Where creativity meets connection
“You have reenactment societies that recreate big battles or a living history of famous kings. But, for me, that's not the history that should be remembered.” Artist, performer and comedian, Victoria Melody, is picking through the inspirations for her new show. Set to play Latitude Festival this weekend, before transferring to Edinburgh for August, Trouble, Struggle, Bubble and Squeak is her story of looking for answers – but accidentally joining the wrong side. “I'm more interested in the daily battles of space and land that are still happening now. A lot of people had just as important struggles, and just as much impact collectively on a modern society.”
In May this year, the piece saw a work-in-progress performance at Brighton Fringe. Then titled Re-Enactment, it brought its audience to their feet. “That completely sold out, so we had to put in two extra rows of seats, without making a single poster or flyer. We packed it to the rafters with 200 people, and received a four-minute standing ovation.” Melody seems a little emotional over this response to a show which was still in development at that point, lacking a set or props.
She admits such reactions are rare this early in a show’s lifespan. Normally, you’d have at least a couple of weeks to iron all the kinks out. And perhaps a backdrop or something to work with onstage. At this point, she’d be nervous about heading to Edinburgh for a run at its festival. But, there instead seems to be more of a sense of excitement around the road ahead.
She tells me there’s been an incredible team working alongside her. It’s a team that includes legendary comedian Mark Thomas, who is serving as director for the project. “We've got this really funny sort of relationship. He's so strict. But then that reflects in the work.” She tells me when they were doing an early table read, the pair went for lunch so he could discuss the notes he’d made.
“I’d been on my feet all day, so said I was heading home after that for an hour to type everything up. And he went: ‘No way. You will faff!’ I basically had to sit and face a wall in our studio and finish it all. I was feeling very sorry for myself…” Despite the iron hand, Melody says his approach was the right one. It seems she enjoyed being pushed so hard.
“I say that he's like the ballet teacher in Fame. DO IT AGAIN! He hates me saying that…” This is Melody’s first show not to have a film element. This was something Thomas suggested, but without it, the script has to work extra hard to conjure up the different environments she’s leading the audience into. “I think that’s taken me to another level, professionally.”
Both the narrative and themes in Trouble, Struggle, Bubble and Squeak were directly inspired by her experiences working amongst the community in Whitehawk. Her time in the Brighton & Hove neighbourhood began during a project called Pigeon Fanciers, around 17 years ago. This site-specific work drew audiences into the world of bird racing with a mixture of drama and documentary. Spending time in the area meant Melody was pulled into the orbit of Crew Club, a local initiative creating safe, inspiring spaces for young people in the neighbourhood.
“That started when a 16-year-old lad called Jay Kensett was murdered in 1999. Local parents set it up because kids didn't feel safe.” What started in a portacabin now has a permanent building hosting arts, sports, music and social groups.
Melody had started running stand-up comedy sessions there, and found herself captivated by the locals’ can-do spirit. “It riled something up in me. I started doing loads of bits and bobs with them.” From here, meeting East Brighton Food Co-Op was almost inevitable. She did a fundraising show with Thomas for the charity, which brings healthy food and community cooking to Whitehawk, Bristol Estate and Manor Farm. “It’s run by a proper character called Bryan Coyle. He was onstage saying that the NHS spends around £20 billion every year on malnutrition! I was just like: ‘what?’ He absolutely blew my mind.” She’d already begun working with the local reenactment crew by this point, and the seeds of her next project were starting to germinate.
“That all coincided with Whitehawk appointing an artist-in-residence,” she tells me. “A lot of the panel had seen my work with the Pigeon Fanciers. They knew I was someone who sticks around, cares and listens. You can't get rid of me once you've met me,” she says with a smile. “But, the relationships I make are built on trust. I make art about people.”
At this point, she says everything fell into place. She tells me the role has been a good fit. She’s a fighter. As an artist, she’s had to battle for resources, a space to be heard and to have the subjects in her work properly recognised.
“Of all the artists I studied with at university there are probably only two left. But for some reason. I can’t stop! I'm a visiting lecturer and sometimes I wonder if I really should be encouraging these young, hopeful people to be creatives? Because you are constantly fighting.” She says it is a tough life. Funding is tight, loved ones constantly feel neglected and the hours are long. She suggests those studying art now need to have a side hustle, so they have something to fall back on during the lean times.
The journey to writing this new show began after the end of a relationship. While feeling low, Melody typed “world turned upside down” into Google. “I don't know why. You just do weird things. I was probably looking for a remedy for heartache. What I found was a book by Christopher Hill.” The historian’s 1972 work, The World Turned Upside Down, is an analysis of utopian movements during the English Revolution. This took her down a rabbit-hole, as she became increasingly obsessed with the period’s unusually high share of visionary thinkers.
