Review: SCRAPS, Tobacco Factory Theatres – ‘An impressive and exciting debut’

SCRAPS is a devised, semi-autobiographical two-hander from Daisy Kennedy and Mia Macleod, which was initially shared in its nascent form at Blueprint, the free-to-join Tobacco Factory Theatres programme for emerging theatre producers.

Since meeting at university a decade ago, the duo have, in their own words, “made lots of theatre, worked crap jobs, failed at the (Edinburgh) Fringe and have picked apart their own flaws and insecurities to create truthful work that verges on the ridiculous”.

Now expanded to a full-length play, SCRAPS is a satirical, and frequently funny interrogation not only of the value of art, but of the all-too-real struggle to maintain an artistic career in an age of austerity.

Daisy Kennedy and Mia Macleod in SCRAPS – photo: Craig Fuller

It is told through a series of pacey vignettes, interspersed with some knowing, fourth wall commentary that undercuts their intentions of trying to effect change by making a “play”, as opposed to what they frequently refer to as “getting a real job”.

Along the way, we cover professional jealousy, hypocrisy, “a landlord’s plight”, £9.50 Yorkshire pudding wraps, notions of class, and, “what’s that? It’s the sound of £30pp!”.

Unafraid to confront their own contrasting backgrounds (Kennedy in working class Wakefield; Macleod in middle class Wiltshire) and the impact of privilege – or lack thereof – on expectations that they either could, or should ‘just do it for the love’, the pair scrutinise their own identities in the face of genuine worry about having to leave their chosen industry.

Photo: Craig Fuller

They do so using an irreverent, high-energy mix of dance, lip-sync, clowning, projection, and ‘self-aware chaos’ to amplify their authentic selves that is, from the outset, hard to resist.

Angered by their position as minimum wage earners, the irony of making work inspired by the very cost-of-living crisis that could ultimately scupper their ability to perform the show is not lost on either of them.

Photo: Craig Fuller

The staging in SCRAPS is intentionally stripped back, limited only to a projector screen which – together with the pacey sound design – helps to set the mood of the show, through occasional captions, titles, and cameos from heroes, villains and a token cat.

Naturalistic where it serves the dialogue, purposefully overblown when sending themselves up, the duo’s writing is an example of devised theatre at its most inventive and appealing, and makes for an impressive and exciting debut.

Photo: Craig Fuller

Kennedy and Macleod are warm, expressive and thoroughly self-assured performers, handling weighty issues with an engaging deftness that allows the depth of emotion behind them to be more effectively conveyed.

For all their self-conscious eye-rolling, they really are exemplars of the uncanny ability of art to be that powerful conduit of empathy that society so often lacks.

Photo: Craig Fuller

SCRAPS was written and devised by Mia Macleod and Daisy Kennedy. Find out more at @scrapstheshow.

Main photo: James E Davies Photography (l-r: Daisy Kennedy and Mia Macleod)

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