Jenette Meehan presented her solo work “Mess Maker” for the work-in-progress performance festival, A Pinch of Vault.
How many different words are there for “mess”?
Clutter; junk; rubbish?
Jennette Meehan’s Mess Maker finds every synonym, showing the audience a jumble on stage and a frenzied actress long before we hear the word itself halfway through the performance.
It’s a clever approach.
So many of us are scared to reveal the disorder in our behaviour, thoughts and spaces.
By dancing around the topic, and the cluttered set, Meehan reveals the neurodivergent mind and the struggle of masking the mayhem.
Now performing Mess Maker, she said: “I have kept this mess behind closed doors for so long, it’s freeing to show you.”
The mess
Mess Maker is effectively a monologue.
The audience are positioned as unexpected visitors in Meehan’s bedroom, who must now watch her struggle to tidy her room and herself into something more “presentable”.
We’re privy to her inner-thoughts, as Meehan uses the set dressing as a mnemonic and vehicle for recounting her experience and world view.
For Meehan, a Canadian now studying for her MFA at Rose Bruford College in south east London, the UK’s capital is overwhelming.
The show has a focus on sensory experiences in the show and how the neurodivergent brain receives them as her work delves into the smells, sights, sounds and tactile elements of the Underground and Pret.
She concludes: “Our bodies were not built to live in London.”
Meehan’s work draws particular attention to the relationship between neurodivergence and the arts.
She speaks to the need for those who are neurodivergent to have a space to express themselves, and even suggests that those who are neurodivergent are some of our best actors.
Given they spend every day masking, doing so on stage is natural.
This empathy for the neurodivergent experience has shaped Meehan’s approach to collaboration in theatre, as she spoke to the need for honesty, openness and support, through practical measures such as check ins at the beginning of rehearsals.
While Mess Maker is grounded in lived experience, Meehan added: “I think it’s the only type of work that makes sense right now.
“Our world is so chaotic, and that needs to be reflected in the work that we’re making.”
As a result, Meehan said: “I think [Mess Maker] lives in the realm of the absurd.”
The maker
The work balances absurdity and reality. Meehan created Mess Maker as part of her MFA, and would have to present her work to class for feedback.
She said: “Often I would get feedback like ‘doesn’t everyone feel like that?’”
But the largest undertaking in the play’s production was the research into neurodivergent experiences and the particular role of the arts as a place of comfort.
Meehan explained that in her desire to feel seen and supported, she found theatre and writing.
While she began as an actor at the University of Toronto and Sheridan College in Ontario, it didn’t feel comfortable and Meehan opted for an interdisciplinary approach to theatre.
She said: “I really struggled to be myself, feel seen, or be present in my acting work.
“Writing has always been an effective grounding technique for me, it’s something I use to get through my life that really regulates me.”
But Meehan’s one-woman-show doesn’t feel like a solo affair.
The connection she makes between her feelings, her behaviour, and the mess of her bedroom makes you feel as if all are one.
It’s a great feat as solo shows can feel self indulgent, but Meehan side steps that pitfall to produce a piece that’s relatable, inclusive, and warm.
As Bethany McHugh, the show’s director, added: “In broad terms, it’s a monologue but, in many ways, it’s a dialogue with the audience in ways I think many solo shows are not.”
Meehan echoed this, saying that the show comes from a desire to connect, it’s this sensation of “please tell me that I’m not alone in this!”.
The space
Both Meehan and McHugh are from North America, but have found refuge in London’s theatre scene.
Meehan explained that people in the UK are much more culturally invested in theatre than she found in Canada and the US.
She also spoke to the space this creates for artists.
Meehan said: “There’s more funding and that means people work in a much more free way and aren’t as precious.”
McHugh, also studying for an MFA in Collaborative Theatremaking at Rose Bruford, added that London is a Mecca for artists and audiences alike.
She noted: “You can see a show at the National for £20”.
The theatre space is also at the centre of the performance.
While the venue, a small restaurant in Waterloo, lacks the grand lighting, sound system and seating we expect of theatres, Meehan and McHugh effectively embraced the intimate stage.
They explained that previous stagings had far more props to create a visually bigger “mess”, but the limitations of the stage didn’t restrict the audiences’ immersion.
Ultimately, accepting these challenges is at the core of Meehan’s work.
She ends with: “This show was combating perfectionism.
“I will no longer allow perfectionism to prevent me from starting, creating and sharing.”
Find out more about the VAULT Festival.
