Bloody Knees, a play by 22 year old Madeleine Sanderson who wrote, directed and played the lead in last March whilst still a student at Cambridge University. The show taps into the current cultural zeitgeist of young adults' nostalgia for Saturday morning cartoons, finger food, and blissful ignorance of the world around us, and in tandem the script plays upon the fear of growing into our inevitable responsibilities and addictions. The audience is jettisoned through a lush pastiche of snapshots that every young twenty-something can relate to - botched job interviews, unrequited love, public embarrassment, the etiquette of sharing Class-B drugs, and a yearning for a childhood innocence you can’t quite ever return to.
The cast and creatives on the show are:
Writer, Director, Cass: Madeleine Sanderson
Assistant Director: Sam Allen
Georgie: Lara Ibrahim
Oliver: Jaeyen Lian
Little Lord Fauntleroy, Big Boss: Charles Wolrige Gordon
Sparks, Judge Garfield: Joseph Wolffe
Yummy Mummy, Samantha: Yolanda Witt Palomares
Technician and programmer: Glenn Griffin
Ahead of a performance at The Libra Theatre Cafe on 13th November at 8pm we caught up with some of the creative minds involved with the show.
What can you tell me about Bloody Knees?
MADDY: Psychologists say that inside everyone is a child screaming out to be loved. But as I always advertise the show, all Cass, Bloody Knees’ protagonist and self-pitying adult child, screams for, are a cheap double, a wank, and, if the cards are in her favour, to not fall asleep in front of the TV. Georgie, her long-term best friend and begrudging flatmate, is increasingly keen for Cass to do something with her life (or at least start paying her half of the rent), as the audience is jettisoned through a pastiche of snapshots that most young twenty-somethings can relate to - botched job interviews, unrequited love, public embarrassment, the etiquette of sharing Class-B drugs, and a yearning for a childhood innocence you can’t quite ever return to. In what Varsity newspaper has termed ‘Bloody Knees’ “like gen Z's Peep Show” and "Waiting for Godot for everyone who had a Nintendo", we watch Cass cling to the nostalgia for a world where your biggest fear is simply skinning your knees on the playground.
Where did the inspiration for the show come from?
MADDY: Much of the show revolves around a kind of sitcom format - people hanging out, joking around, doing dumb stuff, but ultimately just trying to live their lives. I love sitcoms - mainly just because watching them doesn’t require too much brainpower, but also because of the security of knowing that, 90% of the time, whatever happens, the main cast just kind of stumble on without thinking about it, whether or not they should. Seinfeld, Peep Show or old Simpsons are classic comfort-vegetation shows, or a restorative for when I’m tired or hungover (too often I’m some vague mix of both). For similar reasons, I’m also massively into slacker movies. Think Kevin Smith’s Clerks, or Noah Baumbach’s Kicking and Screaming and Frances Ha.
MADDY: Psychologists say that inside everyone is a child screaming out to be loved. But as I always advertise the show, all Cass, Bloody Knees’ protagonist and self-pitying adult child, screams for, are a cheap double, a wank, and, if the cards are in her favour, to not fall asleep in front of the TV. Georgie, her long-term best friend and begrudging flatmate, is increasingly keen for Cass to do something with her life (or at least start paying her half of the rent), as the audience is jettisoned through a pastiche of snapshots that most young twenty-somethings can relate to - botched job interviews, unrequited love, public embarrassment, the etiquette of sharing Class-B drugs, and a yearning for a childhood innocence you can’t quite ever return to. In what Varsity newspaper has termed ‘Bloody Knees’ “like gen Z's Peep Show” and "Waiting for Godot for everyone who had a Nintendo", we watch Cass cling to the nostalgia for a world where your biggest fear is simply skinning your knees on the playground.
Where did the inspiration for the show come from?
