60 Minutes of Mood Swings
Greenside @ Riddles Court: Thistle Theatre
Dates: 14th-19th August 2023
Time: 15:00
Would You Still Love Me if I was a Wiggly Worm?’ The Important Questions We Want Answered in the New Feminist Comedy Musical
OnTheNose Productions presents their whimsical show 60 Minutes of Mood Swings at Edinburgh Fringe; a hilarious yet harrowing feminist musical that explores the performers’ insecurities, imperfections, and ‘constructive feedback’ from men. As they comedically put themselves down for your enjoyment. No one listens to women who talk too much…so we sing instead!
Balancing comedy and tragedy,
60 Minutes of Mood Swings is a shock to the system; angry with the cards they’ve been dealt, these women refuse to apologise for your expectations, crudeness and misogyny anymore. In a performance drawing from personal experiences, the company find themselves at a bootcamp for flawed women, where they push back against the increasingly unfair expectations placed upon them by society and question what it takes to conform to these unrealistic standards. Through witty dialogue and poignant moments, the show delves into the struggles of conforming to toxic and hypermasculine standards imposed on women.
The women’s journey is portrayed with a motherly helping of self deprecating humour and vulnerability, that follows the steps we take to walk home alone at night, a love ballad to our lord and saviour Andrew Tate, and the question of whether anything will ever change? Swing through the moods as we sing, dance, joke, and laugh at our own flaws.
You have called your company on the nose and the intention of the musical seems pretty direct. How important is it for you to have a company with a clear and particular agenda?
Our vision as a company has always been clear. We are passionate about blending music and comedy to expose the brutal reality of the world we live in - particularly as women. Despite our individual feminist agendas, we were hesitant to call our work ‘feminist theatre’, fearing that it is ‘overdone’ or ‘predictable’. However, as we began to write and the songs began to form, we realised the necessity of creating work that is ‘OnTheNose’. Irony and comedic self-awareness worked for both us as a company and for ‘60 Minutes of Mood Swings,’ harnessing the audience’s expectations and using it against them.
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What kind of love song is appropriate for Andrew Tate?
Sarcasm and irony are our weapons when it comes to our love ballad to the misogynistic former kickboxer; intertwining classic love proclamations, and begging for dates with him contrast the shocking yet true events, facts and quotes Tate has been known for. Andrew Tate has a massive ego, so we ironically boost it further, using things we know he loves throughout our song, thus flipping it on its head - tailoring the song to him.
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How did you go about composing the musical numbers, and how easy is it to find a musical genre that suits the content for your songs?
We wrote about what we as individuals within the company had witnessed, heard or (most commonly) experienced as women. As the show progresses, each song's lyrics become increasingly dark and heartbreakingly honest, connecting and relating to women everywhere. The songs are revealing and exposing to us and our experiences, but the effect of this just shows how mutual women’s struggles are. It’s difficult to fit all of our songs into a particular musical genre as we wanted all of the songs to have a distinct sound, however, the Pop Musical genre seemed to compliment the multiple references we make to pop culture which feature in the lyrics - one being the ‘She’s a 10 But’ meme.
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Is the theatre a good place for the discussion of ideas around contemporary feminism?
The creative freedom that theatre allows is well in line with the ideas of contemporary feminism. It is imperative for theatre to have a clear agenda. Without a clear agenda it lends itself to becoming self-indulgent and all about the actors on the stage rather than the story they are communicating. ‘60 Minutes of Mood Swings’ is based on our personal life experiences, but we invite the audience to consider the reality of the world we live in and spark a desire for change.
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Is this work typical of the kind of work that you usually like to make?
Individually, we’ve all taken part in comedic roles or performances previously, but none of us have been musical theatre trained. As a company, this is our first project, but we want to continue with our ‘OnTheNose’ style; blending music and comedy to expose the brutal reality of the world. Our three distinct qualities are feminism, music and comedy - which will always be interwoven into all future projects, some of which are currently in the first stages of writing.
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