GMF Brochure 2021 - Flipbook - Page 13
Pandemic and pasties...
Thinking back to lockdown life, I’m not sure how I ever managed to get anything done. The anxiety and melancholia of the
pandemic had me in its clutches and I felt burned out and exhausted for an insane amount of time.
However, during the first lockdown, I was much more sprightly. I wrote ‘The Formidable Lizzie Boone’ during the first few
months of the 2020 quarantine. The weather was beautiful, I wasn’t sick of Zoom quizzes or coffee chats yet and lockdown
would only last 8 weeks max… right?
I’m really grateful for how hopeful (deluded?) I was in the first lockdown though because I was able to motivate myself to
create Lizzie Boone. And, well, I love her...
This is the play I’ve written that I’m the most proud of and I’m incredibly excited to play Lizzie in September. It deals with
mental health, sexual assault, and is full of drama and dark comedy.
After I wrote it, I was excited to get stuck into planning the
performance of it and to finally perform the Fringe play
I had originally scheduled for July 2020, ‘Fruit Salad’.
So when the lockdown lifted (fleetingly), I was
in socially distant rehearsals for this fruity
production which is now being released
as a Digital Event.
Those rehearsals gave me the creativity
and passion I was craving and I am so
grateful that they happened last year,
despite the dark lockdown looming.
From the October lockdown to Tier 4
to January’s lockdown 3, everything
blurred into one. The days were dark
and I felt heavy and unmotivated.
Thankfully, there was one creative
passion I was able to do via Zoom,
pre-recorded classes and recreating
moves I found online… and that
creative passion was burlesque.
Burlesque- ‘the art of tease’ -is
something that I’ve practiced more
in my living room than I have in real
life classes. I started it in January 2020
and have continued to shimmy, wiggle
and peel my gloves off sensually for 18
months now, despite restrictions.
I’ve fallen completely in love with it so I’m
ecstatic that I’ll be performing a burlesque
sequence as part of ‘The Formidable
Lizzie Boone’.
The thought of being on stage again,
performing in front of a live audience gives
me chills - in the best way! I can’t wait to play
Lizzie, as well as perform burlesque as part of
this year’s Manchester Fringe. And the release
of my digital play is very exciting too!
So, come at me, September... I’m ready for you!
The Formidable Lizzie Boone
by Selina Helliwell, International Anthony Burgess Foundation
24th – 25th Sept
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