While the Civil War saw the rich succeed in removing the monarchy’s authority, a set of grassroots groups sought to create communal property and bring true democracy to the masses. Among these were The Diggers, who occupied common land that had been privatised, using it to grow food for impoverished communities.
“They were faced with poverty, inflation and unemployment. They didn't have any food. So, they just started growing vegetables. A simple thing to feed themselves. The landlords hated that and came and kicked them off.” Their leader was Gerrard Winstanley, a protestant reformer and activist, who believed the Earth should be a treasury for all to share. That was all during the 17th century, but similar disinterested attitudes towards poverty persist.
In Whitehawk, around half the children are living in poverty. The life expectancy is around a decade less than the rest of Brighton. “The neighbourhood is neglected by the rest of the city. But it’s so full of green spaces, and some bits are beautiful.” Learning about the actions of an occupation movement from 400 years ago inspired Melody to join a local reenactment group.
“I got involved to find out more about The Diggers. Because I’m an idiot, I didn't know that during the English Civil War, your allegiances would have been chosen for you by a rich landowner. Also, uniforms were made out of whatever material was on offer. It wasn't like one side was green and the other red. Which is how, when I joined the historical society, I accidentally joined the Royalists...”
Joking aside, she says there wasn’t really a ‘right’ side to be on during the English Civil War, both had their issues. Pushed for a choice, she would ideally step up for the Parliamentarians, even if they did go on to ban theatre. It’s a complicated world.
The British attitude to land ownership remains curious, despite the Diggers’ best efforts. A tiny percentage owns the majority of our countryside, and that doesn’t look set to change anytime soon. “We live this way because William the Conqueror decided it. He carved up the land and the families who were given that still own it. The entire population lives on 1.4% of the land. We only have access to 8% of the UK. The rest of it, if we go onto it, we're trespassing. I think 6% of the countryside is kept for grouse.”
So, where is the modern equivalent of The Diggers? Who is seeking to offer more agency to the disadvantaged in an unfair system? Melody says they are all around us if we look for them. “Lacie, who manages Crew Club, is a Digger. Brian at East Brighton Food Co Op… He's a Digger. Dave Banks stopped development on Whitehawk Hill, which is home to some of the rarest chalk grassland in the world, rare orchids and endangered blue butterflies. He’s a Digger.”
It's roughly 375 years on from the English Revolution, but there’s still a bunch of ordinary people fighting for their community. Rather than simply helping exploit land, everyday heroes are demanding a say in how it is used.
Blending storytelling and stand-up, Trouble, Struggle, Bubble and Squeak’s tale of hijinks and resistance is the culmination of three years’ research. “Compressing that down into a 60-minute show is no mean feat. There are some quite complex themes, with a lot of human emotion and interaction.” It was important that people from her adopted community enjoy her show. “I want to celebrate them. They would have told me if I hadn't got it right.
There are complex themes in this show, but the overall tone is really funny and accessible. That's really important to me.” She studied Fine Art, doing a Master's degree at Chelsea. It culminated with a show featuring her dressed as a blow-up pumpkin, telling people to fuck off. “I just found art so elitist. But, I did get a First for that.”
Trouble, Struggle, Bubble and Squeak is similarly unpretentious, talking about serious issues through the medium of humour. “You want there to almost be a call to action. After the shows, people have been coming up to me saying: ‘I want to go and volunteer now.’ Part of my research was me volunteering. I want people to be less ignorant about what's going on for others.”
If a system seems to benefit you, you might not accept that it needs changing. Melody’s show looks at what happens when the State lets down communities. It’s a tale of how people are compelled to take action. Because if they didn't, nobody knows what might happen to those falling through the cracks.
“More pressure is being put on grassroots groups and charities to pick up where the system is failing. If it wasn't for these groups, we would be in a lot more shit than we are already.” She points out that responses to problems are always better if they come from within a community. They have firsthand knowledge of the various challenges and should already enjoy a degree of trust.
Providing for those around you shouldn’t be seen as a radical act, but somehow it’s still an undercelebrated novelty. Melody has only recently been talking about the show in critical terms. The full extent of what she’s created is only now starting to reveal itself. On the surface, Trouble, Struggle, Bubble and Squeak is a sweetly funny examination of a journey across a landscape which has stood still for a thousand years. Perhaps the real journey has not properly begun, but people like The Diggers will be the ones setting us in motion. “It's a celebration of communities. It is about the fight for space and land, and it's about celebrating ordinary heroes who just go under the radar.”
Victoria Melody and Mark Thomas present Trouble, Struggle, Bubble and Squeak at Edinburgh’s Pleasance Courtyard Above on Thurs 31 July - Sun 24 Aug and Brighton Dome Corn Exchange on Sat 4 Oct 2025, as part of a UK tour.
www.pleasance.co.uk/edinburgh-spaces
Stuart Rolt
Featured What's On
Stay in the loop
Keep up to date with latest news, guides and events with the SALT newsletter.
