Stop Trying to be Fantastic

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We have a huge variety of events. Something for everyone. From community workshops at the Library, children’s shows at Cygnet Theatre, stand-up comedy at Topsham Brewery, folk music at the Corn Exchange, professional development workshops, storytelling at the RAMM, music at St Nicholas Priory, youth shows at the Hall and Multi-Story Orchestra in IKEA’s car park. Molly begins her story in the same place that it ends, with her sat in a room of a fertility clinic, and the aim of becoming an egg donor. But this was not to be…. Stop Trying To Be Fantastic is about the strategies we use to avoid pain and suffering, and the impact these strategies have on us. It’s based on a period in my life and tells a mostly-true story about a strange series of events and what I learned from experiencing them. It’s about saviour-complex, the things that haunt us and what we can do about them. It’s a sort of anti self-help show, that I’m hoping might actually help. Stop Trying to be Fantastic has only a couple of stops left on its tour (NORWICH THEATRE (STAGE 2) – 19 May & LONDON 2NORTHDOWN – 22 May). It is a show that will offer a charming theatre outing while making you think about “ what we owe to each other and what we owe to ourselves”. It will certainly make you laugh, while making you think about the metaphor that you are trying to escape.

Stop Trying To Be Fantastic poetically confronts our deepest fears of abandonment, of being unloved and unlovable. Burrowing into the complexity of why we often find it so unbearable to feel bad or face our problems head on, it highlights how the pursuit of being ‘perfect’ for everyone else stops us from living a life that is actually perfect for us. There’s something to do pretty much every night, but there’s also so much delicious countryside to disappear off into. It’s also a very queer-friendly city, which is a good thing! Also – Roys, obviously.

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She is currently working on several original TV projects, and her feature film 'I'll See Myself Out' is in development with Jeva Films. It then becomes slightly meta as we realise she’s writing the magpie story as a screenplay, pitching it to young men called Josh, and feeling mortified in the process as they struggle with the concept of someone living in ‘not London’. She’s in Norwich, which they think is in Scotland. The magpie, it turns out, is a metaphor for trauma, and trauma is hot right now. When she spoke her last words, I was surprised to discover my cheeks were wet with the tears that had fallen, listening to the truthfulness of Molly’s final words. Ones that we all must surely take on board.

Finally making peace with her magpie, Molly lets him in through her window and faces him head on. After fearing him her entire life, she now can see that he isn’t the least bit scary at all and understands that she has only been running from herself; that it is now time to stop. And to live. Passion and pain have clearly forged this award-winning writer/performer’s work. Making an hour pass in the blink of an eye, yet filling that space with purposeful intention, Molly stands alone – vulnerable, funny, self-reliant. Swimming costume (swimming keeps me sane at the best of times)! Yoga mat (sorry, I’m that guy now)! Of course, it’s a metaphor. A symbol of a trauma not discussed; silenced and suppressed. Stop Trying To Be Fantastic turns the elephant in the room to the magpie in the room. And, if you’ve ever witnessed a bird when it accidentally finds itself trapped you know exactly how it panics, thrashing about leaving havoc in its wake. Stop Trying To Be Fantastic is that which gets left behind once the incident has passed. The initial mess might be cleaned up, yet an echo remains.

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NAC supported artist Molly Naylor is heading to Edinburgh Fringe this August at Summerhall with her new show Stop Trying To Be Fantastic. One day, a magpie comes into a little girl’s house by mistake. It decides it likes her. She spends the next twenty-five years trying to get away from it.

STOP TRYING TO BE FANTASTIC – MOLLY NAYLOR – DRUM THEATRE 5 th May 2023 Produced in association with Inn Crowd Molly’s strategies for coping with her meandering life, constantly trying to please people, to be liked, to get on, are all made with the intention of running to escape the magpie, to be free of him. It becomes her own personal quest for freedom and, ultimately, happiness. Naylor’s beautiful lyrical and poetic writing carries the one-person show, setting strong foundations for the poignant personal story. In more of a performative TED talk way, Molly takes us through her life living with her metaphorical Magpie and how she has been trying to escape its unwanted presence. The deep and personal stories told are all relatable and powerful drawing you in and making you evaluate the impact of your own Magpie.Those pesky little magpies: astute, sneaky, determined. Their presence can be felt even when they’re not visible to other people. It’s highly likely that, at some point, you’ll encounter one. Or maybe more than one. You might not realise its significance at first. Yet from year to year, situation to situation, despite your best efforts to ignore it, there’s an incessant, attention-seeking tap-tap-tap. I’m performing at Summerhall for the first time. It’s my favourite venue in Edinburgh, so I’m very happy I get to perform and hang out there. Award-winning writer/performer Molly Naylor presents this funny, frank, lyrical storytelling show that explores what we owe to each other versus what we owe to ourselves. It’s an anti self-help show... that might actually help.

Molly Naylor gives a warm in>mate performance making everyone comfortable, which dispelled the nervous mist among the audience from the first word. As both writer and performer Naylor takes strong grip of the script, something needed in a production that relies so heavily on its metaphor as its core drive. As the purpose of the production unfolds seamlessly, Naylors ability to hold the audience’s attention must be admired. The story starts with a metaphorical magpie which flies into Naylor’s childhood house. Magpies are considered to be a symbol of intelligence and wit and also, more menacingly, deceit, and the embodiment of dread. Molly tells us, often humorously, of her attempts to drive the bird away and totally engages her audience who want to know more of her adventurous journey. She takes us through familiar nostalgic territory and awakens in us memories of our own struggles. Her strategies included: getting drunk, throwing herself totally into work, and doing amazing acts of kindness. She desires approval, (don’t we all?), but striving to reach that, we often sacrifice relationships on the way.

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Stop Trying to Be Fantastic is a mostly true story about suffering, saviour-complex, self-acceptance, and a magpie who refuses to quit. If anyone’s seen me do a gig, I do talk quite a lot between songs. I tell stories and I try and make the introductions funny. Over the years that’s just extended until somebody said to me, “you know you’re a real folk singer when the introductions get longer than the songs!” So I thought, I need to put my money where my mouth is. I wanted to see what happens if there’s no safety net of a guitar. It’s just me with nothing to hide behind. It’s been an amazing experience learning that I can do that. I’m full of admiration for comedians who do it all the time, but I’m really proud of myself for taking the leap. How did you find striking the balance between funny and serious, when talking about such an identity-centric topic?