Preview: WOMANS (like Romans but with a ‘W’), Wardrobe Theatre

What will one woman do to go down in history? The brilliant new show from Exeter’s Scratchworks Theatre, makers of Great Train Robbery, asks just that question.

It’s 46BC, Ancient Rome. Our hero, Leta has been declared a traitor by the Roman Senate. She is given a punishment worse than death: damnatio memoriae, to be erased from history. Whilst noble gladiators and infamous Emperors around her are becoming legends, her name will be scratched out and forgotten forever. But, with the help from some unexpected muses, Leta decides to rebel against the Republic. From crashing the Colosseum to freeing the enslaved, Leta will go to the ends of the empire to claim her place in the history books.

A feast for the eyes and the ears with physical comedy, clowning and original music, Womans… is a raucous and hilarious tale of the first female resistance. Here’s Scratchworks to tell us more.

Scratchworks Theatre take us into Ancient Rome (and women’s place therein) in their new show ‘Womans (like Romans but with a ‘W’)’. All pics: Matt Austin

Where has this story come from? What made you choose Ancient Rome, in particular, as your setting for the first female resistance?
We’d heard about the Ancient Roman punishment of damnatio memoriae. Traitors of the Roman Republic were erased from history – every scrap of evidence in living memory was destroyed. So we thought, perhaps this is why there are so few stories on record about Roman women! From there, we combined fact with fiction to start building our Roman conspiracy theory.
Another thing to mention is that WOMANS (Like Romans but with a ‘W’) is part of a historical trilogy about the unwritten women of history. Great Train Robbery, set in 1963, is the first in the series, which we brought to the Wardrobe Theatre in 2017. After making a really successful show exploring the heist genre, we wanted to find another atmospheric era in which to set the next show.

How much do you want to send audiences away thinking about gender, sexism, how women have been written out of history, etc… and how much do you want them to simply have a great time?
Definitely the latter! First and foremost, we want our audiences to have fun. WOMANS (Like Romans, but with a ‘W’) is a playful show full of silliness and physical comedy. The themes that run underneath are important to us and if the audience come to love the characters, they’ll hopefully find those themes important too.

“It brings the audience into an epic sized story using as little as a few bedsheets, a hoop, and a couple of brushes.” What’s the key to this kind of relatively minimal theatre – how do you kindle audience’s imaginations, how do you whisk them off to Ancient Rome with such a sparse set?
We see it as a challenge. How can we tell an epic story with minimal props and no set? It actually makes us way more imaginative in our storytelling. We spent hours in rehearsal playing with bedsheets and exploring how many different things they can be, how many locations they can suggest. Prepare for chariot races, gladiator battles and even a trip underground to Rome’s sewer system! Of course we can’t do all this without a little help from the plebs….

Tell us about Scratchworks – how you formed, and what you’ve set out to do.
Scratchworks is a collaborative, all-female ensemble  based in Exeter. We formed in 2013 after meeting at the University of Exeter. We make playful and inventive theatre from scratch using imaginative storytelling, live music and physical comedy.

Your shows to date are a very interesting and eclectic mix of stories. What are you looking for, when you’re scouting around for what story to tell next?
Our next show will complete the trilogy of unwritten stories of women in history. We have a couple of ideas at the moment, but we’re always on the look out for unbelievable untold stories. Ideas on a postcard please! We are also excited by how we tell our stories: what are the rules of the show? In the past, we have created our own sound effects live onstage in Nel and used explosive science experiments in ‘The Snow Beast to tell the story. We love learning new skills and building them into the show – who knows what Part 3 has in store?

WOMANS (like Romans but with a ‘W’) is at the Wardrobe Theatre from Wed, March 13 to Fri, March 15. For more info, visit thewardrobetheatre.com/livetheatre/womans-like-romans-but-with-a-w

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