“Remember you’re giving a gift, even when it’s hard and feels close to the bone. You won’t be for everyone but you’ll be for a lot of people, and that’s really special.”
WHO: Ariella Stoian
WHAT: “Uncanny adventure. A demolition site. A new queer, weird fiction play about housing insecurity, displacement and corporate development. Using lyrical language to explore lost homes, new storms and eldritch infestations. Reluctant Megacorp conservationist and single mum Ria has been called in to sort a hive. It’s halting work, messing up the bottom line. Plus it’s the worst possible timing because Ria’s teenage kid Salve was just suspended for unrepentant thievery. But cagey site manager Craig hints at something more… unusual. More sinister. Director of Colossal, Winner Best Show of the Edinburgh Fringe 2022. Originally commissioned by The Space.”
WHERE: Assembly Roxy – Downstairs (Venue 117)
WHEN: 16:35 (60 min)
MORE: Click Here!
Is this your first time to Edinburgh?
We’re a mix! It’s some of our first times and some not! So we have both the wisdom that comes from experience as well as the collective excitement and joy of offering this show for the first time in this eclectic, completely alive, festival environment. We’re so delighted we get to connect with a lot of different people we wouldn’t usually have the chance to meet. Fate and this pinball machine.
What are the big things you’ve learned since 2022 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?
Have a plan. Structure your time. Have safe places, places to laugh and keep perspective. Be playful. Remember you’re giving a gift, even when it’s hard and feels close to the bone. You won’t be for everyone but you’ll be for a lot of people, and that’s really special. Cook more. Eat more. Sleep more maybe. Be open except when you need to be closed. Learning’s for a lifetime. Probably some lessons have been absorbed.
Tell us about your show.
HIVE is a new queer, weird fiction play about displacement, memory, and eldritch infestations. HIVE uses lyrical language to explore lost homes, new storms and friendly cryptids. At a demolition site in an eerie world, HIVE focuses on the relationship between reluctant Megacorp conservationist and single mum Ria and her teenage kid Salve (they/them) who was just suspended for unrepentant thievery following the loss of Nan; the third-pillar of their family. It is a magical cross-generational story set in an imagined world to consider connection after loss – both whimsical and full of love.
HIVE is presented by Mushmoss Collective, a non-binary, queer and neurodivergent collective, consisting of Ariella Como-Stoian, who is making their Fringe debut as a playwright, and director Susie MacDonald who directed “Colossal’, Winner Best Show of the Edinburgh Fringe 2022. Ariella and Susie teamed up with Sophie Visscher and Zoe Novello of Speakerphone Productions to produce the show! Speakerphone Productions is a queer women-led production company dedicated to amplifying the voices of emerging and LGBTQIA+ artists, producing new interdisciplinary works, and building a joyous creative community. We are all thrilled to be working together, and with our incredible actors Emily Millwood and Elin Doyle, to bring this sweet and strange story to life.
We presented a rehearsed reading of HIVE at A Pinch of Vaults Festival this past June, and we are having a pre-fringe preview on the 23 of July at 7:15 pm at the Camden People’s Theatre. Following the Fringe, we hope to bring HIVE to the stage again!
What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?
Cowboys and Lesbians
You should definitely go check out Cowboys and Lesbians! Cowboys and Lesbians is a queer romantic comedy about two best schoolfriends writing a parody coming-of-age film and realising they fancy each other in the process – it is campy, funny, and queer! We can’t wait to see it….
Power of Yep
Our brilliant friends Carter and Lexi are bringing their show The Power of Yep all the way over from NYC! The Power of Yep is part play, part clown, and part character comedy – and it always makes us laugh until our faces hurt. Definitely recommend for a taste of something hilarious and unique!
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