F E S T I VA L F E AT U R E S | Leyla Josephine & Harry Clayton-Wright
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I D A N E L H U G H E S
PAPA DON’T PREACH
Leyla Josephine and Harry Clayton-Wright have never met before but their their Fringe shows share common thematic ground – how our parents raise us and set the template for our future relationships. Lorna Irvine got the pair together to chat about their different approaches, taking risks and how their families feel about being portrayed on stage
I n Summerhall’s Royal Dick Bar, two fi erce (and accidentally colour co- ordinated) theatremakers are discussing their respective shows at the venue for the Fringe. It’s the fi rst time they’ve met each other, but there is an instant rapport between these articulate young artists. Both create work which defi es easy genre but has the immediacy of live art.
Leyla Josephine, bringing her new show Daddy Drag to Edinburgh, is a spoken word performer based in Glasgow, while Harry Clayton-Wright, currently based in Brighton, mostly performs queer cabaret, having toured with Briefs, but is fl ying solo this year with Sex Education.
Leyla Josephine: This is my second solo show. I’m a spoken word performer and poet by trade, but I studied contemporary theatre. This doesn’t have any spoken word in it. It’s about my dad, my relationship to him and in order to try and understand him, I become an archetype of a dad. I do it in drag. My dad died, so it’s been a grim process in some ways. But although it’s dark in places, there’s a lot of heart. It’s quite funny and silly as an experience. My mum features in recordings too.
Harry Clayton-Wright: Mine is about how we learn about sex and how it shapes us later in life. My mum didn’t speak to me about sex whatsoever, but when I was 14, my dad bought me some gay porn DVDs. So I decided to interview my mum and that conversation plays throughout the show. I found the porn recently, under my bed, so the audience can see the porn I was exposed to watching as a kid. I also delve into my sexual history – good, bad and everything in-between – and it tries to link it all together, and work out how it all sits and it’s funny and moving. I found out stuff about my mum and dad’s relationship that I didn’t know. LJ: Did you want to know?!
HC-W: Yeah, it’s fascinating. My mum hadn’t asked any of the questions beforehand. You hear me fi nding out this for the fi rst time. It’s very explicit, quite full-on.
LJ: A true juxtaposition.
HC-W: Yeah. My mum and I have got closer through the experience. LJ: Can she see it [the show]?
30 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019