Coping with loss: "it's a happy show about death"

Death isn't the end. It simply means that someone we love is with us in a brilliant and new way.

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon. My name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Really lovely

00:06to speak to Phoebe Hyder this afternoon about a really special production, which is going

00:11to be one of the first shows in The Nest, the new theatre at Chittas Festival Theatre.

00:16Phoebe, you're doing this through the Artist Development Programme. You'll be in The Nest

00:21August the 14th, 15th and 16th. And goodness, it's a really deeply personal story you're

00:27telling, but telling in a really innovative, technological way, aren't you?

00:33Yeah, and it's, yeah, it's exactly that, Phil. It's a story about grief and loss. It's about

00:40my father who passed away, and it hubs around this catalyst of fly fishing, which is what

00:46we used to do together. So if people come and see it, what they'll be met with in the space

00:51is a fishing cabin that they get to peer into and see this world unfold. And it's, it's

00:58all nonverbal, it's all puppetry and movement. And the technological aspects of it is nothing

01:04to be intimidated by.

01:06I'm sure not. But what does fly fishing represent for you and your dad?

01:10I think it's that connection that we have with, I think everyone has a thing they do with their

01:19parent. And everyone's will be unique and different. Mine happened to be fly fishing. My siblings

01:25had different things they did with my dad. And it's that special one on one time that you

01:30get with them. And I'm very sort of grateful that I have that because I know some people also

01:37don't have that with, with people. And so the reason why I'm showing that very personal

01:43thing is hopefully it will evoke a memory for audience members about maybe some things

01:47that they did with someone who passed.

01:49It's an extraordinarily beautiful thing to do to turn that special, special memory into

01:53a show. But it's a show that says a lot about grief, isn't it? And what are you wanting

01:57to say about grief? Because you described this as a happy show about death, which is curious

02:03in itself?

02:04Yeah, definitely. I think, yeah, it might be a weird one for people to chew on. How

02:09can it be a happy show about someone dying? But it's, it's about celebrating how the people

02:15have gone. They're still with us just in a really brilliant, different, new way. And that's,

02:20and that's okay. And, and that's what I want the show to say. And when we first started

02:27devising it, in the heart of it was this question, can I have a hug? Because I sort

02:33of realised that, you know, you know someone so well, you know what they say, you know what

02:37they do. I just couldn't physically hug my dad again. So what this show is being the

02:42answer to is, yes, you can have a hug, but it's not the same as it was. It's different

02:47and, and you still have it, but it's, it's new and that's all right. Um, so that's what

02:52I want the audience to feel is maybe a hug, whatever their version is. Your dad would

02:57think of the show. I hope so. I think he'd be, he'd probably be a bit like, what are you

03:03doing, Phoebe, making a show about this? Who's going to come to that? Um, which I would hope

03:08so, you know, a correct amount of cynicalism from Perrin. Um, but I'd also hope he'd be

03:13really proud and, um, yeah, excited to see it. I think he'd love to see it if he could.

03:19Congratulations. It sounds an extraordinary piece. Really lovely to speak to you about

03:23it and how fantastic that it's going into the nest. Lovely to meet you and congratulations.

03:28You too, Phil. Thank you.