Writing Stomach
It’s not surprising that at its heart, Stomach is a story about best-friends, the
way women treat each other, and the way women treat themselves. It is after all,
the brainchild of Amelia Reynolds and Saraid Cameron, whose own meet-cute at Young
and Hungry in 2013 led to an almost instant adoption of BFF status.
Since its debut at The Basement Theatre in 2014, Amelia Reynolds and Saraid Cameron have performed Stomach in return seasons at BATS theatre in Wellington, and Saraid’s own backyard. As they get ready to restage the show as part of The Basement Schools programme 2015, Amelia and Saraid share their journey so far, and insights into writing Stomach. After spending any length of time with Amelia and Saraid it isn’t hard to imagine them sitting comfortably on a couch somewhere, sharing the laughter, tears, and stories of their high school years and beyond that would eventually become Stomach. Amelia recalls how they knew instantly they wanted to write together, and felt confident that together they would create something great. |
Amelia and Saraid rehearse Stomach |
“We talked about everything we loved, and we put most of that into the play. Like, it would be really great to do a live lip-sync. And there was initially a massive puppet of Lisa Left-Eye Lopez. We’re both women in our early 20’s and didn’t really feel like we were seeing or hearing our voices on stage. And we felt we were the right type of people to be talking about the things you go through after high school, in your early 20s.”
Saraid adds that from there, they drew inspirations from stories and movies that they loved to help inform the structure of the play.
“We looked at romantic comedies, and the important milestones that happen in those relationships. There’s the meet-cute, the first time two people are alone together, and we based the structure of the show around those key moments.”
As Saraid and Amelia began to talk about the things they loved, and reflected on their own high school years, they realised that the challenges, pressures, loneliness, and uncertainties of youth can sometimes make it hard to appreciate what you love and what is important at a young age. This also became an idea that underpinned the story of Stomach and informed the journey of the Sara and Amy, the two characters in the play.
“When you look at the obstacles that sometimes get in the way when you’re younger, and the challenges you’re facing, sometimes it can be hard to see the wonderful things around you. We like to write about what we know, not telling our specific stories or our experiences, but telling the truth of what’s happened to us, in the sense that we know what it feels like to go through the things that young women go through.”
In Saraid’s words, “For anything that in the play that did happen to us in real life, there are ten things that didn’t. And those experiences that are our own, we’ve built on them and turned them into something else.”
When it came time to put pen to paper, Amelia and Saraid worked together scene by scene, first talking, then planning, and then quickly writing each scene, before moving on to the next scene.
“It was a devising process, so we’d write, and rehearse, and make things up as we wrote. The play is a series of moments in time. From the get go, we were also really interested in seeing what would happen if we told the story backwards, and how that influenced what we know about the characters. And then we forced Jess to make that work.”
The Jess in question is Jessica Wood, the director Amelia and Saraid worked with to help bring the script, and the characters Amy and Sara to life on stage. What followed was a month of rehearsals before they opened the show for the first time.
“Jess came on board about a month before we opened, and that was an intense rewriting and editing process. We laughed a lot, but it was so stressful too.”
It was during this rehearsal period that the characters of Amy and Sara, and their YouTube personas Montreal and Kadun started to take shape. In Saraid’s words “Amy and Sara are less self-aware, heightened versions of us. More fumbly. Faster. Younger. They’ve grown over time though, and they feel quite different now than they did during the first season.”
Amelia adds that it only seems natural that Amy and Sara have changed since it was first written, as the writers themselves have too.
"Sara and Amy are so compatible. They’ve met at a moment when they both need someone. And they are like little gloves that fit each other perfectly. But they are also on really different paths when they are actually experiencing the same things. They are both feeling vulnerable. They are both going through really difficult times.”
Sara and Amy’s strengths and vulnerabilities were used to inform the way each of the characters spoke, and the journey of each character. Saraid describes Sara as “witty, quick, and funny.”
“She is charming and funny, but she doesn’t see herself that way, and deep down she is trying to keep something really secret which is making her really unhappy.
In contrast, Amelia describes Amy as someone less sure of her own voice.
“Amy feels that she has disappointed people or someone. She has a strong sense that she is not good enough. She tends to justify herself with everything she says. She never lets what she is saying just be the truth.”
