Interview: Toni Nagy, Go To Your Womb

22 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 writer and performer Toni Nagy about their piece Go To Your Womb.

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

I am a stand-up comic, content-creator, director, filmmaker, writer, producer, dancer, teacher, somatic practitioner, and a capricorn; which I think explains a lot. I am obviously working out my primal wound of feeling like I am "not enough," hence my relentless desire to share myself creatively with the world. I was a philosophy major in college, which boils down all the peanuts of my comedy as I unpack and then repackage my understanding of "reality." My artistic endeavors are rooted in my intentions to plant seeds of communal reflection and collective healing.

What is your show about?

"Go to Your Womb" is a two-person show starring me and my 13-year old daughter that explores the process of being parented and parenting. The show then explores my approach to parenting, which was to be the exact opposite of my mother. My daughter plays the character of my mother to help elicit my compassion as I play the role of child, and then the role of mother, as my daughter is my child, but she is also my teacher, as I try to teach her. The show dives into the muddy waters of how we program our children and condition them, only for our kids to learn how to wash our voices out of their hair as they learn to be themselves. In order for us to fully understand ourselves, we have to understand and thus have empathy for the parents that created us - even though they've disappointed us along the way. The boundaries necessary for adults to form in order to heal the self is entwined with healing the dynamics of familial structures.

What was the inspiration for Go To Your Womb and what’s the development process been to get to this stage?

The inspiration for the show came from a mother's day event I was asked to perform at where the producer suggested I bring my daughter, Adelia - who had been in a fair amount of my internet videos. Adelia and I decided it would be funny to re-enact her birth - because every budding teen should go through the shamanic journey of doing an interpretive dance with their mother dressed as a fetus. We had never been on stage together, and the experience was so life-affirming. We both felt so safe and free because we were doing this together. I then suggested we expand the idea into an hour show, and when my daughter agreed, I went straight to writing the script. The 1st draft I showed her was, "corny," "not funny enough," and "boring" because I had too many monologues. It took me a few rounds of edits to get her approval which was, "it's better than before."

What made you want to take Go To Your Womb to the Fringe?

I have always dreamed of going to the Fringe, but never felt "good" enough. I had to self-reflect, (do some psychedelics) and ask myself why I make work, what drives me to perform, and what are my intentions? Once I let go of my ego's desire for approval from others, and just let myself feel the genuine commitment to sharing my healing with those who are also interested in their healing, it felt joyful to take the leap of faith. This is a show I am proud of, and it sure helps that Adelia's confidence is contagious and infectious.

Apart from seeing Go To Your Womb what’s your top tip for anybody heading for Edinburgh this summer?

Open your hearts to a variety of perspectives. Talk about the art and how it applies to your life, healing, reflections, world view, and assumptions. Use this time to allow the creative juices to lubricate your psyche.

Why should people book Go To Your Womb?

There are some of us that have peaceful loving relationships with our parents, and others that have complex situations that feel unresolved. Regardless of how we were raised, there is a spectrum of trauma that we are all on by the nature of how vulnerable it is to be parented. We all carry pain from our childhoods. We are all dealing with our inner child being wounded. We all have hurt that we still hold onto. Sadness that coats our hearts. Unprocessed emotions that haunt our minds. Go to Your Womb is a comedy, but it also is an opportunity to pick at the scabs of our collective wounds, and then together we put on a salve of laughter to help us all heal.