NOW!
After more than a decade of working mainly in live art the Hewlett brain is currently focusing on a number of new screen based comedy writing projects including short film The Obligation.
She will also continue touring Latherland her interactive live soap opera and appears in short film 51 States and in Disney's Artemis Fowl .
THE OBLIGATION
Short film in development
A daughter already exasperated by her father's warped sense of obligation to others discovers that his inflated devotion to etiquette has reached a new level of ridiculousness, which quickly descends into a Kafkaesque nightmare of suburban proportions. A film exploring death, telemarketing and uncomfortable family dynamics.
Photo credit: Rachel King
LATHERLAND
(formally called The Erinsborough Fringe)
Live interactive soap opera
Stuck in an interminable loop of comings and goings, this 3 hour omnibus explores a distillation of some of the most ropey soapy moments.
Clichéd characters make surprise arrivals, good news is discovered, mystery plots uncovered and a disproportionate amount of death and daytime tragedy is up for grabs in this eye rolling, never ending cycle.
Knock at the door. Borrow that cup of sugar. Look for that lost dog. Become part of this insular neighbourly network and see yourself on the telly. Without you life can't move on!
Performed in front of a studio audience with a live edit relayed to television sets around the public space of the venue, the show gives a unique multi view experience. Amidst a cast of five core actors, audience members are invited to take part in this semi-improvised performance.
"Latherland is an ingenious piece of interactive performance that challenges our ideas about form, popular culture and drama in a hilarious and totally inclusive setting. We are thrilled to present this gently anarchic work that speaks to a wide range of audience members and will never be the same twice. It was a hit at our Spring festival, audiences haven't stopped talking about it." Rosana Cade, (Co-Director Buzzcut)
Devised, directed, designed and produced by Susannah Hewlett
Co-director: Steve Nice
Assistant producer: Karl Taylor
Live film and edit: Jon Reid
Core cast have included: Laurie Brown, Jon Pointing, Belinda Fenty, Andrew Bridge and Ivor MacAskill.
Performed at Buzzcut Festival - Glasgow, Under the Owls Festival for Live Art Bistro - Leeds. Buzzcut's Out of the Woods at Forest Fringe - Edinburgh, 2015 and Shopfront Festival - Coventry 2017.
You can read a piece about it HERE
Fun fact!
Originally, The Erinsborough Fringe was an imagining of the fictitious Australian borough in Neighbours hosting their own Fringe Festival in parallel to The Edinburgh Fringe.
During The Edinburgh Fringe 2013 Hewlett designed and publicised fake posters of various historic Neighbours characters’ imagined shows….however, this quickly gave way to the development of an actual performance project - the live soap opera as seen above!
The Erinsborough Fringe now takes the new name Latherland to find resonance in other cities beyond Edinburgh!
