The money will pay for my therapy bills
In 2022 I reviewed Sadvents – a brilliant one-woman play written and performed by Eleanor Hill who shared all the horrors of her life, which involved abusive boyfriends, parental divorce and a mum dying. It was equally as horrifying as it was hilarious, writes Michael Holland.
Last week, Eleanor made contact to say she had a new show that brings us up to date with her life. I was hoping Ms Hill had oversome her problems, purged her life of bad people and found happiness. Sadly, no; she went temporarily blind in one eye, which led to surgeons finding a massive cyst on her brain and performing surgery: ‘The horrors persist,’ she says with a sigh.
Of course, though, with her unique style, she had me in stitches when we met to talk about the past few years and her new show, Overshare, which will get a three-week run in Greenwich Theatre. She laughs a lot, for a reason.
Eleanor believes her desire to perform began at primary school, aged 6, when the class were doing an extract from James and the Giant Peach. The script said her character was drinking lemonade but she was asked to ‘mime’ the act of drinking. This caused our star to have a ‘huge coughing fit’, which meant the teacher had to go and fetch water, allowing the Year 3 diva to continue with the scene but without having to mime. That piece of genius adlibbing led to Bath Spa University and a Masters at E15 Acting School.
Having never studied writing in her education, Eleanor has found her own style, and that entails going out for walks while filming her streams of consciousness ramblings as they randomly occur. She then views the footage at home. ‘Some is absolute sh*t,’ she laughs, ‘and some of it’s gold.’ It is the gold that is put into her plays/performances. She feels that this method helps her both as an actor and a writer.
The writing and performing is therapeutic for Eleanor. The violent boyfriend from before has now been expunged from her life, but there have been others who will no doubt be metaphorically dragged around the stage in Overshare.
‘Yes, it is therapy and I’m fine with that… Hopefully, one day I will make money and that will pay for my therapy bills and I will have the last laugh.’ This was a cue for an infectious chuckle that you can’t help joining in with. This seemed like the ideal time to bring up the brain problem.
‘I was in the office at work when out of the blue I lost complete vision in my left eye – Terrifying! I went into shock, shaking and distressed – “I’m blind!” When she calmed down she planned to go home and ponder the rest of her life with half-vision, but her colleagues sensibly called an ambulance. At the hospital they could not work out the cause. Her sight returned and was replaced by searing headaches and face muscles sagging like a stroke victim.
An MRI scan found the ‘huge, Grade 3, arachnoid cyst’ on the left side of her brain and a cavernoma on the other side.’ I was hoping Eleanor didn’t laugh this time because I didn’t want to join in. Sitting before a young woman telling me about all these unwanted growths in her skull was not a laughing matter. Thankfully, she continued with tales of further episodes of blindness and head pain and then the neuro-surgery. This included drilling into the skull to monitor what was going on in there and to release any pressure. Eleanor expects more brain surgery before the year’s end, which spurred me on to say, ‘Next year’s show will be a blinder!’ Laughing was back on the menu.
‘It’s not funny,’ she said through the giggles, ‘it’s very, very traumatising, but the dark humour has been a gift. It’s the only way to get through.’
The script for Overshare is 50% new stuff and the rest is fine-tuned and streamlined from Sadvents. Eleanor says that the team she is working with have helped her with dramaturgy, so Overshare will be a lot less random.
She was keen to mention Rachel Thomas(Associate Producer & Support Worker) who is there ‘to make sure I don’t go insane… She ensures that I get therapy along with everything else that has to be done; she makes sure I get a break and am organised…’ Rachel sounds crucial to this operation where Eleanor is producing, writing and performing.
Adding more phone use into the show will, Eleanor hopes, bring in people who don’t think theatre is for them. Each show is relaxed, people can come and go, they can take photos and videos and livestream it: ‘They can send jokes while I’m jumping around and talking about my dead mum, which is ridiculous in itself but that’s how social media works’.
Overshare is a show that can evolve and grow as long as Eleanor Hill evolves and grows, and updating it every year is something that crosses her mind. She jokes about a ‘Me and My Cyst’ working title.
However, she has been commissioned by Camden People’s Theatre to write for them, so that could throw up something different. Plus, there are hopes to tour Overshare after the Greenwich run, and, astonishingly, she talked herself into a marketing job at Greenwich Theatre. ‘When I came to talk to James Haddrell (Artistic Director) about putting my play on here, I told him I had worked in marketing and he gave me a job!’
But for now, Eleanor Hill is preparing Overshare and urges the audience to keep their phones turned on to interact with the show. This is theatre as you’ve never known it before.
Greenwich Theatre Studio Space, Crooms Hill, SE10 8EX from May 6th – 25th. Tuesday – Saturday 7.45pm; Sunday 5pm. Admission: £13.50, £11.
Booking and full details: www.greenwichtheatre.org.uk
Watch the whole laughalong interview here: https://youtu.be/FJzwMqQjWCY
