Fanboy (NHB Modern Plays)

By Joe Sellman-Leava

A five-star hit at the Edinburgh Fringe, Joe Sellman-Leava's play Fanboy is a love-hate letter to pop culture and nostalgia.
It's the story of a thirty-something, self-confessed nerd – obsessed with Star Wars and Nintendo – asking why his generation can't let go of their childhoods.
Fanboy had a successful run at Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2022 followed by a short regional tour and a week at Soho Theatre in November 2022. It was selected for VAULT Festival 2023.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Release date: Feb 2, 2023
• ISBN: 9781788506564

Joe Sellman-Leava

Joe Sellman-Leava is a writer and actor of Anglo-Indian heritage. His plays include: Fanboy (Edinburgh Fringe 2022, regional tour and Soho Theatre; VAULT Festival, London, 2023); Monster (Edinburgh Fringe 2017); and Labels (Edinburgh Fringe 2015 and tour). Both Monster and Labels had a limited run at The Wardrobe, Bristol, in 2020 and then again at the VAULT Festival, London, in 2020.

Book preview

For Umesh

Fanboy was first performed as a work-in-progress in 2020 at the Wardrobe Theatre and VAULT Festival. It premiered in 2022 at Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, followed by a UK and Ireland tour, a week at Soho Theatre, and then VAULT Festival, London, on 7 March 2023. The cast was as follows:

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Yaz, Dylan, Lauren and Hetty for your creativity, energy and generosity – making this with you was such a privilege; to Alice, for learning 456 cues in no time at all; to James, Emma and Callum for unlocking so much, so joyfully, and to Nemo Martin and Daniel Goldman for your brilliant questions.

Thank you to Jonathan Haldon and Brother Brother for helping make our videos look so cool (and to Yaz, again, for the countless hours of editing!).

Thank you to Arts Council England for making all this possible; to David Byrne for your advice; to Jonny Patton for believing in the show; to everyone at New Diorama Theatre, Pleasance, the Kenton Theatre, Underground Venues, The Tolmen Centre and Exeter Phoenix, for giving us space to play.

Thank you to Frances Arnold for your belief, expertise and tireless work; to Sarah Liisa Wilkinson and everyone at Nick Hern Books; to Lakesha Arie-Angelo and Bec Martin, for each giving this show a home in London.

Thank you to Bríd Doherty, for your endless support (and your world-class flyering!); to my family and friends, for who you are and all you do.

And a very, very special thank you to Ethan El-Shater, for lending us your magic!

J.S-L

Note on Play

This play was originally written to be performed by Joe Sellman-Leava, a mixed-race man in his early thirties. In our production, Joe also plays other characters, including:

DAVID ATTENBOROUGH

DAD

OBI

WAYNE

GAIA

DAVID DIMBLEBY

NIGEL FARAGE

DONALD TRUMP

MICHAEL CAINE

EMPEROR PALPATINE

Joe also performs the fan-films, with speed and precision.

The projected HOODED FIGURE (later OLD JOE) is pre-recorded, also played by Joe, in make-up, to look like a fifty-year-old version of himself.

The character of YOUNG JOE – an eight-year-old – also appears via pre-recorded video. He is played, in our production, by Ethan El-Shater, who looks uncannily like Joe did at that age. Initially, we should believe it is from an actual home video the performer is sharing with us.

In these home videos, we also hear the voice of OBI – forties – again pre-recorded (in our production, by director and video designer Yaz Al-Shaater).

Finally, there are moments where Joe will speak to the show’s technical operator (in our production, Dylan Howells), who will occasionally answer back.

House music: ‘My Hero’ (Foo Fighters), ‘Little Red Corvette’ (Prince), ‘The Logical Song’ (Supertramp), ‘I’m Not Your Hero’ (Tegan and Sara), ‘Hotel Song’ (Regina Spektor), ‘Blame it on my Youth’ (Blink-182).

Prologue

Stage-left, a cabinet, holding a nineties-style TV set, a Super Nintendo, and VHS player, as well as various games, magazines, books, videos, toys and merchandise. On the top of the cabinet is a toy lightsaber (red). Upstage-right is a door, painted white. Upstage-centre, a black chair. Downstage-right, a microphone.

At clearance – blackout. Then music evocative of nature documentaries.

Slowly fade up to a spot on JOE, at the microphone, in a dark-red dressing gown, pyjama bottoms and a Superman T-shirt. JOE has the hood of his dressing gown up, and his hands in his sleeves, at his waist, like a monk. Or a Jedi. He speaks into the microphone, in a David Attenborough impression.

ATTENBOROUGH. Behold… the Fanboy. Raised on a diet of popular culture, high-fructose snacks, and entitlement, the Fanboy thrives in dark corners of the internet. Which can make searching for a mate rather difficult.

Once considered a rare species, the Fanboy’s numbers have grown exponentially in the last decade, due to internet forums, online gaming, and Disney buying both Marvel Studios and Star Wars, in order to repackage and resell them their childhood.

But it’s not all good news