Hi Bertie, how are you? Thanks so much for chatting to Stage to Page today! Would you mind introducing yourself and telling our readers how you first got into the theatre industry?

Hello! I’m good thanks, it’s always so busy opening a show so I don’t feel like I’ve had a minute to think but it’s what I enjoy!

So I started in theatre from a young age. My mum took me to loads of local theatre when I was younger which gave me the bug really early on. I then became a young producer at the BAC where I performed in Punchdrunk's’ Masque of the Red Death as part of the BAC young company. It opened my eyes to what theatre could be and from then on I knew what I wanted to do. From there I literally just went around all the theatres in London and knocked on doors and it worked. I was let in the rehearsal rooms and taught by some incredible people because I think they just appreciated that I actually went into the space rather than emailing and thinking I’d get a response. Then I set up COLAB in 2014 wanting to do a spy show and I have been running it for the last 10 years.

Your drag parody panto of Die Hard is coming to London from December 10th. Can you tell us about the story and the changes you've made?

Absolutely! So it’s essentially a massive camp romp based on the (definite!) Christmas movie which I’ve managed to make about being true and honest to yourself but more importantly the people around you. I feel like we’re all such cowards when it comes to difficult decisions, and I thought having a gym bro (McClean) come to terms with his sexuality would be a great way to explore that in a relevant (and joyous/comedic!) way. So even though it is an action packed panto, it's been filled with glitter instead of guns.

You've written the show alongside Helena Raeburn and Lowell Bellfield. What did the collaborative writing process look like for the three of you?

It’s been a joy. Those two are fab. I think it’s also important to mention the cast here. We as a company always want to credit the actors as actual collaborators and we even solidify this by reflecting their compensation in the royalty pool (if we ever make a profit…) as they’re so intrinsic to an immersive piece. We basically wrote the spine and had the script put together and our skill has been in wrought-ing (not writing) the structure to make sure it all makes sense. We had to essentially cut out almost an hour of shootouts because my god, Die Hard has so many guns. And guns don’t translate to well to stage, so we had to get creative. Then after that we developed it with the actors who also brought so many funny jokes and it’s now where it’s at. Lowell’s in there right now doing a music video for the ‘breaking into the vault’ scene and it’s hilarious hearing it through the wall.

I think with writing it’s such a lonely process and a lot of the time it’s an excuse to hide your work not sharing it with anyone and I think it’s important for writers to step away from their work a bit and get it out into the world, either to collaborate with other writers (hence the name COLAB) or to just get advice from people. No one’s first script is going to be perfect, and I think a lot of people get stuck at that first hurdle a lot.

The production is said to push the boundaries of traditional pantomime. How does Dead Hard do this and how much can you share about the immersive nature of the show?

It’s ironically been hard making it less immersive as I always have my immersive brain on when making a show so I’m always thinking about audience engagement but what’s happened is a lovely mix of what we call ‘immersive-ish’. So it’s not too daunting for new audiences who don’t like immersive but while being immersive enough to engage those that do. We’ve actually split the tickets so you can buy a more immersive or less immersive ticket. The immersive ticket you get to be part of Handz heist crew. That first third of the show is quite immersive in traditional terms of a more gamified experience but then we’ve made it relatively traditional as a show, you sit down on a chair (something I’m rarely used to in immersive shows!) and watch the panto unfold with scenes happening around the audience. We also obviously have go-karts, ‘lightsaber’ battles, action man fights but they’re all a surprise, so I won’t say too much on them.

Dead Hard is the first show being performed at the first fully DDA-compliant immersive venue in London. How have you made this production accessible for all?

Yeah, it’s something that we’re really happy to facilitate. The building we took over were an access charity so it’s super wheelchair friendly as a building and we’re wanting to maximize on that as much as possible. The toilets have swipe to open doors and even have the bidet showers which I’ve been having a great time using. The way we’ve laid out the seats means that no ones excluded and everything’s on even floor that’s lift accessible so essentially we’ve done everything we can to make it all as accessible as possible. I think there’ll obviously be some teething problems and we’re always wanting feedback on those things but yeah we’re happy to give it a good go.

A question I ask everyone we chat to - my blog is called Stage to Page. But if you could turn any book, from page to stage, what would it be and why?

Matrix. And if that’s not a book, I’d write it into a book and then do it for stage. It is based on a comic if that helps and there is an animatrix comic series…

But if I was forced to choose a book, I think I’d do something based on the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson but how you’d stage that god know.. I think what I’d personally love to see is a zoomed in From Russia With Love on stage so something along those line… or maybe the book of leaves.

A really important question that needs addressing: is Die Hard really a Christmas film?

YES YES YES YES YES. Definitely yes… There’s no question. It snows. There’s Christmas outfits… and a sexy hunky man running around in a tank top. If it’s not the Christmas we want, it’s the Christmas we need…

And finally, why should anyone reading this book tickets to Dead Hard?

I know I’m biased… but we’ve been working on the show for the last couple weeks and I couldn’t honestly tell you a more riotously funny Christmas feel good show that’ll have you howling and feeling all Christmassy and warm inside. It’s so much fun and it’ll be different to anything you’ve ever seen. It’s a one stop shop for a Dead Hard Christmas.

You can book tickets to Dead Hard, here.