This show is for anyone who has loved, has lost, who has made a mistake, who has simply lived

We are chatting to Bailey Scott Smith, author of ‘His Majesty’s’. Bailey is an actor trained at the Queensland Conservatorium and aspiring playwright.

Tell us about the show in 100 words or less

Taking place over three years in fictional Brisbane pub, His Majesty’s, this play follows a blossoming new relationship, a young woman who struggles with addiction and a young man who finds himself suffering from a terminal illness. This play deals with love, loss and how we deal with these emotions.

Anywhere Festival takes place anywhere but a theatre. Tell us about your venue. What is it about your space that adds to your audience experience?

His Majesty’s will be premiering in the warehouse space at Element’s Collective. With the help of this venue and some creativity, the warehouse space will be transformed into the pub that the play actually occurs within.

What is your creative process like?

To begin with, I came up with a rough outline of the story I wanted to tell and then I created the characters that would be a part of the story. I then sat down with the actors in the cast and worked with them on developing the characters and their story. We discovered their life history and explored everything that happens to them within this play and after it. Once we had the characters fleshed out, we improvised some scenes with these characters. Parts of these improvisations became a part of the final script. I wanted the dialogue to be natural and realistic, so these improvisations helped me, as an author, discover the authentic voices for the characters and find a tone that could span across the entire play.

Tell us your origin story. How did your show start?

In one of our acting classes in September of last year, my class was tasked with telling a story about an important moment in their life. There were a few different prompts we could chose from, but everything that was shared was honest, truthful, and told a unique story. I wanted to capture that feeling of honesty and truthfulness within storytelling. It also showcased just how different everybody’s lives are, even though for the last three years we have been training in the same institution with a shared passion. I wanted to tell a story that also shared that idea of different lives happening at the exact same time.

Who is your perfect audience member? Who is going to LOVE this event?

Something I really wanted to achieve with this play was to make it relatable in one way or another to anyone who reads or sees it. So, I think the perfect audience member is anyone who has loved, has lost, who has made a mistake, who has simply lived.

Is there anything else we simply MUST know about the show?

It’s my first ever piece of written work that will be viewed by the public, so it’s simultaneously exciting and terrifying.

His Majesty’s takes place as part of Anywhere Festival on the 9th May at Elements Collective.