MADDY: Much of the show revolves around a kind of sitcom format - people hanging out, joking around, doing dumb stuff, but ultimately just trying to live their lives. I love sitcoms - mainly just because watching them doesn’t require too much brainpower, but also because of the security of knowing that, 90% of the time, whatever happens, the main cast just kind of stumble on without thinking about it, whether or not they should. Seinfeld, Peep Show or old Simpsons are classic comfort-vegetation shows, or a restorative for when I’m tired or hungover (too often I’m some vague mix of both). For similar reasons, I’m also massively into slacker movies. Think Kevin Smith’s Clerks, or Noah Baumbach’s Kicking and Screaming and Frances Ha.
Still, I’d say what drove me to actively make something of my own was the work of Justin Kerrigan. I remember my friends and I played his film Human Traffic on my shitty DVD monitor one night at Uni and loved it. I think I’m mainly attached to how the movie takes something relatable and arguably mundane about being young and stupid, like mouthing off your boss or ploughing through the morning after a night out, and makes it funny and absurd, often in a kind of cartoonish way. He also has a funky little short called Pubroom Paranoia, which transforms the anxieties of meeting people down the pub into a whacky gameshow format.
What attracted you to this piece?
SAM: I just love sitcoms! Almost all of my favourite TV shows are sitcoms and I think it’s so refreshing to have that style of comedy on stage, especially in Cambridge where most of the comedies are stand-up or sketch shows. I think Bloody Knees is a perfect example of brilliant comedy writing that breaks the mould a little bit, while still reminding audiences of a format they love!
JOE: I've worked on a lot of theatre stuff with Maddy before, so I was excited to see that she'd written something. The play has a great energy and the set had a big comfy sofa so I was sold.
JAEYEN: I first read the description and found it so bizarre that I knew I had to apply. I had also only done musicals before Bloody Knees and thought that this was the perfect piece to get into straight acting. It’s hilarious, relatable, heartfelt and absolutely crazy!
What can you tell me about your character and how they fit into the story?
MADDY: I play Cass, a part-time waitress who lives (see: sponges off) her flatmate Georgie: her best friend throughout school/university who now works a regular 9-5, and who doesn’t have the time to deal with Cass’s trivial anxieties, let alone her own real-life concerns. She’s a self-confessed terminal layabout armed with a cocktail of cartoons, fried food and assorted patterns of substance abuse as her chosen coping mechanisms, but despite her immaturity, she loves Georgie to bits, and she genuinely doesn’t want to hurt anyone.
LARA: Georgie is a caring friend first and a corporate girl second. She is very much the neurotic ‘grown up’ of the play, and is often frustrated with her best friend, Cass, for refusing to grow up. Despite this frustration, she truly loves Cass, and always looks out for her – whether that be by waiting up for her while she’s out on a bender or working to get her an interview with her boss.
JOE: Sparks is a drug dealer, but he's really so much more. You can't really put him in a box - just when you think you've got him all figured out, he's only gone and become a literary enthusiast, or bought a 100 percent pure bred chow chow. He's a bit of a mystery, but at the end of the day, he's the only guy that could get you some ket for your aunt's funeral.
What attracted you to this piece?
SAM: I just love sitcoms! Almost all of my favourite TV shows are sitcoms and I think it’s so refreshing to have that style of comedy on stage, especially in Cambridge where most of the comedies are stand-up or sketch shows. I think Bloody Knees is a perfect example of brilliant comedy writing that breaks the mould a little bit, while still reminding audiences of a format they love!
JOE: I've worked on a lot of theatre stuff with Maddy before, so I was excited to see that she'd written something. The play has a great energy and the set had a big comfy sofa so I was sold.
JAEYEN: I first read the description and found it so bizarre that I knew I had to apply. I had also only done musicals before Bloody Knees and thought that this was the perfect piece to get into straight acting. It’s hilarious, relatable, heartfelt and absolutely crazy!
What can you tell me about your character and how they fit into the story?
