Interview: Lyn Gardner Talks to Director Kirsty Patrick Ward as Manic Street Creature Comes to Kiln Theatre
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When a friend of director **Kirsty Patrick Ward** went to see a preview of her production of **Maimuna Memon**'s *Manic Street Creature* back in 2022, it spoke to him so directly that he returned a few days later with his mum in tow. What he could not say to her about his own mental health, the show could say for him.
That kind of response has become commonplace since **Memon**’s piece premiered at Paines Plough’s Roundabout in 2022, winning her a Stage Award. **Memon**, a remarkable actor and composer you will almost certainly know from *Standing at the Sky’s Edge*, the **Chris Bush** and **Richard Hawley** musical homage to Sheffield, and the Donmar's musical *Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812,* for which she won an Olivier. Now she’s back with a new iteration of Manic Street Creature at the [Kiln Theatre.](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/venue/the-kiln-theatre)
**Ward**, whose directing credits include *The Gang of Three* at the King’s Head and *Groan Ups* at the Vaudeville-- made with the Mischief team behind *The Play That Goes Wrong*-- has been on board the journey with Manic Street Creature since she first saw a workshop of it at the NT studio. “It was a 20-minute extract, and after just two minutes I was thinking to myself, ‘I’m in.’”
The gig theatre show tells the story of Northern lass Ria (played by the Preston-born **Memon**), who comes to London to make it in the music business and falls for Daniel, a soulmate but a troubled one. But this is far more than a girl meets a complicated guy and thinks she can save him story.
The brilliance of this musical monologue—set in a recording studio with three other musicians, so although it’s a one-woman show, it never feels like one—is enhanced by Memon’s magnetic and delicate performance but also by the way she pushes the narrative forward through the folksy score. The characters are fully fleshed, and the show is urgent and heartbreaking in the way it explores mental health and how somebody else’s trauma can be traumatising. It talks about that with a rare emotional intelligence and depth and does it with soaring lyricism. No wonder Ward was hooked, and audiences have been too.
**Ward** and **Memon** have been collaborating on the show together since Edinburgh, first on a version at Southwark Playhouse and now at the Kiln in the piece’s biggest production to date.
“I have seen how this show really connects with audiences,” says **Ward**, “so I know just how much potential it has and have always felt it is a show which punches above its weight. I am ambitious for it. So it’s good that at the Kiln it is getting the kind of expanded production and producing support it really needs. For me, the Kiln feels like a brilliant new step, but I don’t think it should be the final step. *Manic Street Creature* just feels so special and pertinent, and that’s why audiences connect with it because they want to be part of the conversation it starts about how you support someone you love who is going through a difficult time whilst also looking after yourself.”
**Ward** is also intrigued by the way that *Manic Street Creature* interrogates medication and creativity. Daniel is prescribed medication to deal with his bipolar disorder, but while it calms him, it also numbs him.
“Of course, for many people medication works, but in some cases artists like Daniel are worried that their medication will stop them from being creative. As one of the lyrics in the show says, 'It's hard to know what’s worse, too much feeling or too little?’ It’s so complicated, such a balancing act.” For patients, but also those treating them.
The show is a work of fiction and one which is told through Ria’s eyes and from her perspective, but the character of Daniel was inspired by a real person who was invited to read the script and come to rehearsals. “For me it’s important that if someone’s life is being abstracted and fictionalised, they get to be part of the process in some way.” That’s a responsibility which Ward feels is a hot question in theatre at the moment and will continue to be so as theatre draws on real-life stories even in fictional form. Playwright **James Graham** recently wrote eloquently about the nuances of that responsibility he felt when writing *Punch*, which was seen in the West End.
**Ward**, whose admired production of **Noel Coward**’s early play, *The Rat Trap*, can be seen at the Park Theatre until mid-March, began her career at the Bush as an intern under **Josie Rourke**, worked as an assistant director on a number of shows, including **Jack Thorne**’s *Bunny, Othello, King Lear* at the Globe, and with **Blanche McIntyre** on *Arcadia*.
For directors, assisting more experienced directors can be a brilliant learning curve, and it's a paid role too. But there comes a point for every young director when they have to strike out on their own. It’s a risk, but one which has paid off for Ward, with productions including the sell-out political drama, *The Gang of Three*, at the King’s Head.
“It’s been tough at times, particularly when you look around and see your friends buying houses and you can barely afford the rent. But I am being offered more stuff, and I really love it, and I couldn’t do anything else. You choose theatre, but I think theatre chooses you too."
[Manic Street Creature](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/musical/manic-street-creature-tickets) plays at the Kiln Theatre from Thu 5 to Sat 28 March. Book your tickets today.