Image Credit: Biz Lyon in rehearsal for Midnight in Nashville.

Biz Lyon knows a thing or two about detours. Originally from Kentucky, she trained in New York before a creative life that has taken her back and forth between Tennessee, New York and LA, through acting, directing, music and other working lives, before eventually crossing the Atlantic and finding a new balance in London. If she once imagined success would arrive younger and by a straighter road, these days she sees things differently: “the real story of your life is your life; not your career.” The diversions, she argues, often take you exactly where you need to go.

It’s fitting, then, that Biz is currently playing another woman determined to rewrite her story. Lee Papa’s Midnight in Nashville, at The Glitch in Waterloo running until Monday 7 September, finds country singer Marcy Aurora newly released after twenty years in prison and heading straight into a recording studio. She’s older, notorious and in no mood to disappear quietly.

For Biz, who suggested building music into the show, Marcy has become unexpectedly liberating – a chance to sing, play and shed ideas about how she “ought to sound or ought to look”. Together with co-star Catherine Mieses, she brings us an intimate play-with-music about female defiance, safety, second chances, creative fulfilment and the right to be complicated.

So, take a leaf from Biz and Marcy this week. Dig out the guitar, sketchbook, dancing shoes or half-abandoned idea. Make something without worrying whether you’re doing it correctly. Support an independent show. Take the scenic route. And if life has sent you on a detour, perhaps don’t be too quick to turn back.

Your path has been wonderfully non-linear – from Kentucky and studying in New York to directing, acting, other working lives, then crossing the Atlantic and returning to serious training at East 15. What do you remember about the young Biz starting out, and what would you tell a young creative who worries they’re already taking too many detours?

I remember that I thought I would have more worldly “success” at a much younger age. We probably all think that when we’re training.

But I’m not sure you can avoid the detours. In fact, the detours often take you where you need to go. It may not feel like it’s getting you anywhere in your career, but the real story of your life is your life; not your career. And your creativity is part of who you are no matter what your life looks like from the outside.

Part of imagining you’ll work all the time as an artist while you’re still a young adult is a pretty common assumption that it will be a straightforward journey. But it isn’t a very straightforward journey for most people. And I think, as you’re living your life and trying to create work AND enjoy yourself, there will almost certainly be times when something other than career or creating work will influence your decisions. Sometimes you might need to step away from your pursuit and live somewhere quieter and make some money doing something that gets the job done but doesn’t bug you while you figure out other parts of your life. Anyway, that’s been my experience, and it all adds up to an interesting and authentic life and makes you a more empathetic, interesting person.

I’ve done a lot of moving around. I’d stay in New York for a couple of years and go back to Tennessee. Then go out to LA for a few years and back to Tennessee. The huge, expensive cities where artists need to go to get certain kinds of work can be very hard to live in. And that often means you’re actually less creative while you’re living there. That was often true for me when I was in New York or LA. Though I feel like I’ve found a good balance here in London.

Image Credit: Biz Lyon in rehearsal for Midnight in Nashville.

Lee Papa wrote Midnight in Nashville for you after conversations about country music and the troubled lives of women within it. What did Lee recognise in you that helped Marcy Aurora come into being – and, as you’ve lived with her, where have you surprised each other?

Well. I suppose you’d have to ask Lee that to know for sure. He has a really wonderful ability to write interesting, believable dialogue. That always makes it easier to find a character!

It was my suggestion we think about a show with some singing in it. I sang and played music more when I was living in Tennessee, and it seemed like it would be an awfully good prompt to start playing more if Lee wrote a play about a singer.

I expect he figured I had enough life experience to empathise with Marcy, and he and I share a love of country music – especially the music that was big when we were kids.

Image Credit: Biz Lyon in rehearsal for Midnight in Nashville.

Marcy has lost twenty years, yet what she wants isn’t simply forgiveness or redemption – she wants to make music again. As a woman and artist with your own long, evolving relationship with performance, what resonates with you about her determination to reclaim her creative voice?

I think Marcy sees her release from prison as a chance to re-write her story. She is anxious to make new memories and new music immediately – partly to make up for lost time and partly to give the world at large something better to talk about than her crime and her past.

