“I Challenge Audience Members Not to Be Lit Up by This Show”

During rehearsals, Jodie McNee (playing Alison Bechdel) and Nigel Harman (Bruce Bechdel) discussed their admiration for Bechdel’s work and their own hopes for this new production.

Have either of you worked at the Exchange before?

Jodie McNee: This is my sixth show here. My first one was A TASTE OF HONEY in 2008. Then I worked with Sarah [Frankcom] on ORPHEUS DESCENDING. I did HAMLET with Sarah too, and then I did THE NIGHT WATCH with Rebecca Gatwick here, and NORA: A DOLL’S HOUSE with Bryony Shanahan.

Nigel Harman: It’s my first time. I know this place well – I’ve worked in Manchester a lot over the years in various guises, so I’m very aware of the Royal Exchange. Also, I still remember the feeling I had when I first walked in the doors and came upstairs and went, ‘well, this can’t be it, where’s the theatre?’ And then I saw this spaceship in the middle of the room. It was extraordinary. So, yeah, it’s a bucket-list job, really. I’ve wanted to work here for a long time.

How did you first become aware of FUN HOME? Was it through the show or the book?

Nigel: Well, I knew FUN HOME from when it landed on Broadway and won Tony Awards. I know one of the writers [Jeanine Tesori], because we did SHREK THE MUSICAL together. And then when The Young Vic did it [in 2018], I was nearly involved in it.
It’s been in my – not in my body, because I’m realising in the rehearsal room that it’s not in my body! – but it’s been in the ether, so it’s kind of fortuitous that I’m here doing it.

Jodie: I first heard about FUN HOME when it was on in London. The buzz around it when it was on Broadway was huge, so I knew about it a bit, but then when it was on in London, I saw it and it blew me away. I just remember being in floods of tears, I think when the song ‘Ring of Keys’ happened. Even in the read-through here, I was like, ‘oh, my God, this song!’. We only read the songs in the read-through, but the words and the music are just so special.
I hadn’t read Alison’s books, but now I have, I’ve read most of them.

Have they been a significant input for you?

Jodie: Absolutely. It’s been so amazing to have her life documented in fine detail. And not just FUN HOME, but the subsequent books too. So, ARE YOU MY MOTHER? and THE SECRET TO SUPERHUMAN STRENGTH are both reflections on writing FUN HOME in some ways. She goes into more detail about her life in those books. And DYKES TO WATCH OUT FOR is phenomenal, which is a comic strip she did that ran from 25 years [1983-2008]. I’ve just been delving into that and loving it.

Presumably it was a big moment for you when you were cast?

Jodie: It’s huge for me. I mean, I’m a gay woman, and to play this part… it’s a defining moment in my career for me, personally.

How would you describe your characters as they stand at the start of the play?

Nigel: I’d say Bruce is a passionate man trying to teach his daughter something, but clearly with secrets.

Jodie: The book took seven years to make, so when we start, Alison’s a couple of years into that process, but hasn’t actually drawn anything. She’s attempting to delve further into her understanding of her father, trying to build up the courage to start in a deeper way.

How do these characters strike you? Would you say that you like them?

Nigel: I always have a great empathy for everyone I play, however crazy they are, because otherwise you’re commenting on them. You have to find a way to live inside them and make them come alive, because to them, their lives are sometimes good, sometimes bad. In all human nature, we have the dark side and we have the light side. So with Bruce, I think he’s an extraordinary man. I also think he’s extraordinarily flawed. As an actor, I embrace that.

Jodie: I absolutely love Alison Bechdel! I love her. I just have such admiration for her dedication and artistry, and the fact that she had the courage to delve into her family’s secrets and open them with such empathy and skill. I’m just in awe of her.

There are several child actors in the cast. What’s it like working with them?

Nigel: Oh, they’re just smashing it!

Jodie: They’re so professional.

Nigel: They’re coming in, and from their first go, they’re like, boom – their accents are unbelievable. I’m going, ‘oh my gosh, I’m getting absolutely blown off the stage here – where have you trained?’

And that keeps us honest. We have the joy of working with three different sets of kids, so every night’s going to be different.

Whether the graphic novel or the musical, FUN HOME has already received much acclaim. Why do you think people have embraced it so much?

Jodie: I think anyone watching it will identify with something in the play. Also it’s a piece that works on lots of levels, so it’s not black and white. Alison has such empathy, even though, like you say, there’s the dark and the light in people. She’s going, ‘yeah, but what actually happened?’ There are contradictions in people and she’s trying to say the truth.

It doesn’t judge. It’s just trying to see it as it is.

Nigel: There’s a mystery at its heart, which I think grabs people’s attention. We all want to explore our families in certain ways, and not necessarily just our generation – the generations above and below us. The audience become part detective along with Alison, which I think is incredibly intoxicating. And on a purely basic level, the music is unbelievably brilliant. As a play it would be good, but as a musical it opens up our emotions, it contacts our humanity, it makes us laugh and cry in the same sentence. And it’s quite scary at times.

As an audience member, I want to go on an emotional journey in a roller-coaster-type situation, and ultimately find out something heartening about life, so I leave the theatre wanting to crack on. And that is exactly this show.

Jodie: The creative team and the actors are trying to do something original with it as well. It’s not a copy of a thing that’s been done before, it’s a new creation of it.

Do you think stories like FUN HOME still need to be told today?

Jodie: I think so. The LGBTQ+ community needs their stories to be told, especially the trans community. They’re under fire at the moment and I think it’s important that we’re going, ‘look, we’re a community and we’re a place where you can come and feel seen’.

Alison Bechdel has dedicated her life to doing that – to going, ‘look at these people – we exist’. Sarah [Frankcom] said it in the rehearsal room – the book’s been a lifeline for people. And I think this musical is an expression of the book, but it’s also an expression of joy. I hope people feel seen by it.

Nigel: There’s a stream of love that runs through this show. The labels don’t interest me as much as the fact that it’s a love story – a complicated one – on so many levels. So, to have a venue and a place where everyone can come and sit and watch, but particularly the queer community, I think is beautiful.

It hasn’t been done for ten years – and it never made it to the West End – so I think it’s an undiscovered absolute gem. It’s one of the great musicals that’s been written in the last 20, 30 years, so if you like musicals, come and see it. I think we should get away from all the ‘oh, well, who is it for?’. It’s just a brilliant piece of theatre. If you like theatre, and if you like a song, come and watch this. If you went to see WICKED, if you like HAMILTON, come and see it. It’s for everyone.

What would you like audiences to take away from seeing FUN HOME? Are there things that might surprise them?

Jodie: I think they’ll have such a good night out. The surprising thing might be that it could be cathartic as well.

Nigel: I think there will be moments in the show that will resonate with people, which is in a way why we come to live theatre. It’s different from television, where there’s a screen in front of you and it’s recorded. You’re in the room with live music and live human beings, telling this very rich and dynamic story. It just lights you up, and I challenge audience members not to be lit up by this show.