Interview: Holly Sewell, ‘Fix Your Mind’

17 Jun

Ahead of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024, we’re chatting with a range of creatives who will be heading to the city over August to find out more about their shows. Today we’re chatting with Holly Sewell about her piece Fix Your Mind.

1. Can you tell us a bit about you and your career so far

Hey! I’m Holly, writer for incredibly exciting emerging theatre company Fundamental Loose Screw. This is our second show at the Fringe, after we took a cry-your-eyes-out solo show called ‘Dazzling’ to theSpace @ Niddry St in 2023. ‘Dazzling’ was christened by The Scotsman as “Gen-Z’s answer to Fleabag” during its 9-day Edinburgh run (thanks Ariane Branigan!!!), and went on to do a couple of runs in London at Riverside Studios and the Etcetera Theatre. It’s good to be back and doing something a little more ambitious with ‘Fix Your Mind’.

2. What is your show about?

Incels. Lesbians. Sex. Loneliness. Family. Estrangement. The Patriarchy. The Internet. Porn. The Fetishisation Of Them Queers.

**3. What was the inspiration for ‘Fix Your Mind’ and what’s the development process been to get to this stage?**

I read a book of essays last year by Amia Srinivasan called The Right to Sex which was the first time I ever came across Elliot Rodger, the infamous incel and perpetrator of the 2014 Isla Vista killings. The actual essay The Right to Sex is all about incels (Rodger in particular) and their hypocrisies. It’s an incredibly interesting essay on a subject that I think is often sensationalised, and it also pointed to a lot of primary material - Rodger left behind a 140-page manifesto and a 7-minute YouTube video about his beliefs when he died. So when I first started writing Fix Your Mind, there was a character based roughly on him. I wanted to look at what it meant to be close to someone like that, and how difficult that relationship could be.

Once we had a bit of script to work with, I was chatting to our co-directors Lois and Noor, and Lois was talking about what we mean by ‘incel’ in 2024. It’s kind of a dated term, and when we say ‘incel’ nowadays, it’s probably not someone with the same set of beliefs as Elliot Rodger had. Development has been a lot of trying to update that character, whilst also making him sympathetic and holding him accountable.

It was important to me that this was a queer show. I wanted to write a show about misogyny - but more specifically, misogyny directed at lesbians. I think there is such a specific type of hatred and fetishisation directed at people who are visibly queer, and I’ve often found that shows about the patriarchy focus more on hetero dynamics. So James (our incel character) has this fascination with lesbians, as well as with women in general. His sister’s relationship is the vehicle for these in the show.

**4. What made you want to take Fix Your Mind to the Fringe?**

There’s nowhere else like it!

**5. Apart from seeing Fix Your Mind, what’s your top tip for anybody heading for Edinburgh this summer?**

See as many shows as you can. My main regret from last year was that I spent too much time stressing about our show and not enough time just soaking up the festival. Obviously you gotta flyer, you gotta grind, but take the time to appreciate where you are as well.

**6. Why should people book Fix Your Mind?**

It’s a lesbian show about an incel! Who else is doing that? It’s definitely harrowing - more pain than pleasure, but with real moments of light peppered in. Something to see when you’re ready for a few smiles and a big, ugly cry.