Interview with Nelly Thomas
Family Ties Nelly Thomas interviewed by Colin Flaherty According to writer and performer Nelly Thomas “Family Ties is about me wondering what I would have been like if I’d been born into a different family…the idea came more from a life long suspicion (and maybe hope) that I was adopted. I believe in the “nurture” side of the nature v nurture debate and yet I’m totally different to the environment I grew up in … It’s about me wondering out loud about that.”
With a show revolved around the subject of raising children, there is the danger that it will create tension in her own family. “I think the whole idea would make them uncomfortable. It’s uncomfortable to hear your adult children’s honest opinion of their family. They have a pretty good sense of humour though and they give as good as they get so I think they’d be cool. We’ll probably never know because they live in another state!”
The show gives Nelly the opportunity to perform as some the characters she has developed. One of them being “Susan Whitelaw the right wing Christian telemarketer. I first developed her when I was wondering one day what I would have been like if I’d grown up in a religious family. I’m scarily like her, just with different view.”
For booking details go to Family Ties