An Interview with Janette Foggo and Joanne Gallagher

Janette Foggo and Joanne Gallagher are two Scots in London and are starring in Dryad Theatre's production of Ena Lamont Stewart's Glasgow Trilogy, Knocking on the Wall. Here they discuss the importance of the author's work and what interested them in performing at the Finborough Theatre.

Joanne Gallagher (left) and Janette Foggo in 'Walkies Time'

You’re appearing in Knocking on the Wall at the Finborough Theatre, how would you describe the play?

JG: It's Tennessee Williams meets the Glasgow tenements: three tales of isolation by Scotland’s first major female playwright. The plays are full of longing and razor-sharp wit.

JF: The trilogy offers three snapshots of people at a moment in their lives as they negotiate how to live with each other and what meaning their lives may have for themselves and each other.

Why do you think it's important for Ena Lamont Stewart's play to be performed today, 35 years after its London premiere?

JG: Ena Lamont Stewart was overlooked as a writer in her lifetime. She wrote tales of marginalised Scots and her writing is female centric. ‘Men Should Weep’ is studied in Scots schools, but I had never heard of these beautiful and forgotten plays until this production. Her writing should be celebrated at home and across the border. She paved the way for Scottish female playwrights: she is concerned with the working-classes and the overlooked.

JF: It's important to remind ourselves always of the contributions that women have made to our lives in senses Artistic, Political and Personal and that have been lost ignored or forgotten. Women are too easily dropped from our view of history and art and society. In these plays Ena Lamont Stewart tries to put some women and their exclusion at the centre of the picture. 

Tell us about the characters and what you’re enjoying most about the roles?

JG: I play the bold Ella in 'Walkies Time'. She’s dolled up and desperate – missing the community and vibrancy of the schemes, now that she lives in a middle-class Glasgow suburb, where all around her treat her with disdain and snobbery. She has a quality of Maggie the Cat about her. I loved the character on the first reading of the script. The play is an exploration of class and playing her, as she roars against snobbery, in Kensington is thrilling for a scheme girl like me.

JF: Alongside Joanne in 'Walkies Time', I play Maggie and she's a bit of a mystery. A foil to Ella's more direct personality but with secrets of her own that Ena hints at without fully revealing.

JG: I then also play Isobel in 'Knocking on the Wall'. Isobel has given up almost everything to care for her mentally ill sister. Audiences might find her unlikeable, but she is fighting to keep her sister alive and is in agony.

JF: Edie in 'Towards Evening' is quite a typical lonely single woman whose education and emotional development have been ignored or dismissed since she was a child. I like her because nevertheless she is trying to understand what has happened to her and why her brother has been so absent. She is insightful about her losses without being able to move forward.

Janette Foggo as Edie in 'Towards Evening'

And what do you think will be the biggest challenge?

JG: I am interested in how the audience will respond to Scots language. I think the stories of those at the margins – like these women – transcend language. Scots writing is very important to me – if you never hear such voices then, sure, they might be hard to understand. Speaking in Scots on an English stage is an act of rebellion. I hope it helps pave the way for more Scots language on stages below the border!

JF: The space is the most challenging thing but also the most interesting. Being so intimate with the audience but not losing energy or focus. Keeping the story telling going.

What are you looking forward to most about working at the Finborough Theatre?

JG: The Finborough Theatre is a very special place to me. On the eve of the Scots Referendum, I went to the Finborough for the first time. I saw Little Red Hen by John McGrath and I felt wired after months below the border at such a contentious and important time.

The Finborough was also one of the first theatres to take me seriously as a writer, and it remains one of my biggest champions. Neil McPherson nominated me for the Adopt a Playwright Award and I made the shortlist. As a result, I am now being mentored by Adopt a Playwright by a writer I hugely admire for the theatre and for screen.

And finally I’m excited about the intimate stage, Ena Lamont Stewart’s language, and working with a magnetic and uplifting cast.

What would you say to anyone thinking of booking to see Knocking on the Wall? 

JG: The Finborough is intimate, and the plays are gorgeous. The performances are quite magical and it’s a good night out! Come on doon! 

JF: Come and take a chance to engage with some versions of characters and story you may not have encountered before. Catch a moment in some lives not your own. See a small intimate space at the heart of a grander building on a street corner in a huge city. Know that it's a metaphor for all of our lives.

Joanne Gallagher as Ella in 'Walkies Time'