MADDY: I play Cass, a part-time waitress who lives (see: sponges off) her flatmate Georgie: her best friend throughout school/university who now works a regular 9-5, and who doesn’t have the time to deal with Cass’s trivial anxieties, let alone her own real-life concerns. She’s a self-confessed terminal layabout armed with a cocktail of cartoons, fried food and assorted patterns of substance abuse as her chosen coping mechanisms, but despite her immaturity, she loves Georgie to bits, and she genuinely doesn’t want to hurt anyone.
LARA: Georgie is a caring friend first and a corporate girl second. She is very much the neurotic ‘grown up’ of the play, and is often frustrated with her best friend, Cass, for refusing to grow up. Despite this frustration, she truly loves Cass, and always looks out for her – whether that be by waiting up for her while she’s out on a bender or working to get her an interview with her boss.
JOE: Sparks is a drug dealer, but he's really so much more. You can't really put him in a box - just when you think you've got him all figured out, he's only gone and become a literary enthusiast, or bought a 100 percent pure bred chow chow. He's a bit of a mystery, but at the end of the day, he's the only guy that could get you some ket for your aunt's funeral.
Oh yeah, and I also play Garfield. Like the cat. Who's also a judge. You're gonna have to come and watch the play for that one.
JAEYEN: Oliver is a wealthy guy from an upper-class family who is essentially set for life due to family ties in businesses. He meets Cass at a party and, although they hook up, never calls her back. This unrequited not-quite-love drives Cass crazy until they meet again in quite hilarious circumstances.
How much of you and your own experience as an early 20-year-old end up in the play?
MADDY: Luckily, when I wrote the play during my final year of university there hadn’t been quite enough time for any of my peers to become wildly successful in their chosen career and leave me dragging my knuckles in the dust behind them. But there’s definitely stuff that’s more-or-less been directly lifted from my own life experiences – particularly the scenes of Cass having to grin and bear some of the mind-numbing customer service interactions, or not being able to take things seriously and still using humour as a coping mechanism after things go pear-shaped as a result. I guess in that way, the more I’ve worked on the script, the more it’s revealed itself to be a somewhat introspective process. Which is probably a self-centred observation in itself, meaning I’ve actually learned nothing! But I promise it’s not all from real life and there’s still a shred of creativity in there - for a start, unlike Cass, I still can’t roll a half-decent cigarette.
JOE: I can't say I have much experience drug dealing (or being a lasagne-eating cat for that matter) but I think the play in general does reflect the contrast between how young, silly and inexperienced you really are coming straight out of uni, and the sort of serious spaces and people you suddenly have to negotiate. But also I think it shows how ridiculous and manipulative that world is too.
JAEYEN: Not even 20 yet lol. But I love cartoons! I’m a child at heart who often probably comes across as a posh twat and I think that definitely comes into Oliver. The law degree also comes in handy for the courtroom scene…
JAEYEN: Oliver is a wealthy guy from an upper-class family who is essentially set for life due to family ties in businesses. He meets Cass at a party and, although they hook up, never calls her back. This unrequited not-quite-love drives Cass crazy until they meet again in quite hilarious circumstances.
How much of you and your own experience as an early 20-year-old end up in the play?
MADDY: Luckily, when I wrote the play during my final year of university there hadn’t been quite enough time for any of my peers to become wildly successful in their chosen career and leave me dragging my knuckles in the dust behind them. But there’s definitely stuff that’s more-or-less been directly lifted from my own life experiences – particularly the scenes of Cass having to grin and bear some of the mind-numbing customer service interactions, or not being able to take things seriously and still using humour as a coping mechanism after things go pear-shaped as a result. I guess in that way, the more I’ve worked on the script, the more it’s revealed itself to be a somewhat introspective process. Which is probably a self-centred observation in itself, meaning I’ve actually learned nothing! But I promise it’s not all from real life and there’s still a shred of creativity in there - for a start, unlike Cass, I still can’t roll a half-decent cigarette.
JOE: I can't say I have much experience drug dealing (or being a lasagne-eating cat for that matter) but I think the play in general does reflect the contrast between how young, silly and inexperienced you really are coming straight out of uni, and the sort of serious spaces and people you suddenly have to negotiate. But also I think it shows how ridiculous and manipulative that world is too.
