Natasha Gilmore is artistic director of award-winning contemporary dance company Barrowland Ballet. Along with fellow performer Jude Williams and Olivier Award-nominated director Ben Duke, she has created Chunky Jewellery, which they are bringing to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for 2025.
Based on a very challenging year for creators, performers, and close friends, Chunky Jewellery is a highly personal piece which successfully made its debut in 2024. The show’s creators are bringing it back for a longer run, to take in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe as part of the curated, British Council-backed Made in Scotland showcase. SNACK got to chat to both Natasha Gilmore and Jude Williams, who set out to capture on stage 12 months, two births, a death, 18 bursts of laughter, 34,000 tears (each) and just one solitary piece of chunky jewellery.
You’ve embraced social media in promoting the show in a big way. In one of your TikToks you debate whether Chunky Jewellery is a musical theatre piece, a dance narrative, or a story with movement and music. Have you settled on whether it is one, the other, or just a jewelled chunk of beauty?
JW: Chunky Jewellery is an alternative love story that uses music and dance to present a work that is bigger than its parts. I like the description of it as a jewelled chunk of beauty!
NG: It’s a production that plays with form. It includes high-energy performance, playful comedy, and also has a bite to it. Jude and I started joking about it, questioning whether it was to balance out your hips, to ensure that you didn’t become invisible, or to make a statement. This evolved and became the obvious name for our show – to capture our playfulness, but also to represent middle-aged women.
So, should we expect lots of life lessons?
JW: It is a sort of black comedy and, if there is a lesson, it’s about courage and community. I think it’s about letting go of societal expectations, to dance your own dance and live your own life by asking ‘can you fall in love with life, as it is now?’
NG: I think the lesson might also be to ask for help, and to trust and embrace friendships and sisterhoods.
You got to premiere the show last year and went on a wee tour this year – should we expect some changes and development?
JW: The first time we presented Chunky Jewellery at Tramway we felt a bit like rabbits in headlights but, when we presented the work at Cumbernauld, we felt like people felt seen – either women, or people who could connect with grief or collisions in life. Now, I don’t feel like the work is about us. Instead it’s a gift to people who need it.
NG: I think we’ve had a chance for the work to settle, and during our recent performances, I’ve become excited at the prospect of performing it each day, to have fun and get to know it even more.
What is the show’s core message now?
JW: Love your pals, hard. Sometimes life is shit, but keep going. Grief passes. Asking for help is crucial. We’re in it together, so let’s dance.
NG: Women are amazing, and their capacity for expansion is amazing.
Are you satisfied with the content of the work as it stands?
JW: The only thing is that there isn’t a jazz tune. No, I’m joking, I’m really delighted by the work. Associate director Vicki Manderson said that we were bringing all of our elements into the rehearsal, which was important to me, as sometimes I feel like I have to chop certain parts of myself off. With Chunky Jewellery I’m allowed to explore all parts of myself with deep permission. It’s beautiful, bonkers, absurd and aching, and very real.
And so, with a longer run to develop things more, are you looking forward to presenting this at the Fringe?
NG: I think performing it every day is going to be incredible. I definitely see myself as a choreographer and director, so one of the main things for me is a real return to performing. I haven’t been performing for a long time, so to be on stage every day, like the story, will be both challenging and incredible. It’s a privilege to share stories with people, to make connections, and for people to be seen. That is really what we want to achieve.
Barrowland Ballet are bringing two shows to the Fringe. Chunky Jewellery, part of the Made in Scotland showcase, will run at the Music Hall, Assembly Rooms, from 1st–24th August (excluding 6th, 12th, 18th, 19th). Tickets here.
Meanwhile, Natasha Gilmore’s choreography can be found in Wee Man, which examines masculinity and is presented at Assembly@Dance Base from 5th–17th August (excluding 11th). Tickets here.
All photos, credit Brain Hartley
