Interview: Zoe Bullock, Gracie and the Start of the End of the World (Again)

13 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 Zoe Bullock about their show, Gracie and the Start of the End of the World (Again).

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

I’m a writer & performer from Sheffield, who lives in Glasgow. I moved to Scotland nine years ago, to do an acting MA at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and I’ve never looked back. This is such a brilliant place to be an artist, with a great community where it genuinely feels like you can talk to anyone.

At drama school they tell you to write yourself a show - so, being a classic millennial hyper-achiever, I did just that… then realised I didn’t want to be in it. Since then I’ve been working as an actor and a writer, and most recently had a play tour Scotland, produced by Independent Arts Projects in association with the National Theatre of Scotland.

With GRACIE, I’m finally performing my own work, so it feels like coming full circle!

What is your show about?

GRACIE & THE START OF THE END OF THE WORLD (AGAIN) is a surreal tragi-comic monologue about an immortal jellyfish called Gracie who’s on an interspecies dating odyssey inspired by human love stories. She also has a tiny confession to make…

The show combines themes of eco-crisis, nuclear apocalypse, and climate activism, with a healthy dollop of pop culture. Ultimately, it’s about how we can square the absolute brilliance of human creativity with the devastation our species has caused the world around us.

What was the inspiration for GRACIE & THE START OF THE END OF THE WORLD (AGAIN) and what’s the development process been to get to this stage?

Weirdly, it started as a short story, before growing tentacles and transforming into the magical thing it is today. It’s been a couple of years of thinking & processing, and recently we were fortunate enough to get some Creative Scotland funding for an R&D process to develop the script and form of the play. The show is inspired a lot by my own conflicting feelings of hope and nihilism, which I think are shared by a lot of people at the moment. What does it mean to view human culture from a non-human perspective? How can we find joy in a world so broken? Do we deserve a second chance?

What made you want to take GRACIE to the Fringe?

We did a scratch night in 2022 and a LOT of the audience feedback was telling us what a great Fringe show it would make. Why fight fate? The energy of the Fringe is also completely infectious, and it just felt like 100% the right platform for Gracie to reach as wide an audience as possible. We’ve also been awarded the Assembly ART Award for Scottish work coming to the Fringe, which has been incredibly supportive and made the whole thing possible for us.

Apart from seeing GRACIE, what’s your top tip for anybody heading for Edinburgh this summer?

Hydrate, get out of the city for a day if you can - and leave space in your calendar for the unexpected! I’ve definitely made the mistake of over-scheduling shows in the past, and the Fringe is all about catching that wacky show you didn’t know existed until you see someone on the Mile dressed as a toilet roll.

Why should people book GRACIE & THE START OF THE END OF THE WORLD (AGAIN)?

Because it’s an irreverent tale of hope, romance and activism with a truly explosive finale, that talks about climate apocalypse through a completely fresh lens (did we mention she’s a jellyfish?). It’s also got a LOT of Buffy the Vampire Slayer references.