JAEYEN: Not even 20 yet lol. But I love cartoons! I’m a child at heart who often probably comes across as a posh twat and I think that definitely comes into Oliver. The law degree also comes in handy for the courtroom scene…
Having previously been well reviewed, do you come at it any differently for this run and re-fresh any element of the piece?
MADDY: Can I speak totally in character and be lazy about this? Apart from lines which sounded like they’d come straight out of a GCSE drama piece, after the Cambridge run, as the writer I’ve stuck to a kind of ‘if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it’ mentality. Direction is going to be more interesting – the new venue has a smaller, cabaret-style staging, and there’s also a TV, so it would be cool to muck about with some visual/video graphics this time around. One big thing that’s been changed is the length. It was over an hour and a half in its first run, which was stupidly long for something that’s meant to be a bit of a laugh. I’m surprised we didn’t throw in an interval and sell ice creams for good measure. Actually, that could be fun. Maybe I’ll convince the boys to wear boater hats and try it.
SAM: As AD, I’m really excited to help work out how to stage the show differently in a different space and with a different audience. The Cambridge theatre scene is such a specific environment to perform in, and I can’t wait to see how the show grows when it can take on a life of its own outside of the student bubble!
JOE: Yeah, now that I have my 4 1/2 star review from Varsity, who needs an Oscar? Seriously, it was very nice to be well-reviewed, but that was just the start! I'm excited to see how it will be in a different space; it's a constantly evolving piece.
JAEYEN: I enjoyed trying to make every night of the original run a little bit different with adlibs and new ideas, and this will be a great opportunity to collate some of the best ones and think up some more which I think will really give a fresh feeling for everyone!
How do you mentally and physically prepare for a performance?
MADDY: I don’t have a set routine. I kind of just wing it based on how I’m feeling that day. Honestly, I’d say my most consistent intake was a few cheeky puffs of Charles’ vape during last-minute warm-ups. As was everyone else’s. Sorry Charles.
JAEYEN: I’m lucky to have become friendly with the other actors in the show and we all have an energy that bounces between us. As soon as we’re in a room together it feels tangible and doing some simple warm ups and improv exercises with them really gets me in the mood for a show.
JOE: Honestly, I'm always pretty calm mentally before a performance. Genuinely, most important thing for me is having a piss beforehand. Also don't be hungry that's a killer!
What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced in the process so far?
MADDY: Hands down, learning my lines. It’s so hard. It’s also incredibly embarrassing when you’re the one who wrote them.
JAEYEN: Almost not being in this run - I had to beg another director to let me miss a night of their show just do to this!
Where did your arts career begin and when did you know it was the career for you?
MADDY: Technically? Plagiarising Super Mario web comics on DeviantArt when I was about six. On paper? I started writing and performing more regularly when I got to university. I must have been out of my mind thinking it would impress any potential new friends, but my first gig was doing stand-up at a comedy night a few weeks into my first term there. Weirdly, quite a few bits in the show are actually developed from material I first performed in my stand-up.
SAM: I hadn’t been involved in any theatre before I got to Uni, but at the start of my first year I signed up to a tech shadowing scheme and discovered a love for stage management. I stage manage most of the time, but I was desperate to have more creative influence on Bloody Knees after reading the script, so I tried my hand at assistant directing for the first time, and I haven’t looked back! I knew I wanted to go into theatre as a career when I stage managed a tour of Julius Caesar around America this summer - there’s just nothing else that brings me the fulfilment and joy of seeing a show I helped create get a round of applause or a standing ovation.
JAEYEN: I’m studying law man I can’t lie…
What keeps you inspired?
MADDY: I don’t really know? Apart from shoehorning in a plot point or an attempt at character development before the script deadline, the show had no fixed creative process to speak of. I just love coming up with scripts because it gives you as an adult an excuse to play pretend. I think, for me, ideas just pop up as and when they come. There’s a reason why most of the stuff on my notes app reads something like ‘watch Midnight Cowboy (1969). Are my emotional problems rooted in the depths of my childhood psyche? Cass is addicted to sausage rolls. PAY PHONE BILL BY END OF TUESDAY PLEASE GOD’.
