Doomslayers are bringing their theatre show back to Smock Alley in Dublin on Saturday, July 25. Entitled Apocalypse How?, the trio comprised of Annie Queeries, Donna Fella and Laylah Beattie chatted to GCN ahead of the event about the end of the world, the third season of their podcast and the journey of Doomslayers so far.
“When we started Doomslayers, we’d been friends for like three years and we just loved being around each other,” Laylah tells us. “I had a podcast that I really loved doing and Annie and Donna were guests on it for certain episodes and I just couldn’t get the idea out of my head that we should do something together. I asked the girls if they’d be up for it, and the concept just kind of grew from there.
“The three of us have always been prone to getting bogged down in existential dread and I suppose kind of vulnerable to the bad news and doom that’s so prevalent online. Obviously, it’s important to be aware of what’s going on in the world, but we wanted to try and navigate how you can still find enjoyment when the world feels like it could end at any minute.”
Donna adds, “Yeah, the podcast has been so fun for us. It’s like half us talking about our own doom and telling weird stories from our lives and then half us advising listeners on their doom. The advice can sometimes be pretty appalling and then it can also be quite genuine depending on whatever mood we’re in. But mainly we’re just trying to have a laugh with eachother. And then we’ve been able to have live shows where we get to perform skits and musical numbers and just get to have a good time with our audience.”
“The concept of the podcast can get a little complicated,” Annie laughs. “What started with the end of the world and the whole concept around that turned into Season 2, where we were in a doomsday cult and now Season 3, where we’re in the business of doom and running a corporation based on our terrible advice.
“In between, we’ve done radio plays which featured us travelling back to the 1950s and Laylah getting pregnant with an alien and recently we told the story of how we were rescued from the cult by a listener to the podcast. We have so many ideas for concepts and it’s all very silly but also very fun. We set out to do things that we enjoyed and thankfully people have been so supportive and responded really well to our antics.”
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One of these ideas was Apocalypse How, a Doomslayers theatre show that appeared in last year’s Dublin Fringe Festival and had a five-night sold-out run. It was also nominated for Best Ensemble in the Fringe awards. Since then, it travelled to Cork Fringe, and now it comes back for one final performance in Smock Alley.
“The show was everything we set out to do when we created the podcast,” Donna says. “We got to imagine what it would be like if we truly had to help people navigate the end of the world, and the show takes place in our version of an end-of-the-world bunker. In the show, all the Christians were raptured and the straight people were taken off to repopulate the earth, so we’re running a bunker for all the queers who were left behind. It’s existential, but in a camp way with plenty of musical numbers.”
“Our default is usually camp and silly, but to be fair we’re pretty good at being sincere also, especially about the queer experience of being outcasts growing up,” Annie adds. “We talk about that a lot on the podcast, and in a way it’s a huge foundation within our bond.
“In the show, we got to each monologue about our own experiences of feeling like failures in our own way. And then there’s this gorgeous moment where all of our experiences join together into one monologue turned poem discussing how we overcame the doom of our existences by joining together. It’s been really nice to show that sincere part of ourselves in addition to the shenanigans that our audience have come to expect.”
“We’ve had such a great time with the show,” Laylah says, “and we’ve been so thrilled to have it resonate with people. We’re so looking forward to doing it one last time before we move on to our next venture. And we’re thrilled to be bringing it to Smock Alley, a theatre we adore and one that’s been really supportive of us and our creativity.
“As much as we love the show and feel like we could do it forever, we’re looking forward to creating something new and continuing on with the current season of our podcast where we get to be corporate nightmares. It’s a very fun and very triggering concept for live podcast shows.”
To catch the Doomslayers at their Dublin show Apocalypse How?, get tickets here.
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