaboration.
Dirty Stop Out's ethos is to make what is private public,” says Rachel Hirons, playwright and co-founder of production company Dirty Stop Out, as we discuss their new Edinburgh comedy show A Guide to Second Date Sex, on at the Underbelly. Formed in 2010, Dirty Stop Out comprises Hirons and Olivier award-winning director Stef O'Driscoll. Their first show, When Women Wee, gave audiences an insight into the conversational goings on in the female toilets of an urban club. Sex, drugs and relationship issues were all on show in the hit production, which began its life in 2010 at the Camden Fringe. 2011 brought a successful run in Edinburgh, followed by two weeks at the Soho Theatre in May this year. Not a bad debut for a fledgling company.
Dirty Stop Out's second show, A Guide to Second Date Sex, featuring actors Amy Butterworth and Thomas O'Connell, continues along another voyeuristic theme, this time opening the bedroom doors, literally, on the topic of second date sex. “People talk about sex to some degree, but never really about the nitty gritty details.” says Hirons. “You even edit your sex stories when you talk to your best friend. If magazines are to be believed, everyone is having amazing sex but in reality there is a lot of shit sex to be had. This show deals with that.”
The comedy that runs through A Guide To Second Date Sex comes from the nervousness of the couple not knowing their sexual partner well, and constantly over analysing the very intimate situation. “Everything is so thought out when you are in bed with someone new, you plan every detail.” says Hirons. O'Driscoll continues: “We explore the discrepancy between what goes on in the characters' heads and what is actually said. You hear a running commentary of their thoughts through the use of visual media.”
To achieve their goal, Dirty Stop Out joined forces with TEAfilms, a London based film company. Run by brothers Adam and Dan Hipkin, TEAfilms provides video and voiceovers that give audiences an insight into the characters' inner-most thoughts and fears, enhancing the viewing experience. Dan Hipkin tells me: “We have been creating the flashbacks and scenes which give the play a whole other level. We did a scratch event when the show was being formed, and TEAfilms produced some background videos that were based on the scientific aspect of attraction and dating – why girls wear red lipstick etc. The films were there to make the show more of a sex guide, but now the facts have been incorporated into the story to give background detail on the characters.”
How did TEAfilms approach creating this visual narrative? “The way we had to go about it was to work out how the couple get to the situation they are in on their second date.” says Adam Hipkin. “I would say that about 70% of the play is set in the characters, Ryan and Laura's heads. That's where the comedy comes in because you hear their thoughts and see their memories and inner most fantasies through film.” O'Driscoll also believes that audibly and visually externalising thought and fantasy of the central characters makes the show more relatable for audiences. “Everyone can relate to this play and again that's what produces the comedy. People can see and hear the embarrassment and go 'Wow, that happens to me too.'”
And how much of this play comes from real life experience? “100%!” laughs Hirons. “It is based on real life, and the stories come from me, Stef and other people we know and interviewed for research. It's all true but just a heightened version of the truth!” As the interview comes to a close I have to ask: how graphic does the show actually get? O'Driscoll laughs: “We just show it all. They have sex. Well obviously it's not real sex though.” Hirons pipes up: “But whatever happens under the sheets is down to the actors discretion of course!”
A Guide To Second Date Sex is at the Underbelly in Edinburgh from 7th-26th August at 22:45.
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