Established spoken word performer Jenny Foulds talks about her show, Life Learnings of a Nonsensical Human at the Edinburgh Fringe and her life so far.
A love letter to the people we meet along the way and the sticky floors we’ve danced on
Let’s start with your background. You began your acting career in film and TV as a teenager is that right?
I had my first professional job when I was 17. I was cast in a film called My Life So Far with Colin Firth and Kelly MacDonald. I met my first agent through that and then I started auditioning as soon as I left school. Over the next decade, I was cast in various TV and Film productions including Two Thousand Acres of Sky, The Debt Collector, Rebus and Taggart.
And then you became a spoken word performer, how did that happen?
I had hung my acting boots up in my late twenties and pursued other creative avenues (I had a successful website/social feed that promoted positive vandalism called Happy Graffiti. I have a book published on it by Octopus Books, a Hachette imprint). My friend was organising a charity Burns Night in Oxted one year and asked me to write and perform one of the traditional speeches for it (the Address to the Laddies). I agreed to do it and when I did, it was a lightbulb moment for me. I remembered how much I loved performing and I had found a new love for writing. Over the following months I performed at various open mic nights and was invited to join a poetry collective called Rhymes With Orange who did monthly nights in London, which meant we wrote and performed ten minutes of new material every month. Over the next few years, I featured and headlined at some of the best spoken word nights and festivals in the UK. I started my own spoken word night called Rebel Soapbox in 2019 which I took to Brighton when I moved during the pandemic. I won the Scottish Slam Championships and then came second at the World Slam Championships in 2021 and I performed for Nicola Sturgeon at her Burns Night. Spoken word has brought me so many unique experiences and allowed me the space and time to become a decent writer and storyteller.
What is your EdFringe show about and why did you want to make it?
Life Learnings of a Nonsensical Human is a poetical whirlwind adventure through my ADHD brain. It’s spoken word theatre that will make you laugh and cry all in one sitting. The show is about raving, queerness and finding joy in the most unlikely places after grief. It’s a love letter to the people we meet along the way and the sticky floors we’ve danced on all these years. Some of the pieces I had written over the last couple of years started to hang together nicely. There was an autobiographical theme running through them. Then I lost my dad last year. Losing him really pushed me to start doing the thing I love. When he died it made me start writing prolifically and that writing coupled with the pieces I had before started to make the shape of my show.
Telling such a personal story must be difficult at times, who are you working with and how do you go about writing and performing it without it having a negative impact on you as a person?
I’ve been very conscious about taking care of my heart through this process. It’s important to ring-fence the deepest part of the feelings around such a monumental thing when talking about it. There’s an element of scripting that allows me to tell the story without reliving the trauma of it. On the other hand, there’s a weird comfort in talking about it and sharing it. It’s almost like grief in motion. I have a weird relationship with this grief. Sometimes it’s a monster, other times it’s like a hug. I brought Laura Mugridge onboard to direct the show. It’s been amazing to have someone onboard to care about it as much as I do and to support me in the moments where it’s felt tricky.
The show is keen to look at the pockets of joy you can find in the strangest places, how can we all bring a little more of that into our lives?
The show is a life so far and in each of the stories I tell, there is joy somewhere. Usually in the brilliant people we meet along the way. Hindsight is a brilliant thing, but wouldn’t it be amazing if we could have gratitude in being present, to feel joy for what we have right now. I think losing someone so pivotal in your life makes you appreciate all the tiny things you have. Joy is everywhere and it’s waiting for us when we’re ready to find it.
As a born and bred Dunediner (the name for someone from Edinburgh, though you'll hardly ever hear it used), what do you recommend visitors do during their time in the city, aside from see shows obviously!
My top five Edinburgh recommendations are:
A (slow) wander up Arthur Seat.
The Outsider on George IV Bridge - one of my favourite Scottish Restaurants.
The White Horse on the Royal Mile - Best sea food in Edinburgh.
Check out Leith Walk for some brilliant wee bars and restaurants.
Wander aimlessly around the New Town for gorgeous buildings.
Bonus suggestion - Bross Bagels for banging bagels.
