The Thelmas in Association with Josie Underwood present
SON OF A B*TCH: written and performed by Anna Morris
Edinburgh Festival 2024: Summerhall, 1st - 26th August (not 12th/19th), 18.10 (1hr)
Ticket Iink: https://tinyurl.com/soabtheplay
ABOUT THE PLAY: Son of a B*tch is a brutally honest and darkly funny monologue about a woman who is caught on camera calling her 4 year old son a c*nt during an air-rage incident. When the video goes viral, Marnie's life violently unravels.
Now the whole world knows her darkest secret, but what happened before someone pressed record and captured the worst 10 seconds of her life?
ABOUT ME: I'm an award winning comedian, actor and writer with single-sided deafness. I'm the creator of 5 sell-out Edinburgh Fringe comedy shows including Dolly Mixture (2012), Would Like to Thank (2014), It's Got to be Perfect (2015-16), B*tchelors (2017 UK tour and Soho Theatre), Bombastic (2018 UK tour and Soho Theatre).As an actor I've starred in The Windsors, Lee and Dean, Outnumbered, The First Team, Tell me Everything and Bad Bridesmaid.
WHY I LOVE THIS PLAY (and hope you will too!): Before lockdown I worked incredibly hard to progress my career as a writer, comedian and actor. Then lockdown hit, and work came to a halt. At the same time I turned 40 and started struggling with my own kind of midlife crisis: a loss of confidence and purpose and a big battle with anxiety. During that time I felt like I needed to take control of things again, and go back to what I love the most: to write, create stories and explore things that interest me.
A monologue emerged in my head and I couldn’t stop writing - my confidence and love for performing began to grow again.
A monologue emerged in my head and I couldn’t stop writing - Son Of A B*tch was born and my love for performing, and confidence began to grow again.
"I loved being a Mum. Until he started to get a personality" Marnie, Son of a B*tch
WHY THIS PLAY IS IMPORTANT: I want to explore the pressures women face when trying to conform to the expectations of a heteronormative society. The fetishisation of Motherhood is damaging to both Mothers and childless/childfree people as it holds others up to impossible standards, often with dire consequences and suggests women without children are lacking something. It leaves no room or tolerance for maternal ambivalence. The play also deals with the catastrophic way the media portrays women and society's judgement, especially on social media and in public spaces.
"I was totally lost.
I was not a wife. Or a Mother.
I hadn't climbed a ladder or smashed a glass ceiling" Marnie, Son of a B*tch
WHY THE EDINBURGH FRINGE? This is the first step in my transition from comedy to theatre, and I will build my career around the success of this show - secure a tour (my award-winning Producers have experience of this), invite agents, and use the production as a calling card to secure further writing work. Emerging as a new playwright should not be reserved for young people. As a woman in her 40s, I have found very few opportunities for older writers. My work tackles issues that are complex, topical and often go unsaid. It comes from decades of personal experience and observation, which is reflected in my brutally honest writing.
THE VENUE: Summerhall programmes some of the most innovative and exciting theatre on the Fringe, winning multiple Fringe First and Total Theatre awards, and bringing leading theatre-makers to Edinburgh.
WHY I'M DOING MY FIRST CROWDFUNDER: I was unsuccessful in an Arts Council grant application to fund a research and development phase, and so the creative team is undertaking that work unpaid. However, working for free isn’t sustainable long-term for anyone. The only way I can get this show to the Edinburgh Fringe and pay the creative team is with your help! Without the talented team, this show would simply not exist. It's very much the product of a collaboration between some amazing people who are just as passionate as I am about the show.
I am a deaf artist and want to reach as many different kinds of audiences as possible. The Edinburgh Fringe coincides with the Edinburgh Deaf Festival. Without this crowdfunder I am unable to make sure the show reaches an audience of people just like me.
I hate asking for help but I realised that to make this happen without great personal cost, I need to ask those who are also passionate about the arts, and believe I’m capable of creating something really brilliant, to help by contributing anything they can.
WHERE YOUR MONEY GOES
BSL Intepreter: My hearing loss ( I can only hear out of my right ear) has profoundly shaped my life as an Artist and I want to ensure the d/Deaf community can not only access the piece, but that other d/Deaf Artists are inspired to create their own work with no barriers. We already have a captioned performance in place (17th August) but we’d love to be able to fund a BSL interpreter during the run if possible.
Paying my Creative Team: My incredible team have over 15 years experience in the industry. They’ve created and produced sell-out shows and I want to be able to value their talent. They are a team of disabled, neurodiverse & Global Majority artists and want to help create a highly accessible show.
Reaching audiences: Your money can help us reach diverse (in all sense of the word) audiences - because everyone deserves to enjoy theatre. It takes a lot of on the ground marketing effort to reach people and that costs money. Street teams, outdoor advertising, press, PR.
Putting on an Edinburgh show is expensive: This is just a basic list before we've even got there!: Creative team, venue guarantee & marketing contribution, Edinburgh fringe registration, transport, accommodation in (which is incredibly expensive in Edinburgh), publicity photos, PR and marketing as mentioned above, lighting hire, Stage Manager and technician fees, props, costume, set...and more!
WHO WE ARE
Anna Morris: Writer and Performer
QUOTES FOR ANNA’S COMEDY SHOWS
- “A marvellous comedy writer and extremely gifted comic actress” Willy Russell
- "The most original actress/comedian since Victoria Wood" Daily Express
- "A master of character comedy" British Comedy Guide
- “Laugh out-loud hilarious” Marie-Claire
- “Darkly hilarious” Grazia
Madelaine Moore: Director. Madelaine is an award-winning stage and screen Director. Twice shortlisted for the Sir Peter Hall Director’s Award and one of the Old Vic 12 in 2021, her work is informed by her interest in disrupting traditional gendered narratives, and tackling big ideas through a feminist lens in surprising and irreverent ways through playfulness with form or subverting common tropes.
The Thelmas: Producers. The Thelmas is an award-winning female-led theatre company established to develop and promote female led artistic work that gives space to marginalised voices. We do this by telling playfully disruptive stories that appeal to diverse audiences and bridge the gap between the political and the mainstream. Our work is thought-provoking, complex and boisterous. Through our public productions, community-building and women-centred workshops, we explore the social, political and cultural stories that matter in a fresh and surprising way.
The Thelmas were winners of the Pleasance Charlie Hartill Fund with Santi & Naz in 2023. The company is led by Director, Madelaine Moore and Writer, Guleraana Mir.
Josie Underwood: Producer; Josie is co-artistic director of political fooling company Silent Faces, and a performer and theatre maker who embraces any opportunity to create and champion female and queer led theatre. As an artist with multiple invisible disabilities she has a passion for making work as accessible to as many artists and audiences as possible.
Her recent work includes writing, performing and producing ‘Unmissable’ Godot is a Woman.
Dave Jackson: Dramaturg. Dave has worked closely with Anna for 12 years. He Directed all of her previous comedy shows, as well as providing additional material and co-writing ITV's Bad Bridesmaid with her. He is the writer of multiple critically acclaimed plays.
Lighting Designer: Megan Lucas
Sound Designer: Ellie Isherwood
Publicity Photos: Karla Gowlett
Artwork Design: Katie Allen
FUTURE ASPIRATIONS
My wider ambitions are to secure interest from venues and touring partners to secure a further life for the show. I’d love to reach a wider audience beyond Edinburgh, tour the show both at home and internationally. I’d also love to develop my career as an emerging Playwright, and secure a Writing Agent, publish the play and create further work for the stage, TV and Radio.