ATTENTION, a queer athletic play about love, is premiering in The Lir from September 10 to 14 as part of the Dublin Fringe Festival. Ahead of opening night, we sat down with the cast and creative team, including G (Writer), Martha (Composer and Sound Designer), Suzie (Lighting Designer), Norah and Bláithín (actors), and Jules (Director), to find out more.

Tell us about ATTENTION.
Jules: It’s a queer love story. It’s about two people who love each other, and have loved each other for the last seven years; it’s about the life they’ve built together and whether their love is enough to save them.

It’s also an experiment in liveness—I wanted to give the actors as much agency as possible—I wanted them to be able to respond to the moment and be able to change the course of the play so that it’s different every night.

So, the play is different every night. In what way?
G: It essentially works a bit like sport. We’ve trained and practised lots of possible options, but once the show has begun, Blá and Norah have to choose what scenes they play, when and how to play them. So what you see one night will never be the same as what you see the next. You could come back and watch again and again and again.

Norah: It feels so freeing because we’re constantly responding to each other. The scenes go in completely unexpected directions, and you just have to give yourself over to that. You have to stay so alive to the moment and play off of one another in the most truthful and exciting way.

Blá: It’s a tricky beast of a thing, and I love it to pieces. It’s definitely scary! Scary in the way that you’re left with so many options; it can be overwhelming, but it’s also very freeing and affirming.

I don’t know the word to describe the feeling, but I feel quite honoured that G and Jules have put so much faith in us to hold the work. It sort of feels like a once-in-a-lifetime project to get to do, and I am very grateful to be involved.

It sounds like quite a complicated show to design. What made you want to work on it?
Suzie: In terms of design, I’m really interested in being able to tell a non-linear story with lighting to bring the audience through the journey of the game. The design responds to the game live with the actors and the audience.

Martha: I was equally super excited by the non-linear structure. Making music in response to the impulses of the performers, creating and manipulating the sound live every night, is a rare opportunity in theatre and something I love to do. It’s also an absolutely excellent team and a gorgeous working environment.

Suzie: And then just personally, I was really interested in being part of a piece that showed audiences a lesbian love story told in a very real and honest way. I haven’t seen anything like it on stage before.

Where did the idea for ATTENTION come from? 
Jules: You know that scene in Love Actually where Emma Thompson realises her husband is having an affair? She puts on Joni Mitchell and cries. Then she straightens out the bedsheet, shakes off her tears and carries on as if nothing’s happened; even though her whole life has changed. Well, it started from that, but it hasn’t actually got anything to do with that anymore.

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If you could be in any romcom, what would it be, and who would you play?
Martha: Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, only because I wish to God I could wear a wig outside of my house.

G: I’d be Hugh Grant’s roommate in Notting Hill. The weird little guy who’s always in his underpants. Heaven.

Blá: Mr Darcy played by Matthew Macfadyen in the 2005 Pride and Prejudice. It’s not really a…com, but it is my favourite romantic movie ever. I just want to do that bit where he flexes his hand.

What role does queerness play in ATTENTION?
G: Attention is a fundamentally queer play: it’s about the ways that queerness liberates us, and the effort required to make queer love work; it’s about love as an active thing, something you have to work for and fight for and keep alive; and it’s about how and why dykes are so outrageously good at communicating their feelings.

Have you cried yet?
Blá: Every single day for the last two years.

G: It’s a room full of lesbians making a play about love.

Martha: Oh, how I cried! It’s the kind of show that takes you by surprise and bowls you over when you don’t expect it. We have gotten very used to operating the sound and lights while crying.

Jules: My favourite thing is to look over at Suzie at the end of a run! She’s always absolutely balling her eyes out whilst desperately trying to still operate the lights.

Suzie: …I might have cried… sometimes.

What do you hope audiences walk away with after seeing the show?
G: I hope people come away from ATTENTION feeling like they would if they’d just watched their favourite sports team win a big match. I hope they leave wanting to celebrate the very existence of queer love with a thousand pints at the pub and maybe like snogging all their mates or something.

If love were a sport, what sport would it be?
Suzie: Well, I’m a massive soccer fan, I’ve played it all my life, and if you’ve ever experienced the highs and lows of playing or watching soccer, you’ll know it’s definitely like love.

Blá: Sorry, but it would be hurling, obviously. All fun and games, but also incredibly painful. Surprised it’s not super illegal to be honest.

So, is love actually a sport?
Norah: Oh, for sure. It requires the same rigour and humility, and most of all good sportsmanship. When you’re winning, it feels like the most exciting, hottest thing in the world.

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Don’t miss ATTENTION at the Dublin Fringe Festival from September 10 to 14. Tickets are on sale here!

Did you know we have a team of wonderful runners taking part in this year’s Dublin Marathon and raising funds for GCN? You can support our athletes at this link.