WORD ORCHESTRATION & ART

Sophie Woolley: Marathon Women

Sophie Woolley is a writer and performer. She has performed her satirical character monologues around the UK, Europe and Russia, with Renaissance One and the British Council. Her superb short stories have appeared in DTMCB #2 and #3, and elsewhere. When to Run is her first one person play.

DTMCB: Running…It's painful, tedious and exhausting, why do people do it? What are they running from? Do you share anything with your fellow 'runners'?

Sophie Woolley: They are running from a fat bum and towards a bus perhaps. Even if people don't run, they find another way to escape their demons.

I used to think the same as you about running, but I looked into it and took up running every day to research the play. I followed a training schedule and joined a couple of clubs. Soon I was genuinely looking forwards to getting up at the crack of dawn to run for miles. If you do it right you get a feeling of euphoria and well being. It's addictive. One of the characters in the play is an adrenalin junkie and I know why she does it, except I'm not fantastically vain and neurotic like she is. I'm not.

The dog walker character in the play watches runners go by and scoffs, which used to be my position. But the danger of writing satire is that you become seduced by the very life you ridicule. So I like running now. The play is still a satire though, but it's not cynical.

What happens when you stop running?

You lose fitness much more rapidly than you gain it. Talk at the bar at my running club was about how depressed they get if they can't run because of injury. They get withdrawal symptoms. So if you stop running you have to ward off depression with cycling or swimming if you can. Still, it's not the same is it?

In your creative writing you have, until now, chosen to concentrate largely on the monologue form. Could you explain a little bit about your choice?

I like to hog the stage.

Do you tend to write with performing in mind? Do you prefer performing live to publishing in print?

I love writing for print actually. You don't get the applause do you though? I will do some more print stuff after this tour. There is nothing better than a lovely sentence written in a good way though is there. I love sentences.

Your new show is directed by Gemma Fairlie, who has directed with the RSC, amongst others. Why did you choose her and what did she bring to the final show?

She directed Eden's Empire as well (with her own company Pyre productions), a new play about the Suez Crisis. It was brilliant, like a sort of West Wing on the stage, except in the 1950's. The foreign ministers tango dance with each other and it all goes horribly wrong, and there are no PRs to make everything ok.

Nina Steiger at Soho Theatre did the dramaturgy on my play and she put me and Gemma together after Edinburgh Festival. I re- rehearsed the play with her. As well as sorting out the set and lighting etc, Gemma helped me with the physicality of each character. I switch between characters quickly and so each character's physicality needs to be very defined. Most of all she made the rehearsals a lot of fun. The rehearsals have been loads of fun, which was important because the play is very funny. I have to enjoy myself onstage for it to work.

To return to more pressing matters: if it were possible, what un-ideal running outfit would you most like to run in; and who would you race against?

I'd race in this really good Pringle dress I've got, maybe some ankle boots, against Tony Soprano and then Tony Soprano would fall and have a heart attack or something and I'd have to help him…

When to Run, is showing: Friday 1 December (subtitled) at The Horse Hospital, Colonnade, Bloomsbury London WC1N 1HX, Sunday 3 December (subtitled) Canal Cafe theatre, Delamere Terrace, Little Venice W2 6ND.

LONDON (sprint finish) FINALE
Tuesday 5 December (subtitled) LONDON
Purcell Room, Royal Festival Hall, South Bank, London 7.45pm Advance tickets sold out - returns only on the night! The play continues into the new year with dates scheduled for Birmingham and Manchester

DTMCB Online

DTMCB Online is now welcoming short essays, non-fiction writing, experimental poetry, art and photography, writing about writing, writing about music, writing about art, fragments and comments. If you feel you have something to contribute - or would simply like to tell us about something - please feel free to contact us at
sarah@dreamsthatmoneycanbuy.co.uk
ben@dreamsthatmoneycanbuy.co.uk
Alternatively, drop us a message at: DTMCB MySpace - and we'll be sure to pick it up and get back to you eventually.

DTMCB Presents 12–11–06 (Manchester)

Volume 4 reviewed by Paris Bitter Hearts Pit

read the review

Volume 4: 'The Death of the Art Whore' is out now.