Puppy is an outrageous, sex-positive comedy about dogging, queerness, porn, face-sitting and Nick Clegg starring Ashling O’Shea and Amy Revelle.
Written by Naomi Westerman, it is currently playing at the King’s Head Theatre in London. We caught up with Ashling and Amy to find out more.
Q&A with Ashling O’Shea and Amy Revelle
What can you tell us about Puppy?
Amy: It’s BOLD, FUNNY, DARING, TRUTHFUL, VULNERABLE, SEXY, PLAYFUL, EMOTIONAL and more.
Ashling: Puppy is a play that subverts the expected when it comes to sex, kink and porn. It speaks to the truth of community within these spheres as well as some of the harder conversations that need to be had around these things. It’s a play about relationships, platonic, familial, romantic, sexual and with oneself. It does all of this through a lens of joy and silliness which is so needed right now!
What was it that drew you to the play?
Amy: I liked how bold it was when it came to speaking truths and facts. It made me as an actor want to grab it with both hands and do my best to share a story that isn’t my immediate life but it surrounding so many of us.
Ashling: It is so different from anything I’ve ever done. It creates a dialogue about topics I’ve never seen explored and rarely hear people talk about so that immediately captured my interest. I’d be lying if I said the amount of sex depicted didn’t scare me at first, but the team were so quick to let us know we would never be doing anything we didn’t feel comfortable doing, we’d be fully clothed and we would have an intimacy coordinator onboard from the beginning and throughout. It felt like a challenge I was excited to take on.
How have you approached your respective roles?
Amy: Some research. Some conversations. Discussions in the room. Playing. Making mistakes. Questioning everything!
Ashling: I approach all roles with serious deep diving into the themes of the play, so a lot of research into the porn industry, kink, community and the politics of bodily autonomy. I let all of this inform the choices I make with my role with an understanding that they may not have had the access to information that I have had. Then it becomes a point of just getting to know the character, so for me, spending time with Jaz. Finding things within the script that tell you about the specifics of how she sees the world, relationships and herself as well as making decisions about her for myself and working with the director to find even more to flesh out a multidimensional person.
What has the rehearsal process been like?
Amy: I would have loved to have had more time to delve deeper into everything but time is money! The team have been amazing and so lovely to work with. Lots of joy and hard work.
Ashling: It’s been amazing. Rehearsal processes are often super intense, especially with a bigger cast and team with lots of voices in the room but when you have a bunch of curious and kind people in a room together – it’s magic. I think something that feels so indicative of this rehearsal process as a whole is that every day we start with a check in where we have to share something that has brought us joy. We begin every day filling the space with joy and that feels like exactly what we’re trying to do with this show, put a whole bunch of joy into the world.
Is there anything you hope audiences take away from the show?
Amy: I’d love them to think about anything they didn’t know before hand. I’d love to have people be brave enough to question what they didn’t understand and share with others. Be excited by brave theatre and want to see more of it. I’d love them to FEEL. To laugh. To cry. To question. To want to explore. To understand. To have fun. To experience something new. To relax. To listen. To ENJOY the show! 🙂
Ashling: I hope people laugh and have fun first and foremost, but also come away with questions and conversations they want to have with the people around them. Whether the questions are around how to engage with porn ethically or whether they have more to explore within their sexuality or identity, I hope the unanswered questions in Puppy encourage exploration.
