If two couples move in together, and after 48 hours one-half of each couple dies, what happens next? Lucy Foley draws on her own experiences to ask the unforeseen questions surrounding the unsure side of grief in her debut play, Flat 2. Questions like: When should we unpack the deceased’s clothes? When should we go back to work? Is it different if the aforementioned work involves musical bumps? How soon is too soon to start shagging your dead best friend’s boyfriend? … Two weeks?
Lucy Foley, who also performs, and the show’s director Natalie Evans – a contributor here at The Arts Dispatch – take the show to Edinburgh with From The Middle Theatre Company, the company they established in 2023. Tell us about what it’s like to opening Flat 2 at the Fringe.
Q&A with Lucy Foley and Natalie Evans
How does it feel to be heading to Edinburgh Fringe?
Absolutely surreal. We’ve been planning the trip for a long time, so it feels bizarre that it’s actually happening now.
I’ve been up to the fringe as a spectator for the past two years and the atmosphere is incomparable. There is a reason near enough every artist in the UK heads up for it – to have that much creativity in one space is so amazing, we’re just excited to be a part of it.
However, with this in mind, I think it was always going to be daunting with it being our first time (of many, we hope!). There are so many other great shows all vying for an audience, meaning you need to have a lot of faith in your own.
What I can attest to though is that there is not even a slight competitive vibe amongst those involved. Everyone we have come across has been so encouraging and generous. We have been incredibly lucky with the amount of support received from fellow artists, which is a true testament to the industry.
We’re also really grateful for theSpace UK’s support throughout. They’ve been so lovely and welcoming, answering all of our questions and making the process much less stressful than it could have been.
What can you tell us about your show and its inspiration?
The starting point is this: If two couples move in together and after 48 hours one half of each couple dies, what happens next? Also, how soon is too soon for them to f*ck?
The play follows the chalk and cheese Ava and Freddie learning to lean on each other in the wake of the bizarre tenancy tragedy. It asks the unsure questions surrounding grief. Questions like: When should we go back to work? Is that different if the work involves musical bumps? What is an appropriate Mourning food? Pizza? It’s inspired by my (Lucy’s) real experiences of grief and its confusing journey. After a series of unfortunate deaths in my life, with some taken much too soon, I felt a pressure to grieve in a certain way – to wear black and stop eating – but the reality looked very different. I wanted to reflect the extremes of that and I hope that people might recognise their own experiences in it too.
Plus, I just thought it was a darkly funny hypothetical, as I do in fact live with my partner and another couple, and this was a conversation we all had just 48 hours after moving in together.
How do you think audiences will react to the show?
Hopefully well… We feel that the show has a real authenticity, and therefore relatability to it. The aim is for it to connect with anyone who has experienced grief of course, but also anyone who has been an artist, been in a relationship, been in your 20s, or performed at a children’s birthday party. So something for everyone really.
How have you been preparing for the festival?
A lot of late nights! Both us and the other actor involved work conflicting schedules, so we have been rehearsing when and where we can, and then coming home to sort out the logistics. It helps immensely that we live together, but does also mean that our flat is currently playing host to all of our production paraphernalia.
Will you get a chance to enjoy the rest of the festival?
Yes, thankfully! We are treating it as a sort of working holiday, I suppose – the idea being that once we have done the show, a good amount of flyering, each day, we can go off and gallivant across the festival as spectators. We have a long list of shows we can’t wait to catch, and are eager to support lots of other artists performing at theSpace.
Flat 2 is at theSpace on the mile from 12 August to 17 August
