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Tupenny was bought for 2p in a pub around 70 years ago… Now he’s the heart and soul of a comedy show being performed in Jersey next weekend.
Express caught up with the show’s creator, former Reporter Martha MacDonald, to chat about her journey into comedy-writing and her first ever full-length stand-up show ‘Shell’…
According to her mum, Martha MacDonald expressed her ambition to become a comedy writer when she was just 10 years old. Whilst Martha herself does not remember the declaration, her mum clearly does, perhaps because it was somewhat surprising coming from a ‘serious child’ as Martha describes herself.
Yet, given the omnipresence of humour during her childhood and her lifelong penchant for writing, Martha’s proclamation seems almost to have been natural.
“Ever since I remember, I have been a writer of different sorts,” she says.
“Comedy was always a big part of my childhood. My dad was a stand-up comic for children and humour was always a big part of family life. I remember waking up really early to watch an improv show, ‘Whose line is it anyway?’, on Saturday mornings with my brother. It was quite a formative memory.”
For many years though, Martha didn’t write much comedy, focusing instead on playwriting and performance. Her first play, ‘Broken Record, Repeat to Fade’, was professionally produced at Jersey Arts Centre when she was just 14, which opened the door to further playwriting opportunities, including residences with Paines Plough and Rift.
Then, when the pandemic struck, Martha decided to pursue comedy seriously.
“In 2020, I went freelance and that gave me the freedom to pursue my own creative projects. Sort of quite organically, I started writing comedy. It started with me writing and performing funny poetry on Instagram, and then gigging and constructing stand-up sets around the poems.
“I do really enjoy making people feel understood. My poems capture things that lots of people can really connect with. It’s self-deprecating on a level but it people to laugh at stuff that might feel challenging or uncomfortable or controversial. That is kind of the aim of lots of comedy: to find the funny side and also in doing so join dots rather than increase division.”
Martha has since taken her poetry to the stage, recently joining a music and poetry night at the Blue Note.Keen to produce her own show, Martha floated the idea with Arts Centre Director Daniel Austin, who she met age nine, when she was cast in an adaptation of Gerald Durrell’s ‘My family and other animals’ and has since collaborated with on several projects.
“I could not have asked for a more enthusiastic and supportive response from him,” Martha said.
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“It’s something that’s quite unique to Jersey as a creative place – you come across more ‘yes’ than ‘no’, that’s what makes this place such a fertile ground for creative projects. There’s a drive to create opportunities where there’s none.
“The people who are leading art organisations really embrace the ideas and ambitions of the creatives they work with. I have definitely benefited from that over the course of my career. It’s an advantage that my peers who live and work in London do not get to enjoy because it’s much more competitive.”
Thus, the groundwork for ‘Shell’ was laid.
Whilst previous gigs were based on her comedy poems, ‘Shell’ is a different animal – literally.
It is inspired by Martha’s family’s tortoise, her dad’s childhood pet who is now believed to be in his 70s.
Named Tuppeny, as Martha’s grandfather bought him for 2p at his local pub, he has no idea he is about to become a celebrity.
“The reason I chose my tortoise as a central theme is because he embodies a lot of my quirks and weirdnesses. It’s a great device to talk about familial responsibility and my own anxieties.
“[Shell is] a comedic coming of age story and it’s about me, my family and about navigating these kinds of absurd anxieties and rules you place on yourself.”
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Whilst the idea of ‘Shell’ has been brewing in her mind for several years, the prospect of being on stage for the duration of a whole show is a daunting one for the young comedian, who admits she is being pushed out of her comfort zone both “comedy-wise and performance-wise”.
Luckily, Martha will have a week in residence at Jersey Arts Centre to perfect the show ahead of the premiere on Saturday 11 June at 20:00 with the help of her GCSE drama teacher, Michelle Smith, who is directing.
“At the moment, I am trying to focus on just really honing my comedy voice and then the idea is to preview ‘Shell’, get some feedback from the audience and review it, with the ambition to take it to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival which has always been a dream of mine.”
Pictured top: Tupenny (inset), and Martha caught on camera by Max Burnett.
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