JAEYEN: Music, the incredible art that my friends produce in writing and on stage, and my lovely girlfriend.
What do you hope an audience feels when watching Bloody Knees?
MADDY: Mainly that they’ve not been scammed out of a fiver. But if I have to be sincere, I think at the end of the day I just want people to have a good time. Maybe they’ll see something of themselves in the way Cass bumbles absent-mindedly through life, or Georgie’s struggles to keep her head above water, or, who knows, the local-drug-dealer-come-pedigree-dog-breeder. Also, it’s super cliché, but mostly everyone else is also going through the same madness that is being alive and human as you are, and no, most of the time, the world isn’t out to get you.
SAM: Above all else I want people to laugh! But I also think some of the dialogue in Bloody Knees is genuinely moving, and the characters are all just slightly exaggerated versions of people most audience members will know in real life. Maddy’s script is painfully relatable at times - in both its sad and funny moments. I hope the show makes people feel a bit less alone in the craziness and complexity of young adult life, and I hope it makes them realise that you can laugh at just about all of it if you learn to see the funny side.
JAEYEN: Happiness, sadness, hilarity, absurdity, magic, relatability, psycho-stimulated, confusion, satisfaction.
LARA: I hope each member of the audience feels a slight pain in their side from laughing so hard. Despite having rehearsed the play so many times, it’s still a struggle not to laugh on stage. I blame excellent writing and castmates for that. I also hope the audience feels the genuine joy we get as cast members performing the play. Maddy is an incredibly talented and downright hilarious writer, and I’m certain that will shine through.
Where can an audience see the show?
MADDY: At the moment we’re on for one night and one night only, at 8pm on November 13th at the Libra Theatre Café in Camden! The owners Jessica and Simina are lovely, and there’s a great bar in the upstairs area, so come drink yourself silly beforehand so we’ll think you’re laughing at the show. And if you hate it, you can always drink to forget afterwards! Everyone’s a winner.
MADDY: Can I speak totally in character and be lazy about this? Apart from lines which sounded like they’d come straight out of a GCSE drama piece, after the Cambridge run, as the writer I’ve stuck to a kind of ‘if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it’ mentality. Direction is going to be more interesting – the new venue has a smaller, cabaret-style staging, and there’s also a TV, so it would be cool to muck about with some visual/video graphics this time around. One big thing that’s been changed is the length. It was over an hour and a half in its first run, which was stupidly long for something that’s meant to be a bit of a laugh. I’m surprised we didn’t throw in an interval and sell ice creams for good measure. Actually, that could be fun. Maybe I’ll convince the boys to wear boater hats and try it.
SAM: As AD, I’m really excited to help work out how to stage the show differently in a different space and with a different audience. The Cambridge theatre scene is such a specific environment to perform in, and I can’t wait to see how the show grows when it can take on a life of its own outside of the student bubble!
JOE: Yeah, now that I have my 4 1/2 star review from Varsity, who needs an Oscar? Seriously, it was very nice to be well-reviewed, but that was just the start! I'm excited to see how it will be in a different space; it's a constantly evolving piece.
JAEYEN: I enjoyed trying to make every night of the original run a little bit different with adlibs and new ideas, and this will be a great opportunity to collate some of the best ones and think up some more which I think will really give a fresh feeling for everyone!
How do you mentally and physically prepare for a performance?
MADDY: I don’t have a set routine. I kind of just wing it based on how I’m feeling that day. Honestly, I’d say my most consistent intake was a few cheeky puffs of Charles’ vape during last-minute warm-ups. As was everyone else’s. Sorry Charles.
JAEYEN: I’m lucky to have become friendly with the other actors in the show and we all have an energy that bounces between us. As soon as we’re in a room together it feels tangible and doing some simple warm ups and improv exercises with them really gets me in the mood for a show.
