Q&A: Ben Standish on Nesting's Surreal Story of Love, Loss and Hope

Director Ben Standish joins us to discuss Nesting, Trolley Problem's ambitious new Fringe production, exploring the realities of MND through surrealism, and why a talking seagull can reveal profound emotional truths.

A seagull offers to take over a dying man's body to free him from MND. How do you direct something surreal while keeping the emotional truth of the story intact?

It doesn’t matter how surreal the story gets; you’ve got to commit wholeheartedly to those surreal circumstances. As long as the characters we meet are relatable, their relationships convincing, their predicament gripping, and their behaviours understandable in the world they inhabit, then we will connect to the emotional truth underneath. Our Seagull framing acts as a Trojan horse, giving us this absurd humour and playfulness - the light we need to contrast with the dark.

The show was researched with people diagnosed with MND and their carers. How did those conversations shape what ended up on stage?

The research was fundamental to understanding the pressures that someone might face when given a diagnosis like MND and how the shock reverberates around them. The play, of course, is not a biographical, truthful representation of a journey with MND, but we do hope that the struggles and the sacrifices of our characters feel truthful to those with lived experience.

Peter's writing comes from watching his mother care for his grandmother. As director, how do you approach material that is so personal for your collaborator?

I do my own research and reflect on my own relationship with the material. Everyone eventually will know loss, so we all have our own experiences to draw on. It’s important to be sensitive to a writer's attachment to the work, but also to observe the work objectively, to interrogate it and sometimes challenge it.

Trolley Problem is a young company but this production sounds enormously ambitious in scale and form. What has it taken to pull it together?

Blood, sweat, tears, sleepless nights, caffeine, the generosity of the theatre community in Scotland, the patience of friends, families and strangers. And more than anything, an unwavering belief in the story that we're telling. When you have a play in your hands that is as hilarious, devastating and illuminating as this one is, there's really no choice but to slog away to make it happen.

You're newly appointed as Associate Director at A Play, A Pie & A Pint and work as an associate with Vanishing Point. How does Nesting sit within that broader artistic world you're working in?

A Play, a Pie and a Pint is all about giving brilliant new writing its first lease of life, often with a thick slice of Celtic humour. The PPP process relies on a collaborative spirit akin to what you would expect from a Fringe production. I admire Vanishing Point's work because of its formal inventiveness, the detail, originality, ingenuity, and technical brilliance.

Nesting draws on both of these traditions. A new play by one of Scotland's most exciting emerging writers, Nesting is funny and formally inventive. With Sonia Killman's electrifying sound design, we hope the show is as entertaining as Oran Mor audiences demand, and as ambitious and epic as Vanishing Point audiences have come to expect.

This is Trolley Problem's first original show after launching with Mistero Buffo earlier this year. What does it mean to you to be premiering this at Edinburgh Fringe?

It means the world to us not just to be at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, but also at Summerhall Arts. Everyone is aware of the challenges and shortcomings of the current behemoth that is the Fringe, but it is nevertheless a moment when the artistic eyes of the world are fixed firmly on Scotland. What better invitation is there to showcase work made in Scotland to the world?

Nesting is at the Edinburgh Fringe at Summerhall, Old Lab from 6 – 31 Aug (not 18, 25) at 16:30. Ticket information here: Nesting | Edinburgh Festival Fringe