crew interviews

what has been your favourite part of working on ‘all the stars.’?

definitely being surrounded by queer people and having a safe space to bond over shared experiences. the script was something that i immediately connected with and it has been a pleasure to get to share that experience of relatedness with so many wonderful individuals.

if you were to pick one song to describe ‘all the stars.’, what would it be?

living up to my reputation i have created a whole spotify playlist for this show, so it is incredibly hard to pick just one. the song i’ve settled on is ‘i’m worried it will always be you’ by Katie Gregson-Macleod as i believe it is a song both characters could relate to and it sums up a few themes from the show.

how has your experience of queerness shaped who you are?

queerness has always been such a key part of my identity and it’s hard to remember what i was like before i realised i was queer. i’ve always been lucky enough to find myself surrounded by queer people who allowed me to figure things out about myself without judgement and i’m endlessly grateful for them creating such a safe space. i do believe i owe a lot of my comfortability in being my true self to them, however, i do also believe that my being queer has allowed me to feel more confident in being myself, like if i’m already different in this way, then i have no choice but to be comfortable being different in other ways.

which character says your favourite line from ‘all the stars.’?

my favourite line is in act two of the show, when andie and tessa are individually reflecting on their feelings within the relationship with each other and themselves. tessa talks about the desire she has to prove that she deserves to be loved and how all consuming this is. i found this line particularly beautiful as it is a feeling i have found myself ruminating over for as long as i can remember.

who do you relate most to; andie or tessa?

the first time i read the script it frightened me how similar tessa was to me. i found her saying things that i find myself saying and her behaviour towards andie reflecting the way i have behaved in my relationships and friendships, whether good or bad. i found myself understanding her on a deeper level than i could andie. although i did recognise some similarities in their character it wasn’t quite the same. andie’s fears and thoughts felt more foreign to me, while tessa’s felt so eerily similar, as if they’d been taken from my own brain.

if you could give any advice to your young queer self, what would it be?

i think the main thing i would want to say to my younger queer self would be that you don’t need to feel guilty for having feelings for someone. i very much followed the queer stereotype of falling for one of my best friends and i remember feeling a lot of guilt and shame and spent so long desperately wanting those feelings to go away. i wish i could’ve told myself that i wasn’t doing anything wrong and that i didn’t need to feel so ashamed and guilty. me having feelings for my friend was no different to when one of the boys in my class had feelings for her, and i wish i’d given myself the same grace that i’m sure he would’ve allowed himself.

who is your favourite couple who is doomed by the narrative?

the first couple that come to mind is ennis and jack from brokeback mountain. it emotionally destroyed me the first time i watched it and i will still never recover from the scene where ennis visits jack’s parents and finds jack’s shirt from their time together. devastating.