INTERVIEW: Emily Woof connects reason with instinct in ‘Blizzard’
Photo: Emily Woof wrote and performs in Blizzard as part of the Brits Off-Broadway festival at 59E59 Theaters in Midtown Manhattan. Photo courtesy of Carol Rosegg / Provided by official site.
Emily Woof is the writer and performer behind Blizzard, a new one-person show at the Brits Off-Broadway festival at 59E59 Theaters. Performances of the piece, which is directed by Hamish McColl, continue through Sunday, June 30, at the Midtown Manhattan venue.
In the show, audiences are introduced to the story of Dottie and Dottie, a wife and husband who have the same pet names for each other. Dottie, the husband, has taken ill and is unable to deliver an important lecture on his academic field of neuroscience, according to press notes. That’s when Dottie, his spouse, steps in and travels to Switzerland to deliver the lecture on his behalf. Throughout the journey there are numerous philosophical debates about the self, the soul and the body, with many of the assertions framed by the work of Friedrich Nietzsche.
“I was doing some research into philosophy and just reading around,” Woof said in a recent phone interview. “I had been given a scholarship in the UK, a research grant, to do a creative project, sort of a PhD, about dance and writing fiction because I also write novels. So to cut a long story short, I found myself in some real rabbit holes of philosophical thinking, and I was so fascinated by this journey of the mind and how mind-blowing it can be.”
Woof, known for her performances in Oliver Twist, The Full Monty and Velvet Goldmine, decided to write something about this philosophical journey that she underwent. Along the way, she discovered the work of Nietzsche, and she was sold that a play could be developed from some of the questions he asks his readers.
“I kind of wrote the show out of that moment really of discovering or wanting to ask questions about that connection between the mind and the body and why do we split it up so much,” she said. “Of course, both Dottie and Dottie, who embody reason and instinct, they need each other. That was the journey of writing the piece. It was no good just championing one over the other.”
It’s best to keep the surprises of Blizzard a secret, but it’s safe to say that when Dottie travels to Switzerland, she encounters many hidden truths about the mind, the body and the existence of a possible soul. Woof said there’s an Ovid-like resonance to the final act of the one-hour piece. Ultimately the show is about reason and instinct, and Woof’s thesis is that they should not be split up, but stay eternally together.
“It’s actually very funny,” she said of Blizzard, ensuring prospective audiences understand they are not in for a boring academic lesson. “It’s just a funny, shaggy-dog story, but it has this philosophical undertone. It’s just a fun story.”
Woof first premiered the piece at the Edinburgh International Festival in Scotland. The show was well-received, and eventually she transferred the monologue to London’s Soho Theatre. That engagement in London happened only last month, and now she finds herself off-Broadway, trying the piece out on American audiences.
“I’m really delighted,” she said. “It seems quite universal. The other night a husband and wife came up to me after the show. They’d really been delighted, but they hadn’t known what to expect. And they actually said, ‘Oh, we are Dottie and Dottie. That’s us. He’s working in computer analytics, and I already known what I do. … I just do what I feel like, and that’s it.’ They were really laughing and really delighted and moved by the expression of this difference. You know, I think it touched them. I’ve had that response from a few people. People are resonating with it emotionally, and luckily the New York crowd are pretty smart. So I think they’re getting it on different levels as well. I hope that it’s really good at resonating with people. It’s perhaps a little different. It’s not the normal kind of work that 59E59 would put on. I’m not sure, but it might be a little more expressionistic or avant-garde or something. The audiences so far seem to really enjoy it.”
It’s interesting that Woof and McColl, married in real life, are bringing to life this philosophical journey of a married couple. The irony is not lost on Woof.
“In the show, the husband is a scientist, and the wife, we don’t quite know what she does,” she said. “Hamish isn’t a scientist, but there were some resonances for us about this different way of experiencing life. Some of our own experiences fed into the show, but we’re both writers and artists and have given our lives [to the arts]. We have quite a good short-hand creatively on how to create work, how to tell stories.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Blizzard, written and performed by Emily Woof, continues at 59E59 Theaters in Midtown Manhattan as part of the Brits Off-Broadway festival. Performances run through Sunday, June 30. Click here for more information and tickets.
