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Sophie Faurie and Leah Bonaventura on new play Friction Burns
Any play promising us live music will always grab the attention of certain members of our team, so Precipice Theatre‘s Friction Burn is up there already as one to see. Described as a battle royale between a couple whose relationship is hanging by a thread, this absurd and dark comedy comes to The Hope Theatre as part of Camden Fringe from 20 – 23 August.
But before it does, we thought we’d grab some time with writer Sophie Faurie and director Leah Bonaventura to ask what’s it all about, and find out if it’s a musical or not.
How would you describe Friction Burn to an audience?
Léah: Friction Burn is a fun, musical, clever show about a couple who are skirting the very limits of their relationship, playing manipulative games with each other, the chief one being suicide. It’s an extremely absurd and physical show, but brimming with buckets of dark comedy.
Sophie: A play poking fun at how we abuse the people we “love” and when is “toxicity” sexy and exciting and when is it just…toxic?.
Would you describe it as a musical, a play with music or something completely different?
Léah: It’s not a musical, that’s for sure. But the music plays an integral part in the production. There are a lot of physical moments in which the music takes the lead and sets the tone. There is a constant game between the performers and the musicians, as if the performers were playing major and the musicians were playing minor. They are so important to this piece! Sophie might tell you more about this because she was the Guitarist and one of the composers in the original version of Friction Burn.
Sophie: I agree with Léah that it’s not a musical but the music is kind of like an extra person on stage and they have their own things to add to the scene as a whole. There’s a lot of fun with the live music because you can tailor it to the subtle differences in the performance each night. Which is a gift to act alongside- something I’m particularly excited about.
Toxic relationships is a subject that we’re seeing more and more on stage now, but how important is it that we keep talking about it? Do you feel by doing so we can begin to change attitudes?
Léah: I don’t know if it will change people’s attitudes, but it will definitely give them another take on toxic behaviours. In this play, both characters have flaws and, in a tug of war, shift between being the apparent villain to the obvious victim in a blink of an eye. It’s a play that searches for truth in its absurdism and this is an aspect that I love. I always wonder why people in a toxic relationship stay together, what brings them together, why they don’t leave and this play tackles these issues with humour and in a very subtle way, which I think is somewhat rare in theatre nowadays.
Sophie: I think I wrote this piece as a cathartic outlet for toxic behaviours that creep into relationships. What starts as something attractive in the beginning can become something quite harmful further on down the line and sometimes it’s impossible to see that when you’re in the relationship. Whereas with Friction Burn there is a detachment for the audience and the ridiculous blatancy of the manipulation is evident. Will it change attitudes? I’m not sure, but hopefully we can get to a place where we can talk about toxic behaviour openly and brutally honestly.
And what is the message you’re trying to get across with Friction Burn?
Léah: My main focus as a director is for the performers to have an amazing chemistry between them, it’s a very minimal set so the performers are the centrepiece of the show. It’s about making sure that their bond and complicity are always alive, active and dynamic, so it transcribes to the audience. The actors, Sophie and Lewis are marvellous clowns and I have to use this as a Director, it’d be such a shame otherwise! In terms of a message, we are exploring different perceptions of a relationship; with distance, wisdom and humour.
Sophie: Toxic relationships are on the rise, we are thinking of more creative ways to manipulate each other and also only just starting to learn about how we can be manipulated in domestic situations. For me, Friction Burn is that first laugh when you’re finally out of that situation, the laugh that is swiftly followed by the cry of ‘why didn’t I see the signs sooner’.
Do you feel absurdist comedy a good way to get across topics that are much more serious in nature?
Léah: Yes for sure! There are topics that only absurdism, thanks to its sort of vagueness, can target and point out. The relationship between H and S is, in my opinion, in the same world of Beckett’s famous couples, Didi and Gogo or Nagg and Nell. I feel like absurdism speaks to another part of the brain and makes people face things they haven’t thought of before. The clowning parts of the show are so funny yet tragic at the same time, it makes one wonder about human nature as a whole.
Sophie: Absurdism is kind of like a blank canvas from an acting point of view, because it’s so vague in a lot of aspects that we need filled for the sake of story and actor’s commitment. But the gift it gives to performance is that the audience can read what they want to from it, an absurdist comedy can make one half of the audience wet themselves laughing at the ridiculous jokes and comic timing, the other half could be crying thinking that someone making a joke in this situation is the saddest thing they’ve ever seen– and they’d both be right!
You’re both clearly not old enough to have been around much in the 90s, so why is the play sound-tracked by the grunge music scene?
Léah: That’s such a funny question! First of all, I am very lucky to have grown up with punk and grunge music thanks to my dad so it’s a music genre I have always really liked. But when I read the play for the first time, I could imagine a very punk, destroyed couple from the nineties, with no money, in a poor flat, taking drugs on a random Thursday morning. There is this kind of provocation and unhealthy habits in grunge which I thought fitted the play perfectly. The music is not only punk in the show because of the games the characters play but I’d say the punk aesthetics and way of living is definitely present. The violinist, Grace Bown, is a brilliant improvisor, so the music changes slightly every night, which I think brings something very special.
Sophie: I second everything Léah has said really, she had the vision from the off and made my job as a musician super easy. It’s always cool to have someone who sees the characters that have existed in your brain suddenly appear in space and time and the grunge vibe– when she told me that’s where she pictured S and H I thought was super cool and made a lot of sense .
You recently performed as part of FUSE Festival in Kingston, how was that experience?
Léah: It was a very good experience and our first transfer! We created this show for the Debut Festival at East 15 Acting School in February 2023, so it was so nice to perform it again in a different venue, right after graduating. The show has changed a bit from Debut, in a very positive sense, so it felt very fresh. We were so pleased to receive the ‘Fuse Best Fringe Performance’ award at the end of the Festival. We were not expecting it at all and was such a lovely surprise.
Sophie: It was great and was also a nice way of closing the first chapter of Friction Burn and setting up for the future at the fringe and beyond. The original cast were fantastic together and now I feel like there is more that can be said with the piece moving forward.
You’re also already booked in for a run at The Space in November, so is the Camden Fringe dates a chance to fine tune it more, or do you feel you’ve already got the play exactly where you want it?
Léah: I feel that the play is always changing slightly. But the Camden Fringe version is even more exciting because of Sophie’s new rewrite and the change of cast. We are now having Sophie playing S and a new brilliant guitarist, Edward Corbett. The relationship between H and S is therefore very different now which I find so stimulating as a director! For the run at the Space, it will probably be a similar version to that of the Camden Fringe but we’d like to judge how it goes at Camden before making any strong decision.
Sophie: It is one thing writing these wacky characters– a very different thing becoming one of them! I completely agree with Léah that there is a nice flexibility in the piece that it’s always alive because it’s always slightly different every night and now it’s taking quite a shift in terms of writing and cast so hopefully we can fine tune with an audience and really get a feel for how we can keep this amazing momentum.
And just so we know if we need to come prepared, is it going to be full on with the music then, will we need to bring ear plugs?
Léah: Don’t bring ear plugs but bring a pint! It’s a show that I hope surprises the audience, you can never guess what is happening next! The music should be entertaining and very well balanced! It’s a show that will make you laugh and maybe cry at times so be ready for the emotional journey!
Sophie: Definitely bring a pint!
No need for ear plugs unless you just want to wear them. It’s a 45 minute Battle Royale that is at times as cutting as it is comedic so you don’t want to miss a single syllable.
Many thanks to Leah and Sophie for their time to chat to us.
Friction Burn comes to The Hope Theatre from 20 – 23 August, tickets available here.
It also plays at The Space from 21 – 25 November, tickets here.
