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speaker-0: Hi, I'm Harvey Morton and this is my Stage and Scream podcast. Welcome, thank you for joining me. My guest today is Derek Scott Mitchell who joins me to talk all about Goblin. It's heading to the lovely Park Theatre in London from the 17th of November to the 5th of December 2026. And I've started by asking Derek about his show Goblin. And how it takes us back to 2007 through the eyes of a 15-year-old Elliot. I wanted to know what drew him to that particular time and this story that he wanted to share with audiences right now.
speaker-1: Now. Well, unfortunately the two thousands is like a long time in the past and I was a teenager during that period of time. I was the same age as the protagonist in this play. And I think when you're like thirteen, fourteen, your brain and the chemicals coursing through it are, you know, condition you to like experience like culture and the vibes. in it in a kind of like acute and overwhelming way. So ref returning to that period of time and like its aesthetics was like actually like a really powerful like sensory experience. So it was like kind of fun to revisit that in the show. And I also think that that time and culture like has a lot to say and show us about I kind of am interested in like alternative culture then and like emo culture. We're like riffing a lot on that in this show. And I think emo is like an interesting kind of aesthetic stance because it's all about like the performance of like hyper-emotionality and sensitivity, but I think it can mask maybe slightly more nefarious motives and like affects. And I think there's like a sad boy emo rock star that maybe was like actually like a really bad guy. that would like present to young people as this like sensitive soul. And I think like that is really central to what we're like talking about and exploring in this
speaker-0: No, that's really interesting, And like you said, that time feels like so long ago now, doesn't it?
speaker-1: Yeah, it's disturbing.
speaker-0: The show blends comedy in darkness in a way that feels really authentic. How do you go about balancing the different tomes in the show, especially when you are dealing with such heavy themes like rooming and identity as well?
speaker-1: Yeah, the show is like genuinely there's some genuinely dark material in there. It's not just like kind of like dark, like a spooky movie. There's like some really genuinely chewy stuff in it. But it also is full of jokes and gags. So it has like a really high density of those things. And that was like a I mean, it was like a painstaking process of like writing that and testing that in front of like preview audiences to find the perfect balance because what the jokes are never doing is like making light of the the seriousness of the subject matter. I think what they're doing is kind of dramatizing. A type of like escapism or avoidance that we do. and also like inviting the audience to walk this like razor's edge between the kind of truth of the hard stuff, the truth of the funny stuff, and see if you know those two things overlap at all. Because I actually think that like the things that make us feel darkness in storytelling and the f things that make us like really laugh in storytelling are drawing from a similar well. and what they do in narrative is help point to something that requires our attention, in a way that's like showing and not telling.
speaker-0: You've described that laughter, as well as both a coping mechanism and a theatrical device. Can you I suppose we've always been too much away, can you share a moment from Goblin where you feel like that humour really helped you or your character navigate those difficult emotions?
speaker-1: Well, so in this show, the audience kind of collectively plays a character, which I think sounds exhausting for the audience, but it's really not. I mean I mean there's times I'll talk to people in the audience, but I only talk to people who like volunteer to have that happen. And I'm would never like call somebody out unwillingly or make somebody like participate when they don't want to. but I think that like what's happening. Cause this show the show is about like a this like at the beginning we meet this like sweet, naive kid, like a 15-year-old boy who we kind of like fall in love with because he's so like good, but like so naive. And like so much of the laughs come actually from like the dramatic irony of us knowing things that are like inevitably going to happen that like he is so unaware are going to happen. And part of that is because of like a deep I think like sympathy that we feel and like an understanding is like presumably grown-ups in the room who who know what life is like in a way that this kid doesn't. And then over the show he grows up and he kind of transforms into someone really different to like who he was in the beginning. And it's kind of sad and disturbing who he becomes. And I think we like track these laughs in the beginning from these laughs of like dramatic, ironic delight and like, God, he like doesn't realize what he's saying. And then it then we like move into these laughs of kind of like horrified surprise at what's happening. And then gradually the laughs stop. And that's like part of I think that's like part of what the show is like trying to do.
speaker-0: No, and I I feel like you're saying the audience becomes a character themselves, which is really unusual but also really immersive and I feel like that really must affect the way that people connect with Elliot's story in the show.
speaker-1: I think so, yeah. yeah, they're there from the beginning to the end and but the circ the the the terms of the relationship between the protagonist and the audience like change over the course of the show too.
speaker-0: You've developed the show over several years and in quite a few different spaces. and I know that you're opening in November at the lovely Park Theatre. I wondered for you how that long, evolving process
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has shaped what the show has become and what we'll get to see in November.
speaker-1: Yeah, absolutely. I we started like, I mean, the the seed of the idea for the show wa like occurred to me in twenty twenty. And then beginning in twenty twenty-two, I started doing like work in progress exploratory versions of it. And it has, yeah, developed really gradually over years. And it does sit between genres. It's comedy. And in the beginning, I mean, I'm also a comedian, like a stand-up comedian and an internet comedian. And so I initially thought like this show will be like my debut my comedy debut in Edinburgh. And it it really is not that. And I didn't know that initially. And so with time it became clear like, this is as much a piece of theater as it is like comedy. It's like comedy theater. So then like, you know, I initially was working with my director, L E B W, and then we brought on another director with more like theater directing experience. And they kind of have co-directed the piece. And I've just kind of had to keep this thing alive over years because there are not very many like development like structures or frameworks through which this kind of like hybridized work Can be easily facilitated or made. So I kind of just had to keep banging the drum for this thing for years.
