Following a sell-out run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Hotter has just completed a week in the Westend to rave five-star reviews. The show is about what gets you hot. Gay, straight women and trans people were asked what makes them sweat, flush, rub and gush. They made a sweaty verbatim dance party out of their answers.
The shows creators and performers Ell and Mary are best friends. In fact, they are ex-girlfriends. They are not afraid to ask these questions: What is the sweatiest you’ve ever been? When was the hottest you’ve ever felt? How would you describe your orgasm?
The Artiscape spoke with Mary Higgins & Ell Potter about Hotter.
We asked them why they decided to create the show?
“I’m not sure if there was ever a moment of [an] official decision,” says Ell. “Well, there was definitely a moment of official proposal: Mary came up to me in a pub out of nowhere and asked me to make a two-woman show with her. I didn’t even really know her, it was completely random. But I said yes.”
Mary adds, “We bonded really quickly because we were both going through some body-image issues at the time. We were young, on the cusp of turning 21, and basically got to know each other by talking about the kinds of things you’d never say out loud: like the grotesque self-hating inner-monologue that you have running all the time, whenever you see yourself in a reflection.” It was then they realised the inevitable, that if they were going to make a two-woman show “it had to be in some way about bodies”.
Ell describes how they had “the glorious realisation” that their surnames (Higgins and Potter) combine to make the word ‘hotter’. This she said had “just has too much dramaturgical serendipity to be overlooked.”
They started interviewing women and trans-people about hotness: blushing, sweating, pinkness, pleasure. “Heat and hotness turned out to be a really good way into looking at the femme experience” Ell explained.
Mary explains that interviewing other people was really important to them. “We’re two queer, white, able-bodied, cis-women onstage. If we wanted to make anything radical, we had to stretch beyond the limited experiences from our own bodies, and listen to other people”.
Why do they feel shows like these are important in terms of raising awareness of sex and gender?
“They’re important because so much stuff to do with sex and gender is simply left unsaid,” says Mary. “HOTTER’s impossible aim is that anyone who comes to see the show would never be embarrassed about their body again.”
She adds, “We have, for example, a wank dance in the show, in which we hear the voices of people – gay, straight, trans, cis – describing their most intimate moments with their bodies, often things they’ve never said aloud before. It’s just a joyous celebration of all the things our bodies do that we rarely talk about, coming from the voices of people we don’t normally hear.”
Ell continues to explain the importance of the show “you could sit down and read a really good article about all that stuff, and you’d learn a lot from it, but it wouldn’t hit you in the same way. Shows offer up that info in a totally different, accessible, immediate way: through song and dance and comedy. So it’s not a lecture, but more like a disco / cabaret where you happen to be learning too.”
What were the challenges for Ell and Mary in creating and performing in this production?
Mary says “Well, there was one big challenge at the beginning of it all.”
Ell muses, “Ah, yes. That old chestnut.”
Mary explains that when they started this they were in a relationship “we were each others’ first queer relationship”.
Then Ell adds, “Then we broke up, because I was scared of being gay. But we’d already paid for the Edinburgh venue. So we sort of had to keep going with it. Which sounds ridiculous but is entirely true.”
Mary continues, “So it was tricky to begin with. But, even though it was hard, it ended up being weirdly good for the show. Because we had to just force ourselves to be really honest and open with each other and that intimacy between us always comes across onstage. Now, we’re completely inseparable best mates.”
Finally we asked them what they thought an audience will take away from this show?
“Joy!” exclaims Ell. “A new appreciation for the wonder of their bodies”, adds Mary.
“Just the feeling that they’re not alone” add Ell. “Sometimes it can feel very lonely in your body, and it’s difficult to talk about, or you’re too embarrassed to say something aloud because you think it’ll make you sound like a freak: you think, ‘I’m the only one that feels this way about myself’. Or ‘I’m the only one who has a huge mole on my bum’. Or ‘I’m the only one who looked up how to wank on a WikiHow article’. But a problem shared is a problem halved: and, by those numbers, each night of HOTTER a problem shared is a problem hundred-th-ed.”
The Artiscape will keep you informed on the next showing of HOTTER.
