Although most of us probably dread the idea of revisiting our teenage years, my recent interview with director Ruby Clarke and cast member Alice Walker of We Could All Be Perfect, a debut play by Hannah Morley reminded me about the fearlessness and rawness that teenage girls hold. It’s an age where you’re just on the verge of facing a world that’ll try its best to stamp all of that power out of you as hard as it can.
Alice explained that this play is made for “anybody who’s ever felt like they’ve got this power or fire or feeling inside of them that they’ve had to repress or hide” and how she believes that “you’re always a teenage girl, everyone’s always got that teenage girl still in them”.
Ruby agreed, explaining how she “really love[s] this play because [she has] teenage girl lived experience” noting how much of the play’s brilliance stems from writer Hannah Morley’s abilities; “this is such exceptional new writing from a really talented writer”, going on to describe the play’s visceral nature. “You remember what it feels like to be in these similar moments…the nostalgia is really strong”. Both agreed that the biggest challenge in bringing Hannah’s work to life was the actual staging of the play. Ruby explained that because the play is “kaleidoscopic, there’s pretty much no recurring characters”. She noted that because of the play’s 47 scenes, it is “a lot more complicated than a traditional narrative” and that “it’s been a real team effort”.
Both agreed that the play is “a beautiful challenge”. Ruby explained that because of the play’s complicated nature, “it would be a different play if someone else had it”. Alice grew up locally in Worksop and expressed how being part of this production “was a big dream of mine”. She noted how special it was working with local writer Hannah also, “this is my home theatre, so being able to do a show here was a big dream of mine”.
Although the pair didn’t want to give too much away about the play, Alice did reveal that although she plays various characters, she does play a character named Secret at intervals throughout the production. Alice described that she liked how Secret “is just unapologetically herself. She’s not filtered in any sense, she’s not bothered about the way she looks or the way she sounds or the things she says, she’s just kind of a joyous chaotic whirlwind. I really like that because she’s just who she says she is and she doesn’t say sorry about it”. Secret is around 13 years old, making her just on the brink of full-blown teenagerhood. Listening to the way Alice spoke about her reminded me of my own unapologetic 13 year old self and to be quite candid, it left me wondering where she went.
Alice also discussed how it was vital for the play that they play authentic teenagers; “we are just really wanting to make sure that we are showing teenagers for everyone that are nuanced and flawed”. It’s important to Alice that they “make sure that the people we are showing on stage are the people that are hopefully going to be sitting in the audience”.
When asked what their favourite line of dialogue in the play is, the two gave some hilarious one liners such as, “‘Run me over with your car” and “Punch me in the face” but did note that they “make it sound like a very violent play”. So they offered up a few more emotionally revealing alternatives such as, “Nothing you want can ever be bad” and “I’ve never had a feeling that was real”.
I’m really eager to see how the play explores and portrays teenage girl lived experience.
We Could All Be Perfect is showing at the Tanya Moiseiwitsch Playhouse Theatre in Sheffield City Centre from September 23rd to October 14th. Tickets are available at sheffieldtheatres.co.uk
