Welcome to YEP Spotlight: a place to catch up with our Young Everyman Playhouse alumni and share what they are up to.

This week we spoke to Isobel Balchin and Martyna Puciato. Isobel became a YEP Actor during her final year studying Drama at LJMU in 2015, and was part of the company until 2017. Martyna joined the Young Directors programme after graduating the same course in 2018. The two YEP graduates have gone on to co-found the woman-led theatre collective: Mooncup Theatre, and are currently working on producing Liverpool's first ever Genderland Festival - two weeks of drag events, talking circles and workshops exploring the topic of gender in all its forms.

Hiya both! How did you find your time in YEP?

Isobel: I loved my time in the YEP Actors programme. It is run by such a wonderful bunch of humans that really care about inspiring and giving a voice to young people and allowing them to explore their craft and skills in a safe, supportive and extremely creative environment. I met so many wonderful fellow creatives that had a passion for theatre and it provided me with a multitude of opportunities in the creative world in Liverpool that I will be eternally grateful for.

Martyna: I had tremendous time as a Young Director. Once I was given an ID card that opened (almost) all of the doors in the Everyman, they couldn’t get rid of me! Being in the green room was as exciting to me as in being in the rehearsal room. I soaked up the knowledge of all the people working in the Everyman and the atmosphere of the building itself. Being a Young Director gave me a ground to stamp on and liberated me as an artist. The freedom to explore in a safe environment allowed me to find my theatrical language, which I now use to have a conversation with my audience.

How do you think YEP prepared you to create theatre in a professional capacity?

Isobel: The actors course at YEP was such a vital part of making me the theatre-maker I am today. Not only did it assist with my acting skills and provide opportunities, but it also inspired me to think about the type of theatre that I want to create. It isn’t just about working on acting skills, which we most certainly did too, but also about how we can use our voices through our art and performance. We were encouraged to not be scared about being political with our work, and it allowed me to have the confidence to create theatre about issues that I care about, to use my voice through performance and art to question the society that we live in. A lot of the ideas that we explored were around theatre for social change, and the productions that we devised were such a collaborative process, which I have tried to continue in the work that I've done since.   
 
Martyna: Look at what I am doing now! The madness of the Directors Festival gave me the tools that I now use to create theatre everyday. The freedom that I was given to explore without any judgement gave massive amounts of confidence and autonomy. Being a part of YEP connected me with a lot of like-minded artists who were as excited to be making theatre as I was. I am very thankful for the people that I met through the course, as they are now very dear friends and a big part of my professional life.

What’s your fondest memory of YEP?
Isobel: I have so many fond memories of YEP! I think one is definitely the laughter and the people! It was such a fun and nurturing environment and even though some of the work was about serious issues, it was always such a ball to be in the room and have the opportunity to play with some boss, like-minded humans! I loved being part of The Wonderful World of Dissocia, which was my first show. I also had the opportunity to perform in two main house shows: The Environmentalists and The Establishment. Being on a stage with such an ensemble of people, challenging the system was extremely liberating, and a right laugh at the same time!  
 
Martyna: Driving the flight case into the curtain and destroying some set at the end of the first show of The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk. It was theatre in its purest form. I treasure that memory very, very deeply.
 

Tell us about Mooncup Theatre

Isobel: Mooncup Theatre came about as a collaboration between like-minded individuals that wanted to create not only feminist theatre but also question the status quo.
Our next project is the Genderland Festival which starts on Monday 27 September and will run until Friday 8 October. It is a two week festival of events that explores different areas of gender, including talks, workshops, a panel discussion, cabaret evening and talking circles in collaboration with guest speakers and creatives from all walks of the gender spectrum. 
 
Martyna: We also have our Scran ‘N’ Scratch evenings where we welcome people to come along to share and watch new embryos of ideas and try out new work in a safe, supportive and inclusive environment accompanied by some delicious homemade scran! We love these nights and have met so many wonderful people and had our in person night for the first time since the pandemic earlier this month, so keep your eyes peeled for the next one which will be on again soon.

What were your main goals in creating the Genderland Festival?

We all experience gender and it is a facet that is unique to each individual. However, there is still a lot of misunderstanding and division within society around our ideas of gender, with people that challenge the norms often suffering discrimination just for being their authentic selves. What we hope to achieve with this festival is to provide a platform for a range of different voices and experiences.Giving an opportunity for us to unite as a community, share and learn together in a safe, creative space as we celebrate and explore the gender landscape and unravel the socially constructed binary that has been thrust upon us all. We want to also be able to use this experience to aid our research and development into a new theatre piece that explores the gender spectrum, which we had the chance to begin to developing with Homotopia’s Queercore last year.

If someone is just hearing about Genderland for the first time, why would you say they should come along?
Isobel: They should come along to engage in some interesting discussions, explore new ideas, get involved in some brilliant creative workshops. Plus they will see some wonderful performances and art and hopefully learn something new as part of a welcoming community!