We have a very exciting interview for you today! From the 3rd March, Contemporary Ritual Theatre are performing a limited run of SALT at Riverside Studios until the 13th March. SALT draws on myth, folklore and maritime heritage. Today I speak to Emily, Bess and Mylo to find out all about it.
Hello! Tell us about yourself?
E: I’m Emily Outred. I grew up in Norfolk (the setting for SALT) and discovered my passion for acting there. I now live in London, although I still work in Norfolk a lot. I absolutely love getting the chance to work on such a challenging show, which has stretched me in terms of singing, movement, acting, and emotionally.
B: Hello! I’m Bess Roche, I am from London – and have been lucky enough to perform all around the UK, particularly with the recent SALT tour where we traversed the entire length of the country – from the Isle of White up to Shetland! This show is such an adventure, and like Emily I have really enjoyed the challenge of dancing, singing, acting and occasionally screaming through this play
M: I’m Mylo McDonald. I live in London but I’m originally from Guildford. I’ve been acting on the stage for five years professionally, and in that time, I’ve been super lucky to have toured the UK on multiple occasions, getting the pleasure to play to audiences in a wide variety of amazing places. London is my home, and I’m so excited to return home with SALT, a show very close to my heart. I also love music, discovering new bands and artists as well as writing and recording my own stuff. I write scripts too, mainly comedy, and alongside my acting work have been creating several animated comedy series for grown-ups.
Tell us a bit about SALT :
M: SALT is a daringly original, shocking and visceral play with a throbbing, deeply human heart at its center. The characters are like nothing you will have seen on the stage. They really are new creations. SALT features wild people with no social masks, just raw, real humans (scarily real) surviving in the harshest of conditions.
E: It’s not your typical night at the theatre! It’s ed in the round, with the audience within touching distance, and it hits you in the guts like a speeding train. In a good way, believe me.B
B: Filled with folk music and dance, it grabs you by the scruff of the neck from start to finish.
M: It’s about family, survival, spirituality and superstition, and is told in a new style of theatre that plunges audiences deep into the action right from the get-go, like a ritual. There really are no brakes.
How are rehearsals going?
E: Rehearsals have gone! We have recently returned from a national tour, so SALT was all rehearsed last year in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, where our company is based, and the show is set.
M: Working with the team has been a dream. Everyone has given their heart and soul to this play. Every time we perform, it’s like we leave a piece of ourselves on the stage, and the same is true for the rehearsal room. I’m not mincing words when I say blood, sweat and tears have been shed during our rehearsal process – but it’s bonded us so deeply.
What can you tell us about the stage set?
M: It’s a rope. That’s it. A real ship’s rope. But it becomes so much more. That’s all I’ll say.
E: Our set is probably the most minimal you’ll ever see…
Tell us a little bit about the rest of the cast.
M: Bess and Emily are such phenomenal, generous, brave, bold, wonderful actors and I couldn’t imagine having done this play with anyone else.
E: All amazing, everyone is really up for the challenge and to throw themselves into the mad whirlpool that is.
M: It can sound cliché for casts to say, ‘we’ve become like a family,’ but we have; not the cookie-cutter smiling ‘act like everything’s perfect’ for Insta family, but a real family who’ve been through it all together, the good and the bad, and continue to have each other’s backs no matter what.
What is the most challenging thing about doing the show?
B: Strange to say but there are some ‘big’ emotions in SALT which is fascinating and exciting but also challenging.
M: Everything. As a performer, SALT demands you to go to your limit, and then 10 steps further than that. Physically, vocally, emotionally. By the end, it feels like you’ve done a marathon.
E: Yes, probably the stamina it requires. It’s very physically demanding, and there are only three of us in it. Also, we never actually leave the performing space, so we’re ‘on’ all the time.
The best thing about touring the show?
E: The places we’ve been! We’ve performed in a Victorian circus tent on the Isle of Wight, then taken ferries to Shetland… and everywhere in between. It has been such an adventure, and we’ve done a lot of freezing cold sea swimming too.
M: Definitely the adventure. Seeing this amazing country we call home. Finding out about its history. Meeting the people who’ve been touched by our work, hearing their stories. All the while giving your all to a piece of art you love and doing it with the best people.
What have been some of the best highlights since doing the show?
E: The audience reaction has been simply amazing.
M: We performed in a village hall in the north of Scotland. Half-way through the show, a storm begun outside, rattling the walls and ceiling of the hall during some of the most intense, climactic moments of the show. It was like the gods had entered the play.
B: It inspires very visceral reactions in people which is lovely to see!
E: People love it, even though they’re disturbed by it. People have discussed it in their book groups, and a play-reading group in Manchester performed it too.
What is the best reaction you have had from an audience member?
E: We did a workshop with some school kids in Perth, Scotland, and then they saw the show the following evening. Oh man, the atmosphere that night was ELECTRIC. We felt a ripple go through the audience as the kids recognized the scenes they’d worked on, and they were beside themselves with excitement, it was just brilliant.
M: Another lady in Scotland said: “I’ll never forget that performance. You performed with your whole soul.” I remember feeling incredibly moved. I thought it was the kindest thing anyone’s ever said about my work.
If people want to follow you on social media where can they find you?
@emoutred (Emily Outred)
@thebesstime (Bess Roche)
@mylomcd (Mylo McDonald)
Contemporary Ritual Theatre @contemporaryritual
Finally in three words why should people come to your show?
E: Thrilling. Brutal. Memorable.
M: Take it from that lovely lady in Scotland, it’s: an unforgettable experience!
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