Edinburgh Fringe Q&A: Hysterical

Tell us about your show and what audiences can expect?

Hysterical is a poetry theatre production that was developed in Aotearoa New Zealand by acclaimed international poets Carrie Rudzinski and Olivia Hall. The show weaves together 16 individual poems, with voice messages, personal stories, and spontaneous banter to create a joyful, honest celebration of real feelings. This show is fierce, feminist, and funny, reclaiming emotion as a powerful tool of connection. Hysterical is truly a genre blend, breaking the fourth wall, and encouraging the audience to laugh, cry, and experience with the performers.

Can you talk about some of the creative team involved?

The creative team for Hysterical is entirely the two of us, Carrie Rudzinski and Olivia Hall; we are the writers, performers, and producers. Carrie Rudzinski is an award-winning poet, published author, and teaching artist and Olivia Hall is a celebrated performance poet with a Masters degree in Gender. We have been collaborating for six years and this is our second poetry theatre show that we’ve created together. Our friendship is an integral part of our performances and a key magic ingredient in our collaboration when writing and performing.

Where do you draw inspiration from for your work, both in terms of creation and performance?

We definitely are inspired from our personal lives but also from what’s currently happening in the world around us. Hysterical was born from wanting to push back against the stereotype that women are too emotional. Whether that’s too emotional from rage or crying or happiness, we wanted to lean in and unpack the expectations society has and the real experiences women have. Oh you think it’s appropriate to ask me if I am planning to have a baby while at a job interview? Let’s talk about that.

Looking at this production, how would you say it links to previous work personally and thematically?

Our work makes the personal political and the political personal. We examine lived experiences and what it means to exist in bodies and to experience emotion in a world that doesn’t really want us to. Hysterical has a more developed narrative than our previous work and it feels like a reclamation of emotion, a celebration of what it means to be alive. Through individual poems, we are able to cover a wide range of topics, from systemic sexism to climate change to transphobia, but the themes of the show tie everything together. 

Why is this an important story to tell?

Personal narratives are sometimes dismissed or lost in the buzz of modern doom scrolling and non-stop crises happening in the world. But Hysterical re-centers what makes us feel human; the emotions and experiences of real moments in life. Social justice and equality are at the forefront of what we write and talk about because it’s what we really believe, what we’re currently fighting for, what is affecting us everyday.  

What would you like audiences to take away from seeing you at the Fringe?

We would love for audiences to get to experience a taste of the incredible talent we have here in Aotearoa New Zealand and to have a fresh perspective on what poetry can be. We hope audiences feel more connected to themselves and each other after experiencing Hysterical and feel inspired to be in touch with their emotions.

Do you tend to take inspiration from events happening in the world around you in terms of your work? 

We’re absolutely impacted by what is happening to us and around us when it comes to our poetry. It’s one of the things we love about this artform and this show – we can continually be writing and updating poems so they feel fresh and relevant and respond to political and cultural events that feel important for us to speak on. Art can be so many things, including escapism, but as poets we also feel an ability to be truth tellers and to point to things that may otherwise be overlooked or ignored.

How do you feel about the current arts landscape in your country and your part in it? Does it excite you and inspire you to keep pushing the boat out?

The talent in Aotearoa New Zealand is incredible, especially for such a small country, and we feel really honoured to be part of a growing movement of poetic theatre here. It feels like fellow poets are breaking barriers of how our work can be presented in theatrical and staging contexts and it’s very exciting to be in that wave. However funding for the arts is limited in New Zealand and under threat from budget cuts – it is a serious concern, especially in a “post-covid/lockdown” time when the arts have already worked so hard to survive only to be faced with even more limited resources.

Why are arts festivals such as the Fringe so important for international exchange?

The cultural exchange from an international arts festival is so exciting and such a unique privilege to be part of. We are really looking forward to seeing shows and meeting artists who broaden our perspectives so we can be inspired and bring that inspiration back to our local and national communities. This feels even more important after experiencing the pandemic, as New Zealand’s borders were effectively closed for two years; we are now just venturing into a new era of reconnection.

What can the wider arts community do to get more people involved in their specific disciplines?

Arts funding still feels like an essential building block to support artists and communities to connect and experience art together. If artists are supported with funding, if their projects can be marketed to reach more diverse and under resourced communities, if their work can be delivered in more rural locations – this all ensures that more artists are engaging in their disciplines because they’re supported to do so and also ensures more people are inspired by and experiencing art.

Have you got your eye on any other shows that are part of the programme?

We’re honestly so excited to see as much as we can during the programme! There are so many other acts on at Summerhall that we can’t wait to watch, like Playing Latinx which is on right before us and Grief Lightning which is on right after us in our same venue. 

What’s next for you and how are you feeling about the future in general?

We have lots of shows booked for 2024 in New Zealand but we are excited to be at Fringe and connect with more international artists and producers! We’d love to bring Hysterical to Australia and are excited to spend more time developing and touring our next show, The Bitching Hour, which we just finished a development season of.

How can Edinburgh audiences keep up with you beyond the festival?

Follow us on Instagram! You can find us @hwsproductions where we provide updates about future performances and post incredibly cute pictures of ourselves.