An interview with the writer of Puppy, Naomi Westerman.
Tell us more about the play you're producing? When and how was it written and/or developed?
Puppy came about almost accidentally. I was walking home one evening and noticed some grafitti on the local tennis courts saying "dogging" with an arrow. When I got home I sat down and wrote a little ten-minute comedy thing about a group of doggers, in about an hour. Some friends performed it for a sex-themed theatre fundraiser, and people seemed to laugh a lot. At the same time I'd been playing with the idea of writing a play about sex from a queer feminist point of view, and I decided to make the dogging short scene one of full-length play. It felt like a really unexpected angle and I liked that. The other inspiration was the so-called "porn ban" or "facesitting ban" of 2014, which was clearly crying out to be turned into a play (a government attack on female sexual pleasure, and Nick Clegg randomly turning up to give a speech in favour of facesitting??).
So I wrote 'Puppy' and we did a run of it at VAULT as a work in progress, where it sold out and got some amazing reviews (including being name checked in the Guardian and Time Out), and is now in talks about transferring to a major theatre.
And what's the background of your theatre company?
I set up Little but Fierce in 2014. I acted in a play with an all-female cast the year before, and it was such a wonderful and holistic experience to make work in an all-female environment. When the show ended several of us continued to have regular get-togethers, to work/play/learn (rehearse audition monologues, test out new material, practise improv, etc.) in a supportive environment. I named the group Little but Fierce, and when the opportunity arose to perform a one-act play I'd written (at the Royal Shakespeare Company, as part of a festival) we formally came together as a theatre company.
Tell us more about the play you're producing? When and how was it written and/or developed?
Puppy came about almost accidentally. I was walking home one evening and noticed some grafitti on the local tennis courts saying "dogging" with an arrow. When I got home I sat down and wrote a little ten-minute comedy thing about a group of doggers, in about an hour. Some friends performed it for a sex-themed theatre fundraiser, and people seemed to laugh a lot. At the same time I'd been playing with the idea of writing a play about sex from a queer feminist point of view, and I decided to make the dogging short scene one of full-length play. It felt like a really unexpected angle and I liked that. The other inspiration was the so-called "porn ban" or "facesitting ban" of 2014, which was clearly crying out to be turned into a play (a government attack on female sexual pleasure, and Nick Clegg randomly turning up to give a speech in favour of facesitting??).
So I wrote 'Puppy' and we did a run of it at VAULT as a work in progress, where it sold out and got some amazing reviews (including being name checked in the Guardian and Time Out), and is now in talks about transferring to a major theatre.
And what's the background of your theatre company?
I set up Little but Fierce in 2014. I acted in a play with an all-female cast the year before, and it was such a wonderful and holistic experience to make work in an all-female environment. When the show ended several of us continued to have regular get-togethers, to work/play/learn (rehearse audition monologues, test out new material, practise improv, etc.) in a supportive environment. I named the group Little but Fierce, and when the opportunity arose to perform a one-act play I'd written (at the Royal Shakespeare Company, as part of a festival) we formally came together as a theatre company.