Written and directed by Will Osbon, GRAVE is described as an absurdist tragicomedy which performed in one act. The story follows an unlikely interaction between a lawyer and a gravedigger, who strike up a deal leading to the lawyer becoming a gravedigger and the gravedigger running an errant. Throughout the night, the lawyer is disturbed by many different characters and when the gravedigger returns, the lawyer has become decrepit and unrecognisable. With two different endings, the audience votes on the first night to decide the characters’ fates. GRAVE strikes with existential explorations of labourism, capitalism and identity, and comes full force with a mound of dirt and mouthfuls of honey!
We took the opportunity to speak to Osbon to tell us more about this show.
Q) Before we begin, please could you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit more about your background in theatre?
Hello! My name's Will Osbon - I’m a comedian and writer from Nottingham, based in York and spiritually in Edinburgh. I got my start in theatre doing sketch comedy, touring with the Dead Ducks in 2021. I directed that same troupe at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and we got a delightful five star review by Broadway World! From that point on, I tried to broaden my horizons beyond sketch and stand up, past just silly jokes (though they squeak their way in). In 2023, I went to the Edinburgh Fringe working on the absurdist satire “The Courteous Enemy”. As my skills and experience grew, my writing portfolio did too, until in early September of 2023 I finished my first draft of GRAVE. The show debuted in October and received great reception by the York scene. It was a surreal, filthy treat that surprised a lot of
people! My move to the London theatre scene as creative director of my new company Filfbag Theatre was part of my ongoing pursuit to continuously broaden my horizons, learn, create, work hard and make perplexing, funny and strange pieces that are constantly changing. I have recently finished my second full piece JELLYFISH which debuts in York this May, just as GRAVE did last October. Otherwise, my theatre background has been performing in anything that tickles my fancy! (and boy is my fancy ticklish…)
Q) Could you tell us a little bit more about your play GRAVE?
GRAVE is an absurdist tragicomedy that involves a pile of dirt, a shovel and… that’s about it. The show's main goal is to string together a series of anti-heroes and oddballs that make you question the reality of the play and perplex you throughout. Two performers use the space and all their physical capabilities to embody a litany of characters - a beekeeper, a gravedigger, a drunkard, a lawyer. Through a series of episodic encounters over time, a
fresh faced businessman who never leaves the stage becomes more and more decrepit, until the lines of reality blur. The grave in the centre of the stage gets deeper and deeper, as it is continually dug throughout the show. Eventually the question is begged - who will go in the grave? Luckily, the audience gets to have a say, as they get to decide on which performer bites it, consequently unlocking a different ending each night. It is a non-narrative political piece that aims to jolt you with the ridiculous, hopefully making you confront how life simply doesn’t leave you with answers - only questions.
Q) What was your inspiration behind writing this play?
I am an English literature major going to study a masters in playwriting at the university of Edinburgh - so my inspirations are pretty wide ranging! I was heavily inspired by clowning and theatre of the ridiculous, but more so than anything, I wrote this play while closely studying political theatre by Beckett, Churchill and Brecht. Their writing styles struck me, as particular pieces did not seek to justify themselves or give the audience answers, or even
denouement. That want to express, allowing structure to come second, if at all, was so tempting to me.
I then began simply writing. The first scene started with just writing a conversation I thought would be interesting and indicative of something - a scene between two socioeconomic polar opposites; an old gravedigger and a young businessman. Then, to my surprise, as the gravedigger exited, I simply started writing in a new character per scene, whatever felt natural. It turns out this was pretty close knit to Brechtian practices, such as Mother Courage which also presents an episodic structure, many side characters and a central conceit (Mother Courage’s cart never leaving the stage suddenly felt appropriate to do similarly with the grave in my piece). Introducing a voting mechanism for the killing of one of the performers was also a choice of mine similar to what I learnt about brechtian alienation.
