Theatre / Christmas show
Daisy Kennedy and Mia Macleod are back with ‘SCRAPS: Christmas Leftovers’
When Mia Macleod and Daisy Kennedy first brought SCRAPS to the stage in 2024, their esoteric blend of comic – often chaotic – sketches, dance, and lip sync was a hit with audiences and critics alike.
Now, they’re back for the festive season with the one-off seasonal spin-off, SCRAPS: Christmas Leftovers, which comes to The Wardrobe Theatre on December 15.
This time, they’ll bring a third character – Charlie – into the mix, promising to give him a picture of “what a true Christmas is”.
They will have a good time. No matter what. Everyone must have fun because it’s Christmas, and that’s what you do.
But when all is said and done, is the idea of Christmas better than the reality?
As show preparations take shape, Kennedy and Macleod shared some inspirations and expectations with Bristol24/7:
Daisy Kennedy and Mia Macleod in rehearsal for SCRAPS: Christmas Leftovers
What are you both up to?
“For the first time in 10 years, we are not living in the same city; not even the same country… Mia is studying in Cardiff for her masters at Royal Welsh College. So, great timing to make a play.”
Can you take us behind the scenes with the rehearsal and development process?
“We did the bulk of the devising and writing over the summer. This mainly included coming up with a lot of sketch ideas, improv games, discussions/rants about the festive period and listening to Christmas songs way too early.
“As a writing duo, we usually pick the scenes that stand out to us and our individual styles and then go away and write a few, swap them, read them, and change them again and again and again. That’s how the scenes are roughly formed, then once we have ideas about clowning and physicality we piece it all together into one ‘chaos script’.
“We use this as the foundation for our rehearsals where we give ourselves freedom to cut, move, change anything and this is when we introduce music which is when it starts to feel real.”
Charlie Nye in rehearsal
How did the idea for SCRAPS: Christmas Leftovers take root?
“When initially writing SCRAPS, we would think of scenes that we loved but felt like a different show all together, so we decided to make one. Christmas was already so embedded in the original SCRAPS, so we decided to explore that further and see how far we can take it.”
How much crossover is there between this one-off and the original SCRAPS project?
“SCRAPS: Christmas Leftovers is a stand-alone show with completely original content.
“We still have the SCRAPS ‘style’ like the lip sync, projection, and all-around-stupidity, and we are still playing heightened versions of ourselves.
“Also, we have introduced Charlie into the mix, who shakes up ‘Mia’ and ‘Daisy’s’ Christmas time. We’ve been wanting to work with Charlie Nye for a while and he has been great at going along with our scrappy ways. You’re going to love him.”
Mia Macleod and Daisy Kennedy
What are your expectations for the Wardrobe Theatre show, and its audience?
“The Wardrobe audience never disappoints. They’re always up for anything and having a laugh. We expect a very fun evening for our opening and closing one night extravaganza.”
Finally, what does the festive period mean to you?
DK: “To be honest, stress. I hate scrambling to see everyone in a short time period. It’s cold, my eczema is flaring, and working customer service is awful. There’s a lot to hate. But I do like the presents and pigs in blankets. I just feel everyone needs to calm down. I’d love a year off. But maybe that’s because I’ve been making a show about Christmas since June.”
MM: “It’s the lead up to Christmas I struggle with. The decorations in town are being put up earlier and earlier so I can’t enjoy Halloween to the fullest, everything is more expensive because it’s Christmas time and people are aggressively shopping, or boasting about getting everything off Amazon which fills me with rage. But to me, Christmas is food. And I love food. I just want to eat lots of cheese and have a pot of brandy butter to myself like a little drunk mouse.”
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SCRAPS: Christmas Leftovers is at The Wardrobe Theatre on December 15 at 7.30pm. Tickets are available at www.thewardrobetheatre.com.
All photos: SCRAPS
Read more:
- The unstoppable rise of Bristol’s paranormal comedy smash, ‘Gurt Haunted’
- Review: SCRAPS, Tobacco Factory Theatres – ‘An impressive and exciting debut’
- Wardrobe Ensemble duo bring their Fringe sleeper hit home
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