To me, it feels like this quest for finding MY real voice and living a truly authentic life is an ongoing discovery. Performing this show is actually part of ME figuring out my true voice and finding confidence in just…sounding like me and playing music the way that feels right to me; jettisoning all the thoughts of how one ought to sound or ought to look. So Marcy has been liberating for me. The difference between performing it last year and doing it this year is pretty big. I’ve had more time to grow in confidence in the singing and playing and had more time for Marcy to become part of me, and working with Catherine Mieses again this year as my co-star has been wonderful. Our relationship and vibe keeps getting richer.

We are constantly making ourselves up. And you can’t let any particular current circumstance get you down too much. Accept what is and look for ways to move toward what you would like better. Accept that your story is unique, and you have weaknesses and vulnerabilities based on your own history that live alongside your gifts and blessings and good times.

Image Credit: Biz Lyon in rehearsal for Midnight in Nashville.

We have a cultural soft spot for male hellraisers – the outlaw, the tortured genius, the rock’n’roll casualty – while women who are angry, unruly or self-destructive are often judged rather differently. Does Midnight in Nashville deliberately play with that double standard, and what do you hope happens when an audience spends an evening with a woman who refuses to make herself easily forgivable?

I do think Midnight in Nashville plays with that. Lee has done such a great job of writing about a woman who just says what’s on her mind and who has truly universal longings for respect and creative fulfilment and self-fulfilment. And safety. She doesn’t really apologise for any of that – to ANYONE in her life. She has a very rock and roll acceptance of what she can and can’t do. We do perhaps see that portrayed more often in male characters, but we out here!

I hope the audience relates to Marcy’s strength and struggle and humor. And they hopefully will enjoy and relate to the music, which is how Marcy tries to reach out.

I love it that Marcy has a chance to explain what happened to her in the past. She fought back. Literally. She refused to give in and let someone else steal her life. And then she had to pay a price for that. So it goes.

Image Credit: Biz Lyon in rehearsal for Midnight in Nashville.

The audience effectively joins Marcy for one night in a Nashville recording studio, with you acting, singing and playing live. How did you, Lee and the wider creative team find the show’s particular chemistry between gig and theatre – and what becomes possible when a song can say something that dialogue can’t?

I think a ‘play with music’ might appeal to some folks who don’t much like traditional musicals. The songs come out just like they would if you were actually hanging out in a recording studio or on someone’s back porch.

The songs in this show reveal a lot of character. Two of them are written by my ex- husband, Kevin Buchmeier, and a third we wrote together for this show. And we’ve got a couple of older songs in the show as well. The imagery in music can be easier for people to access, and it can help to transport you and make you feel like you’re in another world for a little while.

The space at The Glitch is a really wonderful fit for this show. It actually feels like a recording studio down there. It’s very intimate and kind of cozy, and they have been great to work with.

Image Credit: Biz Lyon in rehearsal for Midnight in Nashville.

Finally, you’ve made London part of your creative life – which three cultural places here would you send a Run Riot reader to, and what makes each one special to you?

I would send people to The National Theatre. It’s a fascinating space, and the scale of the shows there is unlike anywhere else in town. If you keep on your toes, you can usually find tickets that aren’t too expensive. And if you’re not too crazy about what’s on at any given time, there will soon be more as there are three theatres and a pretty wide range of shows. It sits right on the South Bank, and it always feels good to be near the river.

I love and adore Regent’s Park. I don’t know if that counts as cultural, but it always improves my mood. It’s big enough that you can wander all day if you want, and it has many different sections, so there’s always something new to look at. Lots of different vistas! It’s just gorgeous and peaceful. Also, it’s close to Camden Town, and I love that part of town.

And…I recently discovered a great little music venue/bar near Kings Cross called Jamboree. They’ve given it a sort of New Orleans vibe, and it’s a really comfy, lovely space with lots of interesting music.

Find Biz at @bizlyon

See Biz perform live →

Midnight in Nashville
By Lee Papa
The Glitch, Waterloo
Now until Monday 7 September

Info and tickets → tickettailor.com