speaker-0: No, it's interesting to hear you say that the idea came to you in twenty twenty. Do you think that came from just having loads of time in the pandemic to sit with your thoughts and really like come up with a concept like that?
speaker-1: Yeah, definitely. I was feeling deep despair and I didn't know what to do. And so I would just wake up really early in the morning and I would like run. Like f Forrest Gump style. I would just go out the door and just keep running until I couldn't. And I was listening to Work Bitch by Brittany Spears. yeah. Only that one song over and over and over again. which I think is listed in the DSM as like a psychological cry for help. But I had this idea to do a show about a evil gay spin instructor. And then when I that was the first thing I tested in 2022, and it was really bad. And then with time I realized like, that's not very interesting. That character like is like maximum like intensity craziness, and there's nowhere to go with that. So then we like But then it was like, who's who was he when he was young? And what if he was like the opposite of an evil gay spin instructor? So like a a quiet, closeted emo teen. And then that's where the show like really started to take shape.
speaker-0: I know that Roblin explores the idea of imaginary companions as well and the versions of ourselves that we create. for you, like as particularly growing up, do you have any experiences where you felt like you had that or maybe internal dialogues that helped you through maybe difficult times?
speaker-1: I didn't I don't think I had an imaginary friend. I think what's really interesting is like the it felt like there was like a ubiquitous kind
of social meme of the imaginary friend for like, I don't know, like millennial kids. Like I feel like every television show there was like an imaginary friend character. I
speaker-0: Yeah, it was, yeah.
speaker-1: I did not have one. I didn't know anybody, at least who was out as having a imaginary friend. Nah. And I do feel like I mean, I'm not really watching television for young people anymore, but I don't know if that social meme is still a thing. Like it almost feels like maybe like a byproduct of kind of like the the the whimsical, prosperous nineties that it was like this lonely kid isn't gay. He just it needs an imaginary friend. So I think I just like think that's such like a fun and funny like cultural artifact of the past. but no, I didn't have one myself. But I did like pretend and play and make plays and stuff like that. But I think a lot of people did that. Yeah.
speaker-0: Absolutely. I know the show touches on kind of the isolation of living between places and cultures as well. did some of your own experience influence that in the show?
speaker-1: Yeah, definitely. I have lived between places. I grew up in the United States and then left when I was sixteen. And I went to an international school in Canada, and then I moved to the Netherlands, and then I went to Union England, and I now live between the UK and the Netherlands. And yeah, I think that type of displacement, I mean, calling it displacement is a little bit of a stretch. I mean I like have a nice I have a comfortable life and I have really, you know, helpful passports to be able to live that life. So I'm not particularly displaced. But I think like feeling spread out across places, even in like the most bourgeois sense, like does something to the way you interact and engage with like culture and language and stuff like that. And I'm interested in that.
speaker-0: No, I can see that and i it's interesting how all those experiences can shape ideas as well. but what's one thing you're wanting audiences to take away from Goblin when you think about that identity and self acceptance too?
speaker-1: Mm. I'm really interested in thinking about like a collective social accountability for both the good things that happen in our midst and also the really bad, horrific things that happen in our midst. Yeah. And that's one of the things happening in this show, I think, is like I'm involving the audience in a feeling of complicity and also helplessness as we watch something bad happen to a young person. And I think that way too often. We actually like individualize social problems. So like even if we acknowledge like that something horrible that happened to somebody is horrible, we kind of just think, well, that was like really unlucky for them. But actually, like we're participating constantly in social situations that like social systems and situations that like uphold and reinforce the kind of darkest stuff that happens in our midst. And think that. collectively we can address it and change it. But I think it's like really uncomfortable and scary to think about it in those terms because it makes it feel close to us, closer than we're like usually comfortable thinking about. So that's that's what I want the show to do.
speaker-0: Yeah, and I I know it's yeah, you've got a couple of months until you open on the seventeenth of November, to the fifth of December at the park theatre. but what's next for you? Are you is this show kind of consuming you at the minute or are you doing stand up as well?
speaker-1: I actually start a couple months of like heavy stand up touring next week and that will take me right up to the goblin run. So I don't really have time or space to be consumed by anticipation for goblin. I think it'll just be here all of a sudden. But I'm so excited about it. I mean it's a really great opportunity and I'm excited to do all these shows in London and it's a different like rhythm to doing stand up and I love the different rhythm.
speaker-0: And your stand up show, are you doing dates around the UK or is it London?
speaker-1: It's in Europe. I was in the UK in May and June. UK and Ireland. And then I'll be in mostly the Netherlands and Belgium for the next couple of months.
speaker-0: Amazing. You've got a super busy few months ahead then, haven't you?
speaker-1: Yeah, it'll be kind of busy, but good busy.
speaker-0: Absolutely. Well, good luck with Dublin when it opens. I'm sure it'll soon be here and yeah, I look forward to seeing it too.
speaker-1: I can't wait to have you in. Thank you so much, Harvey.
speaker-0: Thanks, Derek. Goblin runs at the Park Theatre in London from the 17th of November to the 5th of December 2026 with tickets ranging from £15 to £18 and available at parktheatre.co.uk. If you enjoyed this episode, please do leave me a rating and review wherever you're listening and I'll see you next time.