Writer Asa Haynes talks about his show Words I’ve Said playing as part of Iris Theatre’s Summer Festival

Returning to St Paul’s Church in the heart of Covent Garden, award winning theatre company Iris Theatre will showcase an eclectic line up of live outdoor performance as part of their Summer Festival. A mixture of music, theatre and new work, the festival champions and celebrates performance in a time of uncertainty. Taking part in this summer’s event, writers Asa Haynes and Jesse Bateson will showcase their work in progress Words I’ve Said, a play exploring themes of family and loss. Ahead of the festival, Asa tells us more about his inspirations for the show, writing the show during this unique time and what audiences can expect.

Hi Asa, your show Words I’ve Said will play as part of Iris Theatre’s Summer Festival. How are you feeling ahead of the show?

I feel this very odd mix of feeling very strange and very excited. I think that comes from the fact that theatre hasn’t been a tangible thing since mid March, and having a new piece of work that is opening after a long absence of theatre is quite nerve-racking in that sense. The last thing that I saw was The Seven Streams of the River Ota, Robert Lepage’s seven hour epic. The theatre was rammed, but there was an air of uncertainty. But then again…I GET TO SEE THEATRE AGAIN!!! So in that sense it’s really great to sit and watch something that isn’t Netflix asking me if I’m still watching. Which the answer is always, yes. Very passive aggressive question to ask I think.

Words I’ve Said is a work in progress exploring themes of family and loss, what inspired you to explore these themes further?

What inspired me to write the play was a combination of two things. Watching My White Best Friend (and Other Letters Left Unsaid), Co-curated by writer Rachel De-Lahay and director Milli Bhatia which was zoomed [if that’s a term used] by the Royal Court Theatre last month, and Jesse actually. She told me about a play that she has been writing that follows very similar themes as Word’s I’ve Said, and I was very interested in its themes and its form as well. Then after watching My White Best Friend, and crying multiple times from listening to the letters read out, I thought about how a letter, these letters specifically, are a form of theatre. So when Paul-Ryan asked me if I had anything that I’d like to share or am I working on anything new, I instantly called Jesse and pitched her what now is Word’s I’ve Said, and asked if we’d want to write it together and if she wanted to act in it. So it’s been a very quick turn around from conceiving the idea, to performing it and having a working script.

The show is written by yourself and Jesse Bateson who also stars. How have you worked together to create the show?

As I mentioned above (and may have pre-empted this question too haha) I approached Jesse about wanting to write this play together. I went away and did some writing just to start us off, then Jesse added to what I had written. Then it was just a process of discussing what we want the play to do, and writing all we thought we had done, then adding more till we thought we had done… then adding more. We met up a few times to read some bits out just to see if it had the right flow and to write things on a google doc, which my god, has saved our lives. The fact that we can follow what each other is writing has made this process so much easier. It’s also great working with Jesse as she is performing the piece so I really wanted to make sure that this was created for her to perform, not to say that Viola Davis couldn’t perform this, but I really wanted it to feel like something that Jesse can be amazing at, and she will be.

How have you found having to adapt your creative process during these uncertain times?

I guess it’s been interesting for the both of us. For me I’ve never worked with another writer before to write a play. So this whole process was brand new for me. It was really exciting to work with Jesse, we work quite differently as I’m more, put everything in even if I repeat things, while Jesse is more considered. So she really helps me edit down, and allow us to just get to the point of what we are trying to say. It’s been very fun as well, we’d just laugh at some really silly things that we wrote together and then read them out loud, then laugh at my terrible spelling mistakes. Who knew that if you missed out one letter in shirt it would completely change what a character is changing into (don’t worry that has been cut)!

What are your plans for the work in progress after the festival?

To be honest I’m not sure. Well I never really think past the final show when I’ve done a rehearsed reading or in this case a work in progress show, as then I’m constantly telling myself that this isn’t the end product. This is the end product, for this version of the play. And hopefully there will be many different versions and drafts after this. It’s difficult to plan anything when you have no idea how the audience are going to respond to it when it’s just two people and a bottle of cheap wine staring at you when writing. So I guess we are excited to see how audiences are going to respond to this play.

What can audiences expect from the show?

Unexpected questions that both of us didn’t really think that would come up when writing the play. A singular joke, if you’re lucky. And a chance to listen to something new and different structurally, but it’s heartfelt, honest in ways that you may not expect.

What would you like for audiences to take away from the show?

I guess it’s a reinforced understanding about the meaning of family. We understand that everyone is more connected to family more than ever now, but family means different things to many different people. But essentially what family boils down to is the sense or feeling of being wanted, needed and loved unconditionally by a group of people or just one other person, whether that be blood or chosen.

Questions by Lucy Basaba.

Words I’ve Said will be showing from Monday 17th to Tuesday 18th as part of Iris Theatre’s Summer Festival, To find out more about the show, visit here…