Finella Waddilove tells us about Doughnut Drive
We first meet Finella Waddilove in 2024 as part of GrimFest, where her horror show The Blair Bitch Proect certainly caught our eye for both its humour and exploration of female friendship. Since then she has been keeping herself busy, directing Tenner Bag at Camden Fringe and acting duties in Death Belles for this year’s GrimFest. Nexy up will be her new show, Doughnut Drive, which comes to Drayton Arms Theatre from 25 to 29 November, a show she has not only written, but will be directing and performing in.
Doughnut Drive is a comedy-crime-thriller about Billericay-born best friends, Bex (Sarah Parkins) and Yaz (Waddilove), set in the car dealership that Bex has inherited following her dad’s death. It’s a show that promises to explore themes of mental health, grief, friendship, and the impact of self-destructive behaviour on those closest to us.
Being big fans of Finella’s previous work, we thought we’d get a sneak preview of what to expect with Doughnut Drive, so grabbed some time with her to find out more.
Hi Finella, great to chat again, almost a year since we spoke about Blair Bitch Project. Doughnut Drive feels a million miles away from that, but what can we expect from your new play?
To laugh, I hope! But mostly you can expect to be thrilled and surprised…My dream is that I’ll keep the audience guessing!
On the surface, Blair Bitch and Doughnut Drive do actually feel miles away from each other! However, the theme of friendship is definitely the beating heart of both plays.
With Doughnut Drive, I’ve delved deeper into its exploration of mental health, and how/why relationship dynamics are effected when it deteriorates.
If you were to look at my inspiration boards for both – they are indeed worlds apart. E.g Jennifer’s Body vs. Sexy Beast. But both films are very distilled character studies…
What was the inspiration for the piece? Why did you choose to base it around a car dealership?
The first essence of the play was imagined four years ago when Sarah (Bex) asked me to write a showreel scene for the two of us. She gave me the stimulus of ‘crime, banter and something that’s very us’.
That two minute piece was the bare bones of what we know the show to be now – it was Bex solely revealing she’d broken her driving ban the night before, to Yaz on a park bench.
When later expanding the piece into a 15 minute extract for a scratch night, I wanted to explore why Bex had the ban in the first place, why she then decided to break it on the very evening before it was set to be lifted, and what self-destructive behaviour would lead to this.
This process led me to want to explore a connection to grief. So I drew on some experiences of those close to me…This is how the play as a whole came around.
In terms of setting the piece around a car dealership, I rattled through a lot of typically ‘Essex’ businesses near me – where would Bex’s dad have worked? Being a cheeky chappy Essex bloke – which business would lend itself to this personality? I wanted to stay authentic to where the piece is based, my home town in Billericay and its surrounding areas and lot of car dealers popped into my head. I also enjoy the irony that Bex harbours a driving ban whilst running the car dealership…
How do you start writing, is it characters that trigger your ideas or do the characters come from your story?
In this case, the characters helped drive the plot (pardon the pun) through the nature of the way the piece came about.
The 15 minute scratch scene is where the first bit of proper action takes place; I wanted to create a climatic, gripping scene with a cliff hanger in that small amount of time for the scratch.
Therefore, when creating the whole plot, I went through this text with a fine tooth comb looking for ‘clues’ as to what these characters were like – and how those details could help in their individual world building.
For example, in the scene, my character Yaz briefly mentions she was at a ‘film club’ the night Bex breaks her ban.
So I thought, why not have that club as something that’s really important to her, a recent hobby that’s given her a new lease of life. This then creates immediate conflict, as Bex is struggling with episodes of depression and is shutting down to new experiences that might actually help her – it’s difficult to see her best friend so invigorated when she feels hopeless.
Blair Bitch was a suspenseful thriller and Doughnut Drive sounds like you are going for a similar vibe. Is this where you feel happiest writing now?
I hope there will be the same, if not more suspense and mystery (than in Blair Bitch). My dream is that the audience is fighting to figure out the plot throughout and trying to unpick where it’s going, as there is a particularly crazy chain of events!
Doughnut Drive is not as horror, but carries more of a mystery element to its overall feel. This comes mainly within the framework of the ‘crime-thriller’ genre, but in a way, that genre is secondary to the real life themes that I wanted to explore, like loss and existentialism.
How do you balance the three roles of writer, director and performer? What mechanisms do you put in place to ensure you don’t drift lanes?
Time and preparation is just so important. E.g setting a much earlier writing deadline for myself. Then I can, for the most part, take that hat off and start focusing on the direction.
Myself and Sarah also have such a special rapport in the room and a real connection with these characters; we can cut or change bits that aren’t feeling right, making the process and ongoing explorative joy.
Since Blair Bitch, I have definitely gained skills in forward thinking and understanding of the journey of the whole play. Blair Bitch was the first play I’d ever directed – this is now the fourth play I’ve directed! I have learnt so many invaluable lessons over the last year.
I now give a lot of time and energy to the logistics of putting together the piece and visualise the journey as a whole, from much earlier in the process – making visual breakdowns of every scene, pinpointing the main events etc. This really helps with clarity.
As far as performing and directing go, I film rehearsals. I watch them back and write notes like I’m not watching myself but a different actor, and send them to both Sarah and I.
I also recently brought on board my producer, Rachel Duncan and assistant producer George Bird which has been revolutionary for the project. The team that I have built for the show is incredible because they are taking the weight off me, making the process much more enjoyable, as I can lean on them for logistics and I can focus on the creative making of the play.
Does the extra stage space at Drayton Arms Theatre make life just that little easier as a director, or do you have to work harder to fill it with just two characters?
The play moves location quite frequently which I love as a directing challenge. I ask myself, “how can we bring the audience on that journey seamlessly”?
I get really excited about the sound and lighting design and how it can aid/carry the storytelling element of my writing. This is my fourth play working with Cam Pike (composer, sound/lighting design), again, as with Sarah, we’ve got this wonderful creative report, which makes working together so much fun and really quite invigorating.
I still have a more minimal set in mind and am pushing myself to explore each location without it being expositionary.
Thanks to Finella for finding the time to chat inbetween all her other tasks! Doughnut Drive plays at Drayton Arms Theatre from Tuesday 25 to Saturday 29 November.
