By Alex Boersma, Literature columnist 25/26
As part of our student theatre company spotlight series I spoke to Montague Austin, the Co-Founder of Dog-Eat-Dog Theatre company about its conception and unique approach.
Montague began by explaining that the company was created ‘out of necessity,’ following his idea for a supernatural thriller. He stated that this project ‘really resonated’ with him and he knew immediately that he ‘had to get it on stage one way or another.’ However, when proposing the idea to Bristol's theatre societies, Dramasoc and Spotlights, they expressed ‘valid concerns’ regarding its unfamiliar genre, especially over it being taken to something as public as the Fringe. Thus, Dog-Eat-Dog Theatre was born as Montague and his Co-Founder, Charlie, decided to produce the show themselves. They did so under their own theatre company, committed to ‘producing experimental and new work.’
The company was set up by third year History student Montague Austin and Maths and Engineering student Charlie Shaw, who is in his penultimate year. The company was originally called Fred&Bert Theatre after the founders found out they both owned red fox Labradors called Freddie and Bertie. However, during the famous theatre festival, Edinburgh Fringe, they realised the name wasn’t as catchy as they’d hoped and sounded too much like an artisan bakery, so they made the admirable decision to rebrand. Dog-Eat-Dog Theatre was a suggestion from their friend Florence Green.
It is crucial for student theatre companies to have some kind of niche and Dog-Eat-Dog Theatre has just that. Montague expressed his belief that they ‘take bigger risks than other companies’ because of their love of controversy and the taboo. Montague explained that, ‘I find it challenging and stimulating to humanise people and concepts which I ordinarily oppose.’ This was true of their last play, The Infant, as ‘it used the supernatural to absolve the guilt of a woman who murdered her infant child.’ He added ‘controversy is a recurrent theme in all the plays I am currently developing.’
Montague stated that taking their last show, The Infant, to the renowned Edinburgh Fringe festival was a ‘formative experience’ for him ‘both personally and professionally.’ Impressively, this was his first time attending the festival and not only did he produce The Infant there but he simultaneously starred in the Spotlights society's show, Thirsty. He admits that throughout this experience he ‘threw himself in the deep end’ and, as a result, was able ‘to test the extent of his capabilities.’ This included navigating the ‘whirlwind experience’ of Fringe from running around manically handing out flyers to shouting out anything insane enough to grab people's attention. This was all worth it as The Infant was seen by Kit Connor of Heartstopper and reviewed by Damian Lewis, British actor and musician.
Despite being a wonderful and formative experience, it required a lot of preparation. Montague explained that the biggest hurdle they had to overcome was funding the venue and accommodation. The whole production ‘cost over £4000’ which called for fundraising before they could even sell any tickets! This kept them busy in the months before the show premiered, hosting a pub quiz, a bake sale and a gig, as well as publicising a GoFundMe page. All their efforts prevailed as they were close enough to the £4000 that Montague and Charlie were able to make up the rest of the cost themselves. As you can imagine, the fundraising was the most time consuming and stressful part of the process for everyone involved, but it made it all worth it once they got to watch the production come to life.
Montague's biggest piece of advice for new and upcoming student theatre companies' is to ensure that you ‘really know what you are doing or find someone who does.’ He feels immensely grateful to have had Charlie on board, who had previously experienced taking a show to Fringe. He also added that it's ‘important to be self-motivated and set realistic deadlines’ and of course, to meet said deadlines! With a whole team relying on you this is crucial as you will be your own manager when starting a theatre company, or any company for that matter.
Their next show is provisionally titled This Land and consists of Montague's bachelor's dissertation. He describes it ‘as an absurd reflection on immigration politics’ and deems it ‘quite whacky,’ maintaining their commitment to experimental form. There will be a ‘rehearsed reading staged in March’ so look out for that.
Alex Boersma
If you want to get involved with Dog-Eat-Dog Theatre, they will be doing a callout of casting and production opportunities in the coming weeks for This Land, so keep an eye out on their Instagram @dogeatdogtheatre. Montague also teased that they have a few shows lined-up, so be sure to follow along!
Featured Image: Epigram/ Montague Austin
Have you heard of Dog-Eat-Dog theatre?
