Blending together comedy and thought-provoking drama to explore identity and hierarchy, Oida! Theatre’s upcoming play Baggage Reclaim seeks to unpack a lot in its’ 55 minute runtime. Set in the eponymous baggage reclaim department of an airport, the piece follows three workers navigating HR and corporate hierarchies.
We caught up with the show’s creators, Rebecca Millar and Elissa Nicholson, for a pixelated pint to try and get a better x-ray image of what’s coming to the stage in East London’s The Space next month. Join us here in the Binge Fringe Digital Pub.
You can catch Baggage Reclaim from February 4th – 8th at 19:00 (15:00 additional matinee on Saturday 8th) at The Space. Tickets are available through the venue’s online box office.
Jake: Hi Rebecca & Elissa, your company Oida! Theatre is aiming to create work that is thought-provoking, playful, and eclectic, putting womxn at the forefront of your narratives. Tell us about the story of putting the company together and how its led to your new show Baggage Reclaim.
R & E: Oida! Theatre was formed just under three years ago, when we (Becca and Elissa) met working on a script-in-hand performance of Maryland. The company has given us a chance to establish an open and welcoming environment for femxle and gender-queer individuals to come together, create, and engage with new work. Our goal is to stage pieces that give a voice to womxn and their experiences, without focusing solely on the subject of gender identity.
This is how Baggage Reclaim came about; It was a broader look at identity that began with a simple game exploring how the contents of a bag can generate countless stories surrounding the person it belongs to. Inspired, we decided to devise a play that was set somewhere where the possibilities for creating characters and narratives are endless – an airport’s baggage reclaim department. After this, the piece took on a life of its own, resulting in a show driven by its characters and their relationship with both their own identities and those of the passengers whose luggage they sort through.
Jake: Baggage Reclaim looks at the monotonous, mundane and slightly bizarre work lives of two baggage reclaim workers. Tell us about their story and what the audience can expect.
R & E: The story follows Sandra, Gerri, and CJ as the latter is introduced into a new department. The audience is a fly-on-the-wall during a typical workday that is slowly disrupted by CJ’s unwillingness to accept her situation. As the day eventually descends into chaos, a report is made to HR, but in an organisation more interested in ensuring every department works like a well-oiled machine, will the ‘little people’ on the ground truly be heard?
A fascinating blend of comedic levity, and thought-provoking drama, the piece jumps between Sandra and Gerri’s playful back-and-forth as they try to include CJ in their daily antics, and the tension-filled interrogation conducted by HR. Focusing on the complexities of its characters, this piece questions how the engaging dynamics of their relationships, work-life, and judgements – both of themselves and others – affect who they are and how they’re perceived.
Jake: What are you hoping the audience might take away from the experience, if anything?
R & E: We’re hoping the audience feel represented by the piece and it gives them a chance to consider themselves from a new perspective. Whether they can relate directly to the character’s experiences or not, we’d like to think everyone will be able to sympathise with their situation and see themselves reflected to some degree in the themes, dialogues, events, and potentially even objects portrayed onstage.
One of the things we love most about the narrative of this show and its characters is the fact that they’re all flawed. We’ve created a piece that allows the audience to draw their own conclusions on what is right and wrong, and who these characters truly are. We want people to question themselves and what their own judgement of the characters says about them. Our goal is to spark conversations.
Jake: Tell us about how the show has developed into being performed at The Space next month.
R & E: Baggage Reclaim has gone through many changes over the last year as we’ve continued to refine it, gathering audience feedback and industry reviews to help support our work.
As the show’s evolved it has become clearer in its objectives, giving us a chance to delve deeper into the themes and characters. The production we’ll be showing at The Space is a combination of our response to the feedback received, and the time we’ve had to continue developing the wonderful characters and plot structure that makes this piece so special. It’s a show that has been a year in the making and is truly representative of every person who has seen it and had a hand in creating it.
Jake: Given the themes of Binge Fringe, if your show was a beverage of any kind (alcoholic, non-alcoholic – be as creative as you like!), what would it be and why?
R & E: Well, believe it or not there’s actually a Baggage Reclaim ‘signature drink’ that is referenced in the show, so we’d have to go with that! The Sandra-latte – which is “Basically, coffee with milk and shit-ton of sugar” – is the perfect drink to symbolise our show; Not only is it made with care and eagerly shared with others, but once you’ve had a few sips you’ll find it’s intense, energising, and somewhat-familiar.
You can catch Baggage Reclaim from February 4th – 8th at 19:00 (15:00 additional matinee on Saturday 8th) at The Space. Tickets are available through the venue’s online box office.