Rousing reception to Open Clasp film screening ‘Down Under’
Catrina McHugh, founder of Newcastle-based Open Clasp Theatre Company, has been reflecting on a trip to New Zealand and a special screening of the film version of the play Mycelial.
The title comes from nature and alludes to the way fungi create networks underground. In this context, it relates to a global network of sex workers who draw strength from each other’s support.
The play was co-created with sex workers from the UK, Ireland and New Zealand (Aotearoa) where sex work was decriminalised in 2003.
Catrina’s recent trip to meet her New Zealand co-creators came at the end of an international tour of the film.
At the Embassy Theatre in Wellington, the audience was welcomed by Dame Catherine Healy, who campaigns for sex workers’ rights and founded the Aotearoa New Zealand Sex Workers Collective (NZPC).
Catrina admits she was nervous, recalling: “I was very conscious of the co-creators who were there who had trusted us to share their lives and stories when they didn’t know Open Clasp.”
She and Open Clasp colleagues had seen the potential for a play about sex workers while running a workshop with women from the North East Sex Work Forum in 2016.
It became clear there were questions to be asked about the laws around sex work and a new piece of theatre, reflecting the diverse lives of sex workers globally, duly emerged.
In December 2019, Dame Catherine invited Catrina and her colleagues to spend time with the NZPC. But then Covid hit and it wasn’t until late 2020 that the theatre company met the New Zealand sex workers online.
They then worked together to create characters and dialogue.
Catrina next worked with groups in Ireland and the UK, including the North East.
“It has been a long process but the results, in the form of a groundbreaking play which is asking important questions about the way sex workers should be treated, are extremely rewarding,” says Catriona.
Watching in New Zealand, she had felt proud of Open Clasp and the co-creators who had taken a leap of faith back in 2020.
“It was a huge production for us to create, but through true collaboration we have achieved something remarkable with it.”
The film has been praised for its respectful portrayal of sex workers and its treatment of neurodivergent characters.
“In New Zealand, there was gratitude for having legislation that decriminalises sex work and this is a topic that we need to keep on the political agenda,” says Catrina.
“Our aim at Open Clasp Theatre Company is to change the world one play at a time - and seeing the responses to Mycelial is rewarding for all those who worked so hard to make something so incredible.”
Catriona hopes the film version of the play can now be screened more widely to support an international debate around the rights and protection of sex workers globally.
For more on Mycelial, visit the Open Clasp website.