Recently, I was at a dinner party when the partner of a friend leaned over to ask - how much of Nicola Cheeseman is autobiographical? I wasn't overly surprised by this question. In fact, I was prepped and primed for it.
It wasn't the first time I'd been asked a question along these lines, and I'm pretty sure it won't be last.
Image L-R: Kathryn Burnett (playwright), Jodie Rimmer (actress embodying Nicola Cheeseman)
Last year, I was at an industry Christmas party and as I walked past the bar, I heard a man say, "there's Nicola Cheeseman". Now that did surprise me - it's not even my face on the poster!
But folks, this is what happens when you're a middle-aged woman who writes a one-woman show about a middle-aged woman dealing with being a middle-aged woman.
People feel compelled to say things like, "Are you Nicola Cheeseman?", "Were you really married to, and then left by, a man called Dougie?", "I didn't know you were the lead singer of a punk band."
Spoiler, dear reader - I wasn't.
Since the play premiered last year, I've been fending off some seriously autobiographical assumptions (love it when I learn a new phrase). It really is a thing, this assumption that if you write about family and feelings, you've just opened up your diary and plopped it out on the page. Phoebe Waller-Bridge, writer of Fleabag, told the Guardian she was unprepared for the reaction her family endured from people who assumed the story must be an autobiographical and quite unflattering snapshot of her family.
As irritating as this can be, you kinda have to take these types of questions with good grace - they're (for the most part) well-meaning and people LOVE the idea that a story might be true. It seemingly draws them closer to the author and they get this delicious sense that they're privy to personal information about them. Humans are curious, nosy creatures - I get it!
But it also, ahem, negates the craft, skill and kickass imagination required to create good fiction and engaging characters. Some writers lean heavily on real life for inspiration, but generally all writers make sh*t up. That's our kung-fu.
So, did any parts of my real life end up in Nicola Cheeseman is Back? Of course. A writer's life and internal world are a rich treasure trove of everything we have ever seen, done, felt or thought about. Why wouldn't we plunder it?
Here is a list of things I plundered from my own life to create Nicola Cheeseman:
- Grumpy, unwell father who won't wear his $5,000 hearing aids.
- My feelings about getting older and knowing that, like all of us, I was running out of time to do everything I wanted to do.
- My love of rock chicks and 80s/90s music.
- My dislike of random hair relocation.
- Conversations with numerous friends and colleagues about suddenly being invisible and irrelevant
That's about it. But for the sake of clarity, you should know that Nicola is waaaay more door-matty than I am. And not nearly as vain.
Plumb Theatre Presents NICOLA CHEESEMAN IS BACK The KateBilling encore season is on in Q Loft from 11 - 16 March. Click here to learn more and book your tickets!
