"The whole ethos is that it's a Wadham production"

My name is Jessica, I am a second-year reading English. Ultimately, I want to write professionally. I’d been thinking of pitching something to the drama people here at Wadham. And then all the worlds collided at one time, and they actually wanted to do it!

It originated from a conversation after a tutorial. In this tutorial we did Margery Kemp and Julian of Norwich, so ancient female manuscripts. And my tutor was telling this anecdote about being handed this old manuscript in a big old English country house. She said how so many manuscripts will be hidden in these private libraries that nobody has properly sifted through. And then my tute partner Jules said that would be a really good idea for a play.

The forgery aspect of it is less to do with the manuscript itself and more to do with the characters involved in the finding of it.

This is why it was odd. I’ve never before had to think of a set of characters in the same way. In prose you can start with, say, an event and everything can flow from there. But with drama you need to have an established network of people and how they’re going to interact. I liked the idea of a stereotypical nuclear family and your classic dysfunctional, aristocratic family. So I started with four characters and branched out when I got more excited about it!

It's been a weird literary genesis, though. The same night as the tutorial, Eddie - the president of Wadham drama society - and I went to Jane Griffiths’ poetry book launch. After that, we were going through ideas for scenes. A lot of stuff that made it into the script was from that frantic initial discussion!

Directing. I’ve acted in school, and I write all the time, even though normally it’s a different kind of writing. But I’d never directed before. I’ve actually been really enjoying it. The space in the Ante-chapel is great, so it’s very easy to map everyone out. Yesterday, we were blocking this big garden party scene that has twelve people on the stage at once. It was so fun seeing everything I had written down come into practice and giving everyone their individual pathways and journeys to do.

The setting is this big old country English house. The characters are clinging on to this golden age version of aristocracy in a world where it doesn’t mean as much anymore. The themes are about name, heritage and legacy. What it means to be part of a British family with such history and how that has become surreal in the sense that we are idolising something that has never existed, really. A little bit of Macbeth ambition is in there in the central character and his drive to become cemented in this institution!

Another thing: I’d never written funny before. But I was just writing, and I was like “no, this is going to be funny.” I’m keen for it to be comedic so the other main strand is light Oxford satire. Upper class satire.

No, but I think the Oxford satire would be better received at Wadham than in some other Colleges! Not that it’s incendiary, but there’s more of a collective mindset at Wadham of poking fun a little bit. Which is why I like it here.

Is what’s on stage really that dissimilar from the current state of things? I think it’s got a lot better but still, so much of your live can still be governed by who you do or don’t make connections with. There’s definitely some anger at the ‘chumification’ of politics in the play. But it’s not railing against Oxford. It’s light satire. A loving poke.

Oh, well the one I like the most is Alice. It’s so bad, when I was re-reading and editing, every other character comes out slightly marred or stained but she’s just great and so fun to write! I was like, “Jessica, could you have made it more obvious the one you like?” So I think she’s the most enjoyable to watch as an audience. And she’s played by the wonderful Grace!

I’d say the whole ethos is that it’s a Wadham production. That was the whole point of putting it on. Having something that is first and foremost an opportunity solely for Wadham students, whatever their subject. The cast and crew, writer, producer, all are Wadham apart from one actor! And that’s only because no one in Wadham wanted to audition for that role. It works meta-theatrically quite well with the character he is playing. I can pretend it’s a deliberate casting decision!

And the stage is in the Ante-chapel, in the heart and old history of Wadham. Why would you not come celebrate what the creative people at this college can do?

I want to emphasise that while I have written it, I have a wonderful Assistant Director, Kaveri , who’s done a lot of directing before. So she’s helping. And Eddie is producing. So I definitely want to share the credit, without either of them this wouldn’t be happening!

Many thanks to Jessica for her time. Please do go and see Forgery and support this Wadham production! The latest episode in a proud tradition of Wadham's engagement with the arts. Tickets available at the link below.