A twisted dark comedy about the fascination and lure of masculine power and the women who submit all.
Melania – once an enigmatic beauty, now pretty much forgotten – is discovered years later living somewhere deep in the bowels of the White House. Holding on to her husband’s belief that they will one day return and Make It All Great Again, she welcomes ‘an audience with Melania’ and lives out her memories, dreams, and fantasies. A dark clown show exploring the grotesque behind the glamour and what it takes to ‘stand by your man’. Drawing on dictator wives, populist methods, karaoke and asking us to consider our responsibility in the making of a monster.
Merging clowning, absurd and dark comedy to ask:
What did it take to prop up Donald and his authoritarian demands?
Finding Melania offers a brutal interrogation of women in positions of power through a grotesque caricature of an aged Melania Trump reliving her memories in an isolated dystopia.
We ask audiences to question the role of women who prop up monstrous authoritarianism, what does it take to play the role well and what is left when the dictator inevitably falls?
24th September 2022: Camden People’s Theatre
28th & 30th April 2022: Canal Café Theatre
Theatre
Conceived & Performed by: | Denise Stephenson | |
Direction & Dramaturg: | Sarah Calver | |
Production Design: | Sarah Calver | |
Evie Fehilly | ||
Sound Design: | Nicola T. Chang 張彤 | |
Stage Management: | Sam Campbell | |
Graphic Design: | Émilie Chen | |
Iona Kirk | ||
Images & Media: | Sarah Calver | |
Alexander Stagg |
Melania: | Denise Stephenson |
Film
Conceived & Performed by: | Denise Stephenson | |
Direction & Dramaturg: | Sarah Calver | |
Production Design: | Sarah Calver | |
Evie Fehilly | ||
Video Director: | Evie Fehilly | |
Camera Operation: | Anton Berggren | |
Natalie Hermelin Aström | ||
Sound Design: | John Chambers | |
Lighting Consultation: | Claire Childs | |
Art Department: |
Lucca Benney |
Melania: | Denise Stephenson |
Catapulting diverse stories centre stage. Exciting inclusive theatre for the UK and beyond.
© Ellandar Productions 2021.