Impact had the pleasure of chatting with director, Nat Henderson, ahead of the opening night of NNT’s latest in-house show, NSFW. Written by Lucy Kirkwood, the story follows main character Sam as he gets a job at the lad’s magazine, Doghouse, and catastrophe soon unfolds.
When inquiring how she came across the play, Henderson explains that “I was looking for a play to direct because I knew I wanted to direct some work that someone else had written. I did a play last term for fringe where I’d written and directed it, so I just wanted a different experience”.
“Also, it’s complicated but not too ambitious. The play is basically three scenes of half-hour conversation stuck together. So, I thought it would be a secure thing to go for as a first in-house show”.
“In-house goes up a notch, there’s another level of pressure”
Henderson describes the rehearsal process as a “marathon”. As she says, “the play is really short, so we’ve had to take slow and stretch it out. We’ve divided up each scene into little bits and kept sticking it altogether. We just had to keep running it”.
Working with the rest of the production team and cast has been “really fun” for Henderson, “more than I anticipated actually, because a lot of them are people I haven’t worked with before, and I have a brand-new producer who has never produced at all. It’s been really great over the past week to get into the space and see everyone bonding, including the tech team”.
Compared to fringe shows, Henderson states that “in-house goes up a notch, there’s another level of pressure, you’re doing the show five nights a week, you’ve also been given a bigger budget, so you need a bigger audience to come in”.
“The play is a very deft exploration of media attitudes…”
“In theory, it’s been quite simple. The tech design is simplistic but effective, the set doesn’t change massively. Despite making it quite simple, it’s still been a lot of pressure. It’s interesting to see the difference”.
When discussing what audiences will take away from the performance, Henderson expresses that “the play is a very deft exploration of media attitudes. It’s set in 2012 and follows two magazines, it very insightfully analyses all the problems of the magazines. I hope that audiences will go away thought-provoked. I definitely think the issue is still relevant today”.
The play seems especially relatable to a student audience at NNT. “A lot of the characters are graduate level entry in the job market. It’s looking at how they’re manipulated, how they’re influenced by the bosses and how they act”.
“The beginning of it is really funny too. I want everyone to leave with a mild sense of dread and discomfort, but also thinking that it’s funny”.
“The entire process has been great”
When describing her favourite part of the whole experience so far, Henderson claims that “I did all the posters in the play, there’s magazine posters on the walls, so that was fun to make them.”
“The entire process has been great. A lot of my cast are freshers and people that haven’t been cast in anything before, so I’ve enjoyed getting a group together that didn’t know each other and seeing them produce good work and having fun at the same time”.
“At this point in the rehearsal process they just need to get out there and get the reaction they want. I really want them to be rewarded for the hard work they’ve put in”.
With the task of summing up the play in just three words, Henderson chooses “satirical, comedic and uncomfortable”. It’s a perceptive, provocative and gripping show.
Sophie Hunt
NSFW ran at The Nottingham New Theatre 16th-19th May.
Featured image courtesy of The Nottingham New Theatre.
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