Amelia and Saraid have succeeded in creating characters that represent a multitude of the issues and feelings that are universal for young women. While Amy and Sara’s compatibility and connection creates the heart and soul (and a lot of the comedy) of Stomach, it’s their differences, and the tragedy of their situations that drive the story forward and create dramatic tension for the audience.
In the first scene, we meet Amy and Sara mid-fight, and see where their short but intense friendship ultimately ends up. But as the play progresses, and the story of their friendship moves backwards through time we get to see how wonderful and special friendship can be.
“At some times in your life, especially when you’re younger, your friends give you a reason to not be scared or sad and that is so important. You don’t expect a friendship to break up. But sometimes they do. And that is okay. You learn something from it and move on.”
Saraid adds that from there, they drew inspirations from stories and movies that they loved to help inform the structure of the play.
“We looked at romantic comedies, and the important milestones that happen in those relationships. There’s the meet-cute, the first time two people are alone together, and we based the structure of the show around those key moments.”
As Saraid and Amelia began to talk about the things they loved, and reflected on their own high school years, they realised that the challenges, pressures, loneliness, and uncertainties of youth can sometimes make it hard to appreciate what you love and what is important at a young age. This also became an idea that underpinned the story of Stomach and informed the journey of the Sara and Amy, the two characters in the play.
“When you look at the obstacles that sometimes get in the way when you’re younger, and the challenges you’re facing, sometimes it can be hard to see the wonderful things around you. We like to write about what we know, not telling our specific stories or our experiences, but telling the truth of what’s happened to us, in the sense that we know what it feels like to go through the things that young women go through.”
In Saraid’s words, “For anything that in the play that did happen to us in real life, there are ten things that didn’t. And those experiences that are our own, we’ve built on them and turned them into something else.”
When it came time to put pen to paper, Amelia and Saraid worked together scene by scene, first talking, then planning, and then quickly writing each scene, before moving on to the next scene.
“It was a devising process, so we’d write, and rehearse, and make things up as we wrote. The play is a series of moments in time. From the get go, we were also really interested in seeing what would happen if we told the story backwards, and how that influenced what we know about the characters. And then we forced Jess to make that work.”
The Jess in question is Jessica Wood, the director Amelia and Saraid worked with to help bring the script, and the characters Amy and Sara to life on stage. What followed was a month of rehearsals before they opened the show for the first time.
“Jess came on board about a month before we opened, and that was an intense rewriting and editing process. We laughed a lot, but it was so stressful too.”
It was during this rehearsal period that the characters of Amy and Sara, and their YouTube personas Montreal and Kadun started to take shape. In Saraid’s words “Amy and Sara are less self-aware, heightened versions of us. More fumbly. Faster. Younger. They’ve grown over time though, and they feel quite different now than they did during the first season.”
Amelia adds that it only seems natural that Amy and Sara have changed since it was first written, as the writers themselves have too.
"Sara and Amy are so compatible. They’ve met at a moment when they both need someone. And they are like little gloves that fit each other perfectly. But they are also on really different paths when they are actually experiencing the same things. They are both feeling vulnerable. They are both going through really difficult times.”
Sara and Amy’s strengths and vulnerabilities were used to inform the way each of the characters spoke, and the journey of each character. Saraid describes Sara as “witty, quick, and funny.”
“She is charming and funny, but she doesn’t see herself that way, and deep down she is trying to keep something really secret which is making her really unhappy.
In contrast, Amelia describes Amy as someone less sure of her own voice.
“Amy feels that she has disappointed people or someone. She has a strong sense that she is not good enough. She tends to justify herself with everything she says. She never lets what she is saying just be the truth.”
Amelia and Saraid have succeeded in creating characters that represent a multitude of the issues and feelings that are universal for young women. While Amy and Sara’s compatibility and connection creates the heart and soul (and a lot of the comedy) of Stomach, it’s their differences, and the tragedy of their situations that drive the story forward and create dramatic tension for the audience.
In the first scene, we meet Amy and Sara mid-fight, and see where their short but intense friendship ultimately ends up. But as the play progresses, and the story of their friendship moves backwards through time we get to see how wonderful and special friendship can be.
“At some times in your life, especially when you’re younger, your friends give you a reason to not be scared or sad and that is so important. You don’t expect a friendship to break up. But sometimes they do. And that is okay. You learn something from it and move on.”