The VAULT Festival is in town! From January 24th to March 18th, over three hundred new shows explode across a festival of festivals in their Waterloo home. With new venues, new bars, new food and plenty of surprises, VAULT 2018 is the biggest, fairest platform in London for artists to present innovative, daring work. Here we have a chat with the team behind Stegosaurus and their reasons for wanting to present this piece.
Have you ever felt like you don’t belong? That you don’t belong anywhere in this world? That maybe, if just one little thing was different, you would be able to finally fit in and life would be great?
Stegosaurus is the journey of someone who feels they don’t belong anywhere, trapped in a society that wants them flawless, with long legs and perfect hair.
Stegosaurus began when I first read Ersi Niaoti’s script, an autobiographical take on eating disorders and, subsequently, depression. Or maybe the other way around.
The moment I finished reading the script, I knew that I had to do it. As a woman I needed to tell that story. I wanted people to know what it feels like to fight yourself for so many years. What it feels like to know that if you don’t win that battle you will probably die.
Joe, our director, got on board and soon after we had our first run. Later that summer we took the play to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where it was lovingly received by both critics and audiences and was described as as a “completely spellbinding” (★★★★★ Broadway Baby) and “unrelenting and heartfelt performance” (★★★★ Fringe Guru).
Stegosaurus deals with both depression and eating disorders, but mostly it’s a cry in the face of modern life and societal pressure. Beyond the food, the cigarettes, the drugs and the countless bottles of water, lies the true sickness.
Stegosaurus is about feelings. True, raw feelings. Our relationship with our family, with society and most of all with ourselves.
I am extremely happy to continue on this journey and take Stegosaurus to VAULT festival, to the very heart of the city I live in. Most of all though, I am very proud, as this play has allowed me to meet many women who are struggling with eating disorders and mental health issues. Stegosaurus has helped them open their hearts and share their stories, made them feel less alone and for that it will always have a special place in my heart. I hope that bringing this play to VAULT will help me touch even more people.
Stegosaurus is running at VAULT Festival from the 28th Feb to the 4th of March at 19:45 at the Network Theatre. Tickets and more information can be found here.
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