Sínann Fetherston speaks with LA producer Christine Boylan about her latest project with Irish actress Danielle Galligan, as well as her love for community theatre.
In March of this year, I found myself in a small room of the OSO Arts Centre in Barnes, London, watching a star-studded - yet totally pared back - piece of community theatre.
With scripts in hand, and only a few stackable chairs as props, Dublin-born actress Danielle Galligan (Shadow and Bone, Kin, Obituary) and English actor Freddy Carter (Shadow and Bone, Masters of Air) transported the female-heavy audience to 2095, where the Netflix co-stars played out the heavily-dystopian and questionably-romantic story of Hyacinth (an engineer) and Cleve (her sexy robot butler).
With the power of persuasion, and sizzling chemistry, the actors conjured a hot, tense, and complicated future where consent, life-extension, climate change, and the true meaning of humanity are at play - all within a 130-seat room.
The remarkable script came from Christine Boylan, a LA-based producer and writer known for her work on Hollywood heavy-hitters like Avatar: The Last Airbender, Poker Face, Citadel, Castle, and many (many) more. In fact, her first role in the industry was a writers' assistant gig on a little show called Gilmore Girls.
Despite her success in the world of entertainment and DC Comics, though, it is her own personal projects that remain the true and consistent love for the creative.
"Never ever abandon your own work," she insists, speaking over Zoom from her office in LA.
"You have to have a side piece," she jokes. "I have a friend in New York who says that you have to have second thing you're writing that you can have an affair with, so that when you're writing the thing that is giving you trouble, you can go to the other."
"I don't recommend affairs in real life," she adds, laughing, "but, in your writing, it is a release."
This love for writing, as well as her constant collection of ideas, led the New York native to create Bespoke Plays - a writer-driven collective that delivers staged readings of original works across LA, NY and London, leaning heavily on collective imagination and cheap but effective staging.
"Bespoke Plays is a passion project that I started with one of my best friends, Ellie Pyle," she says, explaining that their friendship formed in 2016, when it felt like "the world was falling apart".
Similar to Christine, Ellie has thrived in the entertainment industry, working with the likes of Marvel and hosting her own successful podcast, but had never lost her love for live theatre.
"The two of us ended up in LA and meeting through mutual friends," Boylan explains. "LA has a very small but vibrant theatre community - it's never going to be New York or London or Dublin - so when you're doing theatre here, it's because you really want to."
"I think I sent her an e-mail, I won't be able to quote it verbatim, but I think the immortal line was, 'oh f**k it, do you want to do community plays?'," she laughs.
"So we pooled together and paid out of our own pockets, we had a friend who was a manager of a theatre space, and it was just about calling in favours and making it as cheap as possible."
the premiere of Netflix's Shadow Bone (Pic: Getty)
One of the collective's directors, Mimi Collins, returned home to the UK following the COVID pandemic, but brought Bespoke Plays with her. In 2024, the two were able to work together once again on Analogue - a project that Christine had been mulling over for years.
"I have a really long gestation period between when I get an idea and when I get the plot figured out," she admits. "I have, like, approach-avoidance; I'm really afraid to let those characters take over, but sometimes the characters will come to you and they will talk and you have to write them down."
Following the small but mighty sci-fi theatre scene, Boylan began reading up on the subject of robots and the varied subject matter related to them - robots being used to battle loneliness, the growing fear of AI, the evolution of fashion, the gendered nature of voice assistants - until she eventually landed on the intriguing story of Hyacinth and Cleve.
"I think it started when I realised there aren't enough male sexy robots out there," she muses.
The two-night UK production of the show closed to standing ovations, and led to dramatic page cuts, both of which have given Christine a boost of confidence for both Analogue and Bespoke Plays at large.
"I'm getting better at enjoying the moment," she smiles, "just being able to give all my love and gratitude."
"Bespoke is now a full non-profit company, so we are looking for investors - we're out there looking. We're looking for people who are maybe not in the arts but want to invest in supporting the arts in a very direct and pure way because you know you're immediately going to see an opening show" she adds.
Despite time differences, conflicting schedules, low budgets, and a 'flying by the seat of our pants' mentality, Boylan insists that the work of the collective has become a true calling, and is something she hopes to continue developing in both the US, UK, and beyond.
Their upcoming productions include J. Holtham's A Sphere of Fixed Stars in the Heavens in LA this June, as well as Boylan's own Meet Cute in London this September.
"I would love to bring Analogue to Ireland," she adds, quickly. "It would make me so happy, I would be on cloud nine."
To stay up to date on Bespoke Plays, visit bespokeplays.com.
