Interview: Gabriela Flarys, ‘Deluge’

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 Gabriela Flarys about Deluge.

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

I'm a London-based Brazilian actress, dancer, dramaturg and theatre-maker. I create one-woman shows investigating the poetical and humorous interplay between movement and text. Deluge is my second one-woman dramedy show supported by Arts Council England. I have collaborated with multidisciplinary artists and I also played roles in TV and feature films in Brazil.

What is your show about?

It is a magical realistic ‘dramedy' that follows a woman navigating a flood-threatened home in the aftermath of a breakup. She brings up real-life stories of other people to make sense of her own experience.

The show combines movement with text, comedy, drama, live music and projections. It explores diverse responses to loss beyond human death by encompassing grief to the loss of pets, belongings, organs and relationships.

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

The idea for this show emerged during the pandemic when I was intensively thinking about everything that could have happened if it wasn’t for lockdown. I could physically sense my thoughts as liquid flowing through the house. One day I heard myself saying to a friend, "If I could count all my thoughts in litres, I could flood a house." and I stopped for a moment and said: "Ah! This is my next show"

To explore the theme further, I put out a call on Instagram asking if anyone wanted to share their experiences of loss. I received around 60 replies and carried out interviews over video calls that lasted about 2 hours each.

I love listening to other people's stories. This is my second one-woman show, in collaboration with Andrea Maciel (director and co-dramaturg), where the dramaturgy is inspired by interviews, blending fiction with reality.

Deluge had multiple versions shared with audiences. The project was granted an Arts Council England to R&D in 2023. We conducted Q&As and gathered audience feedback in London venues: Blue Elephant Theatre, Omnibus Theatre, and Jacksons Lane. This process allowed us to adjust and improve for the current version of the show.

What made you want to take Deluge to the Fringe?

This will be my third Fringe with a one-woman show, and first time taking Deluge there. It is always rewarding to meet more artists, reach new audiences and find diverse opportunities to keep performing this work in the UK and abroad.

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

Surround yourself with uplifting people.

Why should people book Deluge?

If you like to laugh at what you think you could cry about, cry because you laughed, or maybe just ponder on the very human condition and reality that is the end of things by watching a lot of physicality with live music on stage... Come see Deluge!

When and where can people see DELUGE?

August 1st - 26th (not 12th&19th), at 6:15pm, at Summerhall venue.