make the Bed
created & performed by Ariela S. Nazar-Rosen
On the day my friends were leaving Glasgow after a fantastic visit, I woke up to see blood spotting on my duvet by my ankles. I had bite marks on my wrists and face. I saw small stains on my pillowcases. Bed bugs had gotten into my flat from my friends’ suitcases and were crawling in the seams of my mattress and all over me when I was asleep (when I could fall asleep).
Except… there were no bed bugs to be found. There were never any bed begs to begin with.
Based on true events and using variations on form, movement, and soundscapes, make the Bed is a solo piece that explores what it’s like when your thoughts consume you whole. When black and white thinking takes over. When you have anxiety. And what it can feel like to sit with that anxiety in real time. And how to maybe, just maybe, go towards the grey.
make the Bed is a 60-minute solo show that relies on gesture, movement, physicality, and soundscapes as I bring the audience along with me on an anxiety-filled downward spiral. In showing my own struggle with mental illness, particularly anxiety, I wanted to create a piece in which other anxious people could see their own experiences reflected. For those who do not live with anxiety themselves, I hope they can get a glimpse into how hard it is when everything in your life is reduced to one, all-consuming thought. In the current climate when social media occupies so much of young people’s time and influences their self-perceptions, I am especially interested in reaching (young) people struggling with mental health and who may be trying to learn more about it. At its core, this show is my call to open the door a bit wider on conversations around mental health, so we can reduce the stigma around these struggles and for asking for help, in whatever way is best for the individual.
Next up…
make the Bed is coming to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this summer
- make the Bed will be premiering at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2024 for a 15-performance run at ZOO Venues from 11-25 August! Show information and ticket booking here: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/make-the-bed
- This iteration of the piece will be directed by Cecilia Thoden van Velzen.
- make the Bed at EdFringe is made possible with support from Keep It Fringe and in part by the Artist Development grant program administered by The ARTS Council of the Southern Finger Lakes and funded by the Community Foundation of Elmira-Corning and the Finger Lakes, Inc.
Production history:
- make the Bed was originally created for the January 2024 Emergence Festival as a part of The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s MFA Acting Classical and Contemporary Text programme.
Full filmed version available upon request.