By BRUCE DENNILL
It’s time to sweat out the sadness. Spin Cycles at the Baxter Theatre offers a cathartic look into why we search for something deeper when the inconceivable happens to us. After an earth-shattering year, can a journalist spin herself out of a slump as thumping dance music envelopes her? She’s not in a cult … yet. Is she? Presented by Two Bits, Spin Cycles is written and performed by Jamie-Lee Money, directed by Larica Schnell with lighting design by Kieran McGregor. Money discusses her work.
In the lead-up to a new production, how do you prepare – physically, mentally and emotionally?
With this particular production, I have to spin at least three or four times a week in order to prepare for my on stage performance. I am physically spinning on the bike for a good 40 minutes of the show, so it is important to me that I am fit enough to be able to carry the story of the show while on the bike. I try to balance the extreme physical exercise of spinning with yoga to ground myself. Breath work is also important to me to prepare my voice, mind and body to be onstage. I used to be extremely one-track minded and I was all or nothing pre-show, but over the years I have learned that you can find a happy medium and still live your life while prepping. It’s important to be able to switch off and enjoy things outside of the show so that you can come back with a renewed freshness and understanding of your story. I learned this at Edinburgh Fringe in particular, as you are performing daily but also want to be able to watch as much theatre as possible and experience the Fringe to the fullest. So there needs to be a bit of compartmentalising. A good night’s rest is key for me, and I am not one to shy away from an afternoon nap if I need to reboot.
What is the single most influential performance you’ve ever seen – the one that made you feel, “This is what I want to do with my life!”?
Watching Emily Child and Scott Sparrow perform Decadence at Theatre on The Square when I was in high school was a real turning point for me. I had always loved performance and knew I wanted to be an actor but watching that show really solidified that for me. Many years later, I came to London in 2018 on a trip of theatre and self-discovery and watched Andrew Scott in Seawall by Simon Stephens at The Old Vic. This performance changed my life. The house lights stayed up for the entire performance and Scott, full of vulnerability and soul, gently delivered one of the most heart-wrenching performances I have ever seen. I cried all the way home on the train and I have never been able to shake it.
What is your favourite aspect of the industry – be it specific people, parts of the production process, particular venues/locations, or something else?
I think I just love all these kooky characters coming together to make something. Every first day on a new job, be it on set or on stage feels daunting, thrilling and overwhelming at the same time and yet we all come back and do it again and again. For me, the greatest moment on stage is when the lights dim at the beginning of performance after clearance, and everyone, performer, crew and audience alike, take a breath in communal understanding of what is about to happen.
What has been your scariest onstage/on-set moment so far (anything from forgetting words or cues to accidents or other unforeseen events)?
My first experience of something going wrong on stage was in a ballet performance of Singing In The Rain when I was about 10. We all had yellow raincoats on with tutus underneath and we had to open our umbrellas in unison. I had been playing the fool with the handle of my umbrella and my ballet shoe backstage before we started and I had unknowingly jammed the opening mechanism. I had to dance the whole number with a closed umbrella, tutu and all. Another time was during one of my final year productions at drama school. I had to light a ‘joint’ and as my scene partner lit hers, a few strands of her hair, her eyelashes and some of her eyebrow caught alight. We managed to put it out and I ran off stage to get her a glass of water, I think I swore and told her in character that it was all ok but for the rest of the performance the Arena Theatre smelt of burnt hair. She has eyebrows again now, thankfully.
Tell us about your current production and what makes your character interesting to play?
Spin Cycles is a one-person dark comedy about spinning, grief and everything in between. As I wrote and perform in the show, there is some truth to the storyline and the character. Lolly’s thoughts and words have certainly come from compartments in my brain, but I am not playing myself. Even though the show is somewhat autobiographical I have added elements to her life that are unlike mine. Lolly is a bit more reckless, restless, wild, detached and definitely more cynical than I am. So it is fun to release myself fully and allow myself to be free in playing her with reckless abandon. She is heavily influenced by music which in turn evokes feelings of nostalgia and specific memories. I love tapping into a specific feeling that a song can give you. So often in my own life, I can remember the first time I ever heard a song, where I was and how it made me feel, so it’s amazing to connect to that. I wrote the story as an ode to all those who I have loved and lost and so it is a gift to be able to perform it. Lolly, the principle character, has been previously described as ‘a chaotic, sardonic parable for the modern woman’ and I wouldn’t have it any other way.