Interview: ‘BURNOUT’, Sady 10 Theatre Company

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 Maku from the Sady 10 Theatre Company about their piece, BURNOUT.

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

Hey, so my name’s Maku, I’m from Prague and I am a theatre director and playwright. We’re taking our wee show BURNOUT to the Fringe this year! It’s our first Fringe too, so we’ll make sure to make it out count. 

I’ve always dabbled in theatre, be it through acting or writing scripts, it’s not a very original story, to be honest. I have an undergrad in law, I specialised in subjects like ‘Shakespeare and the Law’ until I finally admitted to myself that it’s high time to swap industries. I spent a year at LAMDA, learning all things lights and sounds, until my studies got interrupted by the pandemic and I flew back home. Just like most people, I was faced with loaves upon loaves of sourdough bread and loads upon loads of existential questions. It was around then that I set up a site-responsive theatre company called Sady 10 and began directing full-time. We specialise in intimate, small-scale performances and are fascinated by what happens in people’s living rooms, essentially. Once the pandemic loosened its grip, I swung by The Lir in Dublin to complete an MFA degree in directing and wrote BURNOUT shortly after.

What is your show about?

I always dread this question because it’s difficult to summarise the plot of the play without making it sound superficial. If I was to sum it up in a sentence or two, I’d say it is a play about the hamster-wheel of modern day dating. It’s about a battle-hardened albeit exhausted girl called Fern, who tries her absolute hardest to grapple with loneliness and find love in the digital minefield we’ve turned dating into. It sounds dark but she deflects by humour all the time, so fret not, it’s digestible darkness. 

What was the inspiration for BURNOUT and what’s the development process been to get to this stage?

I’ve been sat on 4 years-worth of break-up texts and, being an artist and all, I knew I had to utilise them somehow. One evening, half a bottle of wine in, I sat down, compiled them, cut them up, and morphed them into what we now call “The Frankenstein’s Break-up Text”, which launches us into the play. Seeing them all in one place, sounding so different and yet so similar made me wonder how would a fictional character react to receiving those over and over and over again. The term “burnout” came to mind. And so, I began to write.

Once everything was written down, I called Aneta, whose acting talent I’ve been in awe of for years. We had a read-through and the rest is history, really.

Directing-wise, I don’t think I’d be able to put the play together without our set designer Fibs. She breathed life into the space Fern was occupying and that really sealed the deal for the staging of the play. We’re also super excited to have Mel & Jeff on board with us, as their love for lights and sound are what will push the production further.

What made you want to take BURNOUT to the Fringe?

A girl came up to us after one of the Prague shows and said “you’ve described my life, you know.” This was a real turning point, I think. It made me realise that it was not just me, that we do live in a weird age and that talking about it helps. The show managed to start multiple conversations about adult loneliness and the toll it’s had on our mental health So, we decided to come to the Fringe to see where else could this conversation go. And to get incredibly rich and famous, obviously. Isn’t that why all people do theatre? For the cold hard cash it generates?

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

We’re all definitely going to go and see a show called You’re Needy (sounds frustrating). It seems to be in conversation with some of the topics we cover and we always enjoy a female-centred story. I also have a weak spot for site-specific plays and a strong bias towards any work of art that comes out of Ireland.

Why should people book BURNOUT?

I’d like to think the play is cathartic for those who ever flirted with loneliness or had a broken heart. I also think it’s pretty funny. But it makes sense for me to think that, I wrote it. 

When and where can people see BURNOUT?

August 12th to 24th (except the 18th) at TheSpace Triplex Studio!