The audience arbitrarily decides which of the two performers will die (using the performers real names mind you), which should hopefully remind them that what they're about to see is not real, and that they should be thinking about it. While I still have lots to learn in how to integrate and pace my techniques, I believe that not enough theatre is attempting to discombobulate the audience properly anymore; at least in a way that doesn’t hold their hands, or tell them to their face “we are confusing you now!”. Ultimately, I just want to make people perplexed and think - while also potentially laughing and just having a decent time! I don’t think enough theatre strives for that sort of rag tag marmite process anymore, but boy do I love it, and hopefully the audience can see that passion.
Q) What are you hoping that audiences take away from this piece of theatre?
Speaking of the audience, I suppose I just want them to be interested. That sounds like such a non-word, but I would hate to make anything that is just okay. Anyone making a fuss about this show is better than not. It came from deep within my subconscious, and while it is easy to disregard that process as sloppy, I believe it's the kind of process that makes people engage in a pursuit for meaning similar to existentialism, where there will be lots of questions unanswered. But GRAVE is an existential play; its whole aim is to say “hey… that’s life.” (In a more filthy, jarring way, not so Frank Sinatra-esque). If people are leaving asking what the point of the beekeeper was, what the honey thing was about, what the whole metaphor was, then I see a mission complete! If the audience takes away questions, they’re thinking. If it doesn’t sit right with them, they’re thinking. That, in my opinion, is the whole point of theatre, let alone political theatre - it should kick the chair from under you.
We will always have narratives and stories to make us comfortable. I love a good book and I love a good story. But life isn’t like that; sometimes Freytag's triangle is more of a circle, or a dot, or a complex fourth dimensional tesseract. So, why not watch something that, like a dream or a nightmare or life, see’s that struggle and doesn’t give you the satisfaction? I promise you’ll feel quite alive by it all.
Q) Filfbag Theatre are a group of recently graduated theatremakers. How have you found the whole process of bringing GRAVE to life, and how have you overcome potential challenges that you’ve faced on this journey so far?
Luckily, we have been able to work on this piece for a decent amount of time. The creatives in York are excellent and incredible people to work alongside! The show first aired in October, to a great reception. After that, we all simply stayed in touch working together, until the opportunity arrived to put it on again. We re-convened and it was like nothing changed! We were just a group of very passionate creatives trying to do something strange, just like
last time. The big challenge was accommodating for the venue at The Hope both as a York group AND as an independently funded student company. Independently funded shows have it tough enough! So this show really came from the bottom of our hearts (and wallets) which was a challenge, but it was essentially a no-brainer! Being able to take our first step into the professional world we all love so much was a dream come true. Of course, a huge challenge was minimising the show and taking it to London but, again, with three duffel bags and a suitcase and a lot of passion, it was no drama (we save that for the stage).
Q) GRAVE has recently finished its run at the Hope Theatre. What are you hoping for with regards to the future of this play?
You may have noted at some point in this interview I mentioned that this show is particularly strange. No? Oh, well, it truly is. Its origins were that it came from a deep carnal part of me, that just needed to express how I felt about life and the systems that bind us all together, that makes us all similar, indistinguishable and perhaps beautifully doomed to the same fate.
With that in mind, the show was always a heavily workshoppy process - it has changed so many times so often. I love ripping up pages, editing, cutting, messing around with the performers and just really getting our hands dirty. So who knows what the next phase of this show will look like? Perhaps it will be an entirely different show? I have been entertaining an
outdoor version, or a totally minimalist version, or adding a third performer. These are the things that are exciting about theatre, and I believe, especially with the political hodge podge we’re in right now, we are in dire need of a theatre that makes a mess again. I think that sort of thing is far more than just brave, it’s sort of necessary; it keeps our voices raw and
moving. Anywho, of course I’ll always set out to improve the show, make it more enjoyable, cut lines, pad it, add an interval perhaps, who knows? It’s all a process - but until then, if audiences are somewhere on that perplexed-intrigued wavelength, I’m golden.
To keep up to date with Filfbag Theatre and their upcoming productions, you can follow the link here.
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