JOE: Honestly, I'm always pretty calm mentally before a performance. Genuinely, most important thing for me is having a piss beforehand. Also don't be hungry that's a killer!
What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced in the process so far?
MADDY: Hands down, learning my lines. It’s so hard. It’s also incredibly embarrassing when you’re the one who wrote them.
JAEYEN: Almost not being in this run - I had to beg another director to let me miss a night of their show just do to this!
Where did your arts career begin and when did you know it was the career for you?
MADDY: Technically? Plagiarising Super Mario web comics on DeviantArt when I was about six. On paper? I started writing and performing more regularly when I got to university. I must have been out of my mind thinking it would impress any potential new friends, but my first gig was doing stand-up at a comedy night a few weeks into my first term there. Weirdly, quite a few bits in the show are actually developed from material I first performed in my stand-up.
SAM: I hadn’t been involved in any theatre before I got to Uni, but at the start of my first year I signed up to a tech shadowing scheme and discovered a love for stage management. I stage manage most of the time, but I was desperate to have more creative influence on Bloody Knees after reading the script, so I tried my hand at assistant directing for the first time, and I haven’t looked back! I knew I wanted to go into theatre as a career when I stage managed a tour of Julius Caesar around America this summer - there’s just nothing else that brings me the fulfilment and joy of seeing a show I helped create get a round of applause or a standing ovation.
JAEYEN: I’m studying law man I can’t lie…
What keeps you inspired?
MADDY: I don’t really know? Apart from shoehorning in a plot point or an attempt at character development before the script deadline, the show had no fixed creative process to speak of. I just love coming up with scripts because it gives you as an adult an excuse to play pretend. I think, for me, ideas just pop up as and when they come. There’s a reason why most of the stuff on my notes app reads something like ‘watch Midnight Cowboy (1969). Are my emotional problems rooted in the depths of my childhood psyche? Cass is addicted to sausage rolls. PAY PHONE BILL BY END OF TUESDAY PLEASE GOD’.
JAEYEN: Music, the incredible art that my friends produce in writing and on stage, and my lovely girlfriend.
What do you hope an audience feels when watching Bloody Knees?
MADDY: Mainly that they’ve not been scammed out of a fiver. But if I have to be sincere, I think at the end of the day I just want people to have a good time. Maybe they’ll see something of themselves in the way Cass bumbles absent-mindedly through life, or Georgie’s struggles to keep her head above water, or, who knows, the local-drug-dealer-come-pedigree-dog-breeder. Also, it’s super cliché, but mostly everyone else is also going through the same madness that is being alive and human as you are, and no, most of the time, the world isn’t out to get you.
SAM: Above all else I want people to laugh! But I also think some of the dialogue in Bloody Knees is genuinely moving, and the characters are all just slightly exaggerated versions of people most audience members will know in real life. Maddy’s script is painfully relatable at times - in both its sad and funny moments. I hope the show makes people feel a bit less alone in the craziness and complexity of young adult life, and I hope it makes them realise that you can laugh at just about all of it if you learn to see the funny side.
JAEYEN: Happiness, sadness, hilarity, absurdity, magic, relatability, psycho-stimulated, confusion, satisfaction.
LARA: I hope each member of the audience feels a slight pain in their side from laughing so hard. Despite having rehearsed the play so many times, it’s still a struggle not to laugh on stage. I blame excellent writing and castmates for that. I also hope the audience feels the genuine joy we get as cast members performing the play. Maddy is an incredibly talented and downright hilarious writer, and I’m certain that will shine through.
Where can an audience see the show?
MADDY: At the moment we’re on for one night and one night only, at 8pm on November 13th at the Libra Theatre Café in Camden! The owners Jessica and Simina are lovely, and there’s a great bar in the upstairs area, so come drink yourself silly beforehand so we’ll think you’re laughing at the show. And if you hate it, you can always drink to forget afterwards! Everyone’s a winner.
Tickets for Bloody Knees are available from https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bloody-knees-tickets-1050944672807
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