Sh*t Happens: The Book

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MM - DS: The very base of the film was a part of Michaela's bachelor film, when we were studying at VŠMU in Bratislava 6 years ago. She was developing her script, when the teacher Patrik Pašš jr., came up with the great metaphor for the theme that she was working on. Michaela ended up never finishing VŠMU or the film. At that time, it would probably be very shitty film, ha! It is something that Amanda has captured really well in This Sh*t Happens All the Time and, more than anything, I feel so privileged to be able to tell this story on stage," she says, before dashing off to replenish her vitamins.

Bert Large is in dispute with his son Al over his future in the plumbing business. Al desperately wants to change career. He's determined to go to college to learn about computers and break away from the family business. His father won't hear of it. A powerful, provocative monologue, Amanda Verlaque’s This Sh*t Happens All The Time at the Lyric, Belfast poses a question that ought never have to be asked: why should love provoke violence?

Series 1, Episode 3 - Sh*t Happens

We tend to judge what goes on in our daily lives as either good or bad. We get a promotion or someone gives us a compliment – good. We make a mistake or do something to embarrass ourselves – bad. Whether it’s a breakup, divorce, issues with your kids, your health, or a death in the family, life happens. Sh*t happens. So what do we do when the professional demands keep mounting when things seem out of control in our personal lives? The situations range from mildly uncomfortable to downright nasty. Suffice to say, if the name of the game doesn’t make it clear enough, YOU SHOULD NOT PLAY THIS WITH KIDS. You may not want to even play this with your parents without removing some cards!

He asked what I was doing and when I told him about the play and that it was about a gay experience in Belfast in the 90s, he kind of just looked at me and laughed and said there were no gay people in Belfast in the 90s," she says, sounding flabbergasted. Although harrowing in places, she says Verlaque's story is also very funny with "big peaks and troughs", but what attracted her most to the part was the honesty of the writing. To demonstrate this point, she relates how she was recently being driven to the Lyric for a photoshoot and got chatting with her taxi driver about the theatre piece in question. First, remember these things aren’t happening TO YOU, they’re just happening. Life is full of challenges and opportunities and I equate them to waves in the ocean. Some are big, and some are small. They come in, and they go. But I always remember the universe is working in my favor, not against me. So instead of asking “why is this happening to me?” ask instead, “what are the lessons that are presenting themselves to me right now?” My good buddyGlenn Ambrosesays "life is a schoolhouse". We all have different curricula, but we will be presented with lessons all along the way.That ability to laugh, no matter what else is happening, predominates in Derry Girls of course, and as a natural-born Derry girl herself, Farren was delighted to play the head teacher of the fictional Londonderry Boys' Academy. I started reading this, meaning to read it bit by bit, but could not put it down! It is very funny, very sad and the description of being in hospital is very realistic! Write some more!” So, basically I've been taking lots of vitamins, drinking gallons of water with honey, ginger - all that. I'm in training and treating myself a bit like an athlete building up to a marathon. I've been careful in rehearsals, not to push myself too much because I could burn out - and I'm not in my 20s any more."

Remember, everyone has varying degrees of challenges. We are all in this thing called life together. Be kind, you never know someone else’s pain they’re powering through. Be there for each other. When you’re up and someone else is down, offer to lend a hand if you can. I was a teenager around the same time as the girls in the show, so it was all so relatable, having grown up in Derry in the era in which Derry Girls is set. SHIT HAPPENS from Goliath Games is a social party card game for 2+ players – the goal is to rank bad situations from the least crappy to the worst. Unlike many other social games in which you are appealing to a player to determine which answer wins, SHIT HAPPENS relies on a ‘scientific’ misery index to rank the cards. It's something I have been threatening to do for many years - I used to write a lot when I was younger, but was stopped by anxiety, crippling perfectionism and other things which got in the way. A collection of amusing stories detailing the countless struggles of living with ulcerative colitis. If you’ve ever suffered from Crohn’s disease, colitis, or know of the hardship of either mental or physical health battles, you don’t want to miss this. Series 1:ZF: Any script or design ideas that came up to you, and you had to abandon in the creative process? Second, when circumstances seem out of control, it’s important to focus on what you CAN control. Here are a few ideas: Your breathing. You can control that. Which means you can control how your nervous system is reacting to the circumstances. You can control your thoughts. You can control how you view it. You can control how much power you want to give the circumstance. You have a lot of power, freedom, and choice. You can control how you show up and respond. You have much more agency than you think or may realize when things otherwise seem in a tailspin. ZF: Why did you decide on hand-drawn 2d, instead of cut-out animation? Because of the film's length?