The next interview in our Stagey Chat series is with award-winning writer and performer, Edmund Morris. Ed's show, The Grim, is set to open on 26th November at Southwark Playhouse Borough.

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

Hello! I’m an actor and playwright who has been knocking about in the industry for about eight years now, I think! Like many people I started off with youth theatre, and then managed to make the step into working with a professional company when I was eighteen. Shortly after that I got into the National Youth Theatre, moved to London, and the rest is history!

Your show, The Grim, opens at Southwark Playhouse Borough at the end of November. Can you tell us about the story and the character you're playing?

Of course! The Grim is a dark, comic-thriller that centres on two undertakers, Shaun and Robert, on the day they’re due to fit deceased murderer, Jackie Gallagher for his coffin. What starts as an ordinary day in the morgue descends into chaos as strange and supernatural forces take hold, leaving our hapless undertakers fighting for survival.

Shaun is my character, and he’s a slightly spiky and extremely cynical East Londoner, who’s recently inherited the family business. He’s mourning the loss of his father, who he certainly idolised, and is having difficulty stepping into his shoes; he takes great pride in his work, but he just isn’t any good at it, which is a really interesting quality to play - I actually sourced his surname ‘Mallory’ specifically because its means someone who is extremely unlucky, which I think is a nice touch! Outside of work he loves going to the pub, hitting up the local sweetshop, and trying it on with local women (mixed results.).

After an Edinburgh Fringe debut and a run at London's Old Red Lion Theatre, how are you feeling about bringing the show to Southwark Playhouse?

I’m feeling three things quiet intensely: joy, exhilaration, and fear. I’m so proud of this show and of everyone involved; it’s been the same creative team for three different iterations, and they’re all at the top of their game, so I feel incredibly privileged to be seeing this through with them. This is also the biggest scale the show has ever been on, so there’s a healthy does of terror that comes with doing something like this - I try to frame it as excitement though, cause that’s essentially what it is, I’m like a Duracell Bunny at the minute, running around with all this energy...hopefully it’ll come in handy in rehearsal!

As the writer of the show and actor in this production, do you find this helps with your performance?

Very interesting question. I suppose what it does help is speeding up the discovery process slightly. When these characters have been knocking about in your head for so long, there’s a base level of understanding you have before you even set foot in the rehearsal room. That’s not to say no work is necessary, it just feels like you get a bit of a head start! That being said, I always try to approach the rehearsal process the same, regardless of whether I’ve written it or not: what happens is between you, the director, and your fellow actors - writing the thing doesn’t give you license to set everything in stone from the get go, it’s still important to approach the text as if it’s something new, and to unearth details you didn’t know were there.

My blog is called Stage to Page. But if you could turn any book, from page to stage, what would it be and why?

Hurry Gurdy by Christopher Wilson. Hilarious medieval story about a young monk trying to navigate plague-ridden England. It’s such a bizarre but expertly crafted story, and it had me laughing every other sentence, that I think qualifies it for a stage production.

And finally, why should people book tickets to see The Grim?

People should book tickets to see The Grim because it’s absolutely f*cking amazing. I jest. Or do I? But seriously, you should come and see The Grim because for the hour and twenty-something minutes you’re in the theatre, you will be transported back in time to a wonderfully odd, hilarious, and horrifying world, where the laughs and the action come thick and fast. It’s a real gem of a show, a meticulously crafted story made by some seriously talented up-and-comers, and personally, I don’t think there’s a better way to spend a cold London evening than at the Southwark Playhouse with us. See you soon!

You can book tickets to The Grim, here.

**photo credit: Molly Jackson-French**