EDINBURGH 2017: BWW Q&A- Pixel Dust/Wondr

Tell us a little about Wondr.

Wondr was born out of my interrogation of my own (occasionally problematic) relationship to my phone and the internet - especially as a mum - being on my phone instead of being present with my boys, oversharing, all that - how we navigate our way through it all.

How is it connected to Pixel Dust?

We commissioned Pixel Dust to explore a lot of the same stuff but from a different generations perspective - while Wondr gets under the skin of the digital twenty/thirty something Pixel Dust simultaneously tackles the journey for teenagers (digital natives) and their parents for whom it's sometimes more alien territory.

And they have the same cast?

Yes - the extraordinary actor Simone James morphs seamlessly from angsty fifteen year old to single mum digital super hero. She's one of those incredible chameleon actors - she literally does transform herself. She's mesmerising.

Why bring them to Edinburgh?

I hope that Edinburgh audiences are hungry for these kind of shows - current, contemporary, provocative - questioning how we exist in a digital world. With a healthy dollop of humour and some tear jerking moments too!

Why do you think these plays are important for people to see?

At one end of the spectrum you have people like Baroness Greenfield scaremongering in The Daily Mail about how screen time is destroying our lives. Bad science aside - there's no escaping that we now live in a digital age and screen time is unavoidable. So contemporary drama that explores and unpicks some of those issues feels really important right now. We can't just switch off!

Timings and ticket information for Pixel Dust and Wondr are available on the edfringe website.

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