INTERVIEW | 'MAKE-UP' MOJ TAYLOR, EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE
The countdown to the world's biggest arts festival Edinburgh Festival Fringe is on and arrives next month for its 75th anniversary. Between 5 - 29 August you can enjoy a diverse selection of work from across the UK in Scotland's capital city.
Ahead of the festival, I have fantastic interviews coming up from some of the acts who will be heading there to showcase their work. Give my last interview with Molly Naylor about her spoken word performance 'Stop Trying To Be Fantastic' here.
For Moj at the beginning "I didn't really know I wanted to be an actor at first. Mum made me take drama classes on the weekend for my confidence and communication skills. I found out that I quite liked it!" This inspired them to keep going. "I did Stage Coach and National Youth Theatre then started to take plays to the fringe when I was at university, and it's carried on ever since".
Taking their new play to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this summer is "like the end of a very long period of deferred gratification!". The play was originally supposed to come to the Fringe back in 2020 and Moji is thrilled that they have the opportunity to do it two years later. "We got the offer of the spot from Underbelly about a week before everything was put on hold for lockdown. Since then we've taken the play around festivals in England and we've toured Scotland, but it's great to finally be bringing it to Edinburgh".
Make-up is a one man show that follows drag artist Lady Christina (played by Moj Taylor) as they return to the green room at the end of what could be their last ever performance. The play "draws on a number of different ideas and conversations I've had over the last few years. There are some bits of my life mixed in there too, but it isn't a personal account".
This critically-acclaimed LGBTQ+ play also touches on themes of bullying and gender identity. This play will definitely appeal to young people and Moj agrees. "The play strikes a chord with young people who are struggling with things in their own life, whether that’s bullying or trying to work out who they are and how they fit in," they explain, "When we talk about identity in the play, it’s not just gender identity that we’re dealing with. It can be any situation where you feel like an outsider because you don’t conform to the norm, as if there is any such thing as a norm in the first place."
Exploring the play's theme of gender identity does play relevance in today's society. Moj's play is an individual story about "one person and their struggle to be themselves and express themselves, and then how they again come to feel that they're losing their identity." Reflecting on the drag scene in modern society it is "very different from the scene that gave them their first sense of being someone who mattered for who they were. So I think I’d say it’s important as an exploration of identity in the broadest sense of the term."
Make-up does make a nod to young drag queens now and the community around it. Moj reflects on what it is like now, "I think the community has shifted a bit, but the way it’s presented has probably shifted more. There’s a lot of good that has come from Drag Race being such a big hit and opening up drag to a mainstream audience, but at the same time it presents a part of the drag scene but not all of it."
Moj Taylor goes on to explain, "It feels like something has maybe been lost along the way and that’s not such a good thing and is one of the reasons why we wanted to take audiences backstage and meet the person behind the make-up."
The programme for this summer's Edinburgh Festival Fringe is huge! There are some fantastic performances and work to be seen but why is Make-up a must-see at the 2022 Edinburgh Festival Fringe? "Edinburgh is the greatest arts festival in the world and it’s a place where performers can really express themselves and try out things that they might never do again. It’s a celebration of the arts and after everything that’s happened in the last two years I think that feeling of coming together and enjoying the spectacle is really important."
You can see Moj Taylor's 'Make-up' at the Underbelly Wee Coo from 3-9 August (except 15th) every day at 1.20pm. You can book tickets here.