This was one of  a brilliant little series of short filmed monologues for BBC 4 .

As a huge Derry Girls Fan, I was stoked when I was asked to direct Derry Girls writer Lisa McGee’s brilliant, by turns hilarious then fierce explosion of a monologue starring the equally brilliant Saoirse Monica Jackson.

 I think the whole mini series was inspired. Each and every one of them cuts to the core of a deeply flawed and punitive society. The way in which they focus on characters who have found themselves in poverty through myriad ways, usually as humans who have been driven to extremes or were failed along the way or  caught up in systems which are designed to ensure they can never escape the traps they are in.

We had a short rehearsal on zoom, then an informal rehearsal with Monica, wine in hand the night before shooting, then a feverish 2 day shoot with a crew who were filming all 7 back to back up and down the length of the country. So many lo-fi tricks were used. 

I loved every second. Monica is fiercely instinctive, with her trademark comedic timing, but I loved watching a more nuanced, aching, vulnerable and angry young woman emerge.