Haley McGee

Haley McGee
CitizenshipCanadian
Alma materRyerson University (BFA in Theatre Performance – Acting)[1]
OccupationActor
Years active2008–present
Websitehttp://www.haleymcgee.ca/

Haley McGee is a Canadian actress, writer and comedian based in London.[2] McGee is best known for her role as Dorothy Skerritt, the personal assistant to Nikola Tesla in the Doctor Who episode Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror. She is also known for her solo performances, most recently Age Is A Feeling and The Ex-Boyfriend Yard Sale.

Age Is A Feeling

McGee's 2022 show premiered at the Edinburgh Festival and was a winner of the Fringe First Award.[3]

It tells the story of a single human life from the 25th birthday until death. The story is told entirely in the second person and includes sections of branching narrative based on audience selections.[4] The show began its run at Edinburgh on 27 July,[5] and will continue at the Soho Theatre in London in September.[6] The piece was nominated for an Olivier Award in 2023.[7]

The Scotsman described the show as "a superb performance and a sensitive, smartly structured piece of writing, full of wit and an astonishing amount of wisdom from someone who's only 36 years old"[8]

The Ex-Boyfriend Yard Sale

McGee's 2018 solo show invites the audience to value eight objects, each a gift from a former boyfriend.[9] McGee states that the inspiration for the show was finding herself in debt after moving to London, and needing to work out which objects should be sold in order to pay off her debts.[citation needed]

McGee developed the show in partnership with Melanie Frances, a mathematician and digital artist who helped develop a formula which included inputs such as the "relationship index", measures her time with each ex on a scale of one to 10, "how hard they made you laugh, the ratio of fun-to-misery and how good the sex was". McGee reveals how the formula is derived as the show unfolds. [10][11]

The show was adapted into a book which was published in May 2021 by Penguin Random House Canada[12] and Hodder & Stougton[13] in the UK. McGee. McGee also developed this concept into an audio series, The Cost of Love, an interview format podcast released concurrently with the book. [10]

14 Day Creative Challenge

During the COVID-19 Lockdown of summer 2020, McGee developed and led a 14 Day Creative Challenge, a self-directed programme intended to allow artists to remain creative at a time when venues for creative work remained closed. The programme reached an online audience of over 1000. [14][15]

Works

  • Oh My Irma[16] (2011)
  • Weather the Weather[17] (2013)
  • I'm Doing This for You[18] (2015)
  • The Public Servant[19] (2015)
  • The Ex-Boyfriend Yard Sale[9] (2018)
  • Age Is a Feeling (2022)

References

  1. ^ ""Haley Mcgee"". Stanton Davidson.
  2. ^ "About Haley McGee". Haley McGee.
  3. ^ "Scotsman Fringe Awards: this year's Edinburgh festival prize-winners". www.scotsman.com. 25 August 2022. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  4. ^ "Age Is a Feeling review – an astonishing dive into the future". the Guardian. 10 August 2022. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
  5. ^ McGee, Haley (2 August 2022). "'This show is starting to live under my fingernails': the road to Edinburgh fringe". the Guardian. Retrieved 23 August 2022.
  6. ^ "Age Is A Feeling". Soho Theatre. Retrieved 23 August 2022.
  7. ^ "Haley McGee's Age is a Feeling nominated for an Olivier Award". Morgan Green Creatives. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  8. ^ Ingenthron, Blair. "Haley McGee's AGE IS A FEELING Wins Fringe First Award". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  9. ^ a b "The Ex-Boyfriend Yard Sale: can you put a price on sentimental value?". The Guardian. 27 November 2018.
  10. ^ a b Alcober, Marie (12 February 2021). "What's the price of sentimental value? An artist and a mathematician's formula for the cost of love". CBC Arts.
  11. ^ "The Ex-Boyfriend Yard Sale: can you put a price on sentimental value?". the Guardian. 27 November 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  12. ^ "Daily Deals: HarperCollins acquires Alex Light's YA novel from Wattpad; Doubleday picks up Haley McGee's The Ex-Boyfriend Yard Sale". 12 March 2014.
  13. ^ "The Ex Boyfriend Yard Sale". Foyles.
  14. ^ "'What even is theatre now?': the fringe artists left out in the cold". the Guardian. 22 May 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  15. ^ Sumi, Glenn (6 June 2020). "Meet the brains behind the 14-Day Creative Quarantine Challenge". NOW Magazine. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  16. ^ "Oh My Irma: An Edinburgh Fringe Review". A Younger Theatre. 15 August 2013.
  17. ^ Lynn Slotkin (14 December 2013). "DANNY AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA and WEATHER THE WEATHER". The Slotkin Letter.
  18. ^ Glen Sumi (5 May 2017). "I'm Doing This For You is cause for celebration". Now Toronto.
  19. ^ "The Public Servant". Common Boots Theatre.