Interview: Theatre-Maker Anna Clover on Making a Comedy out of Trauma in her New Solo Show GOING DEUTSCH

Recently, BroadwayWorld UK had the chance to speak with Anna Clover, a Jewish theatre-maker, about her first solo show, Going Deutsch, which will be performed at the VAULT Festival in February.

The show explores whether she should return to live in Germany by "dating" the country offering her citizenship, despite taking the lives (and passports) of so many who came before her.

We discussed conversations with family about citizenship, her experience with young people's theatre, and performing at the Manchester Jewish Museum.

How did you first get into comedy and theatre?

So I did a theatre degree. Then I started working with inclusive young people's theatre companies for a long time as a facilitator and an access worker, and then later as a director and writer. I hadn't performed for a long time, but I started doing improvised comedy about seven years ago. When things were not going to plan in my life, I was like, "I need to find a way to fail that feels fun and intentional." And improv was the way that I got into that! It reminded me how good performing can feel and gave me the confidence to try making my own work. I've been writing a lot for young people, I think now is the time to try writing for myself again.

What inspired you to write Going Deutsch?

I've wanted to find a way to write about the refugee experience from a family perspective. We have a lot of understanding of what being a refugee is in the moment of displacement and I've always been really interested in the long-term impact of that on families, but also on who is a good refugee and who's entitled to come here.

We have a lot of discussions about Holocaust refugees that are not very helpful. There's a lot of talk about the Kindertransport and Britain letting in these children, which saved a lot of lives, a lot of those children were fostered with English families; they lost their language, they lost their culture. The UK didn't want to let in adults, they wanted people who could assimilate in the way they wanted them. I think that's still a conversation that we have now about what a refugee is supposed to look like and what they have to offer. And I think all of that adds to that feeling of having to be good enough that comes through with families.

I've always been really interested in what that experience is like; how people adjust to their host country if you'd like, and I've been looking for my angle on this story for a long time. And then Brexit happened and made it very simple! You're suddenly like, "Oh, my family is European.". That's where we've always understood ourselves. Taking that away was complicated. But I wanted that citizenship and I discovered that I was eligible to have German citizenship, so I applied. Certain members of my family were furious! "You cannot get that passport back, Germany didn't want us they did this, this and this . . ." And it started this conversation about nationality, about where you belong, that was really interesting to me. And that's where it started.

When you were creating Going Deutsch, did you speak with the family members as a part of your research? Or is the show based on previous conversations?

What was interesting to me, which is where the show came from, are the conversations where I was like, "I'm gonna do this thing because this will be really good." My family was like, "Don't you remember how it was before?" And I recognised those conversations from breakups that I've had, from relationships that I've had. So a lot of the research was actually thinking about those kinds of parallels because I've had a lot of experience of bad relationships where people go, "Don't you remember how it was last time? Don't go back!" So it was playing with those two experiences. And I have had a lot of conversations with family members.

So I applied in 2017 and got my passport in 2019. Over the last three years, much more of my family have applied for citizenship following endless conversations that we've been having. I think the situation in the UK feels more desperate than it did a few years ago. I think it's going to be a conversation we're probably having for a long time. As part of the development of the show, I didn't have lots of conversations with my family because then I think it would have put me in a position where I felt I couldn't have done the show. So I held off a bit until the show was made.

What made you want to perform with the VAULT Festival?

I love VAULT Festival! I've never performed there before - I tried to perform last year, but obviously, things didn't work out. But it's such a wonderful festival to have on your doorstep in London. What I've always done is go "I've got a day, this is my VAULT day. I'm gonna pick one thing that I know and then take some chances on a couple of other shows." You can spend the day there and see three or four different things. I've discovered great shows that I wouldn't have otherwise. It's a very atmospheric place. You can go there on your own and you feel very comfortable just hanging out. It's a good, good vibe.

How does it feel to be making comedy out of trauma?

It feels better now that the show has been out there. It's a show about the impact of genocide that is a comedy show. My director and I work really hard. We have to name what we're talking about in order to then play with that line between tension and building this tension, then pulling the rug and making it funny. And it is a funny show!

I was lucky enough to get to perform it in the Manchester Jewish Museum recently in front of an audience of descendants of survivors. So I feel good now that the kind of line is correct. We spent a lot of time in rehearsal with my director saying, "You have to say the thing." We're talking about genocide, we're talking about being Jewish, we're talking about the attempted extermination of a race of people. We're going to tell jokes, but fundamentally, the human experience is funny and the jokes aren't about the genocide. They're about having to deal with it afterwards. These things have happened and we have to live, we want to live. Life is full of awkwardness and discomfort and that's where the human lies, but it's been challenging! [Laughs].

What was it like performing Going Deutsch at the Jewish Museum?

Very emotional. It was at it's an absolutely beautiful building. It's an old Sephardi, so a Spanish synagogue, really beautiful. But the weight of it felt huge and we were performing it around the anniversary of Kristallnacht, which is a really significant day both for my family history and in Holocaust history. It felt like the show's been born now, this is it being out there. It was a really lovely opportunity.

What has it been like performing your first solo show?

I've learned a lot about myself! [Laughs] I'm really enjoying it. It's been some ups and downs and because of Covid there have been some false starts. But it's an amazing thing to trust yourself and be like, "I'm going to put this out there." It's a story I'm really excited by. But every show I'm learning something new about myself as a performer, about the show, about how audiences interact with it. It's quite a transformative experience for me.

How do you think your previous theatre experience prepared you for the solo show?

I think being an improviser is incredibly useful because it teaches you to go with the flow. In an early performance, I forgot a line, which was horrific - I thought the whole world was ending! And then the improv muscle kicks in and saves you. You discover new things about the show that way. Also, I work with young people and the messages I give to them are about being present. Be there, engage, and just do your best; the absolute basics of theatre-making, day in, day out. And actually, I needed to give myself a lot of coaching and that's been really helpful. Getting the kids I work with to tell me as well that it's alright if things go wrong . . . you can go again and people don't know the mistakes that except for you. They've been really supportive.

Finally, how would you describe Going Deutsch in one word?

I think it's optimistic. It's about that relationship to the past, but it's about looking to the future, which I think is an optimistic place to be.

Going Deutsch runs at the Cage at the VAULT Festival on 4 February and 5 February at 6:05 PM.

More about Anna Clover's work can be found on her website, www.annaclover.co.uk

 

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