mxogyny x persistent & nasty
While the norm is to connote these terms with negativity, or aggression, Elaine, Louise and Misha reclaim them in the name of empowerment and community. Persistent & Nasty is a creative initiative, podcast crew and advocacy group that has emerged from a group of thirty-something actors looking to do some play readings of texts that which spoke to their experiences.
Louise: I suppose it all kind of happened by accident. We weren’t working at that the time and we were just a bit fed up, so we wanted to get together and do some readings of plays that had our own voices, from women our age, represented in the text. In trying to find just one to work from we discovered there wasn’t a whole lot. That prompted us to say: why don’t we find some work that focussed on the voices of women in a way that wasn’t passive or harmful?.
Elaine: So, after that discussion we thought the work must be there but it’s just not getting platformed. We thought – we can’t be the only people looking for this work and, therefore, there must be people creating that work. So, we decided to do a call out and see what happened. That was in January 2018. We put a call out for plays about women by women by Scottish voices initially, but we had applications from all over the world.
L: It was wild.
E: There was over 100 applications - it was absolutely incredible.
Out of this large response to their call out, P&N staged their first play reading and panel at the The Old Hairdressers. They chose a piece that, while unexpected, shaped what would ultimately make them such an innovative group in the Scottish and , feminist theatre scene.
E: We went for something that nobody probably expected us to do. What we went for was a pilot of a sitcom about women in STEM, written by two women in STEM. I think we were expected to come out with a man hating, extremist piece of work. But that’s not what we stand for; what we stand for is equality for all.
L: The initial impetus for our events was us feeling under-represented and unheard in the context of theatre and casting. And storytelling. But I think what P&N has taught us is that, ultimately, it’s so much more complex and nuanced than that.
P&N’s unique choice of text for their first event speaks to this nuance – that there are many more intersections of identity that can stunt an artist than one could an ever imagine from a position of privilege. P&N’s actions respond to where change is in demand, both from their members and the wider creative community.
L: That first night the room was wild. We went into the whole thing with a no expectations attitude. But that room was sold out, and the energy was insane, crackling with people who were ready and chomping at the bit for change.
Louise Oliver is an actor, producer, writer and arts consultant. She is one of the founding members of Persistent & Nasty as an initative.
The group lives and breathes community values and upholds female empowerment in everything they do - from their events, to their podcasts, to the formation of their core members. Elaine and Louise explain that Misha, an ex-student of Elaine’s, joined after two other members chose to step back when ‘life happened’.
E: She’s our little sunflower.
L: Yep, Misha’s our ray of sunshine when mine and Elaine’s age and cynicism takes over.
Misha: I’ve known elaine for years and she had been mentoring me through my acting training and the process of blossoming into ‘the sunflower’. Just really feeding me the feminist ways and teaching me to be the strong woman I am.
L: Like Obi Wan Kenobi. But feminism.
M: The first event came around and I got a text from Elaine asking if I did photography.
E: I vaguely remember a conversation where you said you were interested in photography and so I just assumed you had taken it up.
M: And I absolutely hadn’t. But I replied to Elaine’s text ‘yes, I do. What can I help you with?’ Borrowed a camera of my stepdad and stumbled into this first night where the energy was electric. I was doing that whole ‘Hi I’m the photographer, great to meet you all’. Then came back and did the photography for the second event. By the third event I was like… ‘I am an actor as well?’ And I got invited to be in your third event as an actor.
L: It’s a phenomenal example of what cis white men do all the time; which is just to say – ‘yeah I can do it’.
Misha McCullagh is an actor, artists and creative arts producer with a keen interest in equality, especially in the arts.
Misha’s gumption in blagging her way into P&N is both a great anecdote and an inspiring example of how the whole group are so daringly resourceful. P&N’s most prolific initiative, their podcast, happened entirely by accident and in response to the sector’s demand for their platform.
E: The podcast was meant to be after each event and then we just started to do that white, cis male thing of just asking. Without apologising.
L: It grew because people wanted to be on it as well. The podcast snowballed of its own volition because people wanted it and we really enjoyed doing it. We’d love to do more of the events, but they cost a lot of money.
E: We are three self-employed actors facilitating it, and that’s not meant to be a woe is us thing, but the events have got to the point where a lot of people think we are funded because we do so much - but we’re not. When doing the podcast with Rachel Flynn recently her jaw hit the flaw when I said that we were unfunded. And that’s the realisation that comes with being in this industry.
Elaine Stirrat is an actor and writer who delivers bespoke training and workshops for children and adults. She helped found Persistent & Nasty in 2018.
E: That’s also why P&N has become an advocacy group. We’ve been running a weekly coffee morning throughout lockdown for anybody who’s in the arts who wants to join and just keep chat going in the community. A lot of people have said without it they don’t know what they would have done.
We also raised around £7000 in five weeks for Wan Mair Tune – a fund for creatives who had lost their money when Covid hit.
M: Our fundraising supported 35 freelancers across the arts. Writers, stage managers, graphic designers, dancers.
L: It was a rapid response to the immediate effect of Covid. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to keep the lights on before we knew what the government’s response would be.
All these different stages have been organic. We have evolved into an advocacy group because we are perceived as an initiative that can shout above the din on behalf of those affected by these issues.
Stay tuned for part two of our interview with Persistent & Nasty next week.