“I, Tiggy Bayley, wrote Squidge last year. It’s about a grumpy teaching assistant struggling to find her place in the world in the aftermath of her brother’s death.”
WHO: Tiggy Bayley
WHAT: “‘A one-woman show with a lot of heart, a pin-drop performance and writing that tears you apart and stitches you up anew’ ****½ (AYoungishPerspective.co.uk). Daisy, a reluctant teaching assistant, is assigned a young Irish traveler to help with his reading. Amid phone calls with her grieving mother, a sexy plumber and whale noises, she finds hope in an unlikely friendship. Squidge is a one-woman show by award-winning screenwriter and actress Tiggy Bayley about those left behind by our education system, and finding love in a world determined to hate.”
WHERE: Pleasance Courtyard – Below (Venue 33)
WHEN: 13:50 (60 min)
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Is this your first time to Edinburgh?
Yes! It’s my first one since I was 14 anyway. We did John Gobblers Teechers. So this is my first Fringe as a full grown woman, even though I’m still only 5”2. I’m really looking forward to it. I believe in the message of Squidge, so it’s going to be a pleasure to dive into it every day.
I’m also looking forward to seeing lots of shows and making the most of my Pleasance pass. I did this year’s Edinburgh Lab at Soho Theatre, so I’ve got a group of fellow clowns to hang out with. Last week, I was laughing so hard they asked if I was okay, it’s been a while since I was surrounded by creatives every day, and my God have I missed it.
I think a great festival is about seeing loads of shows, hanging out with creatives and also looking after your mental health. What makes the place special is that it’s completely saturated with creativity and people are there because they love theatre and comedy.
What are the big things you’ve learned since 2023 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?
I have learned that there are some bad people in this world. I was naïve. I’m still naïve, I like to be naïve – it’s easier to live in denial/ fantasy than face up to how mean this world can be. One of my favourite lines in the show is, “I don’t understand why we have to pretend that everything smells like fucking roses when it stinks of fish. It stinks of fish.” Because it’s about lifting those shades of denial.
Linked to this is the message of the show, what Daisy learns is effectively what I’ve learned: that we have to fight for love and hope in a world determined to hate. I can’t really say it better than Bell Hooks, ““Those of us who have already chosen to embrace a love ethic, know that when we let our light shine, we draw to us and are drawn to other bearers of light. We are not alone.”
I have learned, and I’m still learning, that I can’t control what other people think about me. All I can do is make art that I believe in, share it and then see what sticks. I love writing, and I’ve learned over the years that ultimately, I do it for me. It’s a hard lesson to learn though, because it still hurts when people don’t like it.
Tell us about your show.
I, Tiggy Bayley, wrote Squidge last year. It’s about a grumpy teaching assistant struggling to find her place in the world in the aftermath of her brother’s death.
Squidge was born out of quite a dark period in my life when the only thing getting me through the day was the fact that I had to teach. Showing up for the kids is what got me through that difficult time. I took it to Selwin Hulme-Teague in the Spring of 2023 who claims that he begged me to direct it. I’m not sure that’s true but I’ll take it. We were sitting in a Vietnamese restaurant in Angel and he said it was one of the best things he’d read in a long time. The rest is history, we’ve been rehearsing it and getting it ready for Fringe ever since. Together, we developed the script a bit more, we added more meaning to Squidge and got the show on its feet, showing a few iterations of it to friends along the way.
Squidge is now being co-produced by Ray Productions and White Noise Theatre. Myself and Selwin, also artistic director of White Noise Theatre, found Linda-Ray Ndlovu on Twitter in the Autumn of 2023 and have been blessed ever since. Linda-Ray scored us Ace funding for a mini-tour of Squidge this Spring/ Summer and has been a source of light, honesty and hope along this whole journey. Her presence is so bright and loving. She’s also based in Leeds which has meant I’ve got to go up there for previews and do some workshops for kids in disadvantaged areas up North.
Both Selwin and Linda-Ray embody Squidge in that Squidge stands for love and light and hope. They have carried me though this process on a bed of feathers and hard work.
We finished our preview’s yesterday in Leeds. I performed to an audience of four and it was one of my favourite performances yet. Afterwards a rather tall man with a northern accent asked Linda-Ray if he could speak to me. She said he was sobbing. He told me he doesn’t really go to the theatre but he was deeply moved by my piece and he just wanted to tell me that. It made my day, my week in fact. It proves that this isn’t about numbers or awards, as long as I reach someone, as long as I can show someone that they are not alone. That is everything.
What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?
Deffo see some clowning – it’s so in right now. I recommend Lil Wenker and Luke Rollason. Carlos Sandin. Christ East and Ben Goldsmith (My Brain is Soup, Your Hands are the Spoons & CrimeLandTown), SO good. For some LGBT music fun see Alexis Sakellaris’s A Stan is Born, to find out what a stan is.
For some political pieces pop down to Summerhall to see Gabriele Uboldi’s Lessons On Revolution and The Space to see Jojo’s Hagar: War Mother.
For comedy vibes, I love the Cave sisters too, deffo recommend both their shows. Bebe Cave is just after me at the Pleasance. Sue Perkins is great. I love everyone my agent represents – they have good taste haha.
The artists on Soho Theatre’s Edinburgh Lab list this summer are fabulous and funny. Highly recommend all their shows. That’s Alex Kitson’s Must I Paint You A Picture, Claire Parry’s x2 Shows! Nerine Skinner’s The Exorcism of Liz Truss, Charles’s Four More Short Plays Loosely Linked by the Theme of Crime, the hilarious duo (John & Christian) with their Battle Counters!, Florence Lace-Evans’s Yes, We’re Related, Sarah Cameron-West’s Karen, Gabriella Foley’s Flicker, Sam’s Dear Annie, I Hate You – a personal piece about her brain aneurism called Annie, deffo catch channel 4’s new writer, Ella Evans doing her one woman show Femme Fatigue. And make sure to support Mirren Wilson, she’s actually Scottish and has an amazing play called PALS.
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