SAD MAG spoke with poet, critic, and artist Emilie Kneifel about their bilingual video interview series PLAYD8s. Although produced before the pandemic hit, their video series, which explores the idea and experience of play through intimate conversation, is uniquely relevant in the world we find ourselves in today. Kneifel’s experience of illness that led to bedroom-based solitude was the inspiration behind this video series.

SAD: Can you tell me how you came up with the idea for PLAYD8s?

In 2017, I started to get really sick and I had to leave school and Vancouver and in a lot of ways, it felt like I had to leave life. I was really isolated and had two things in my head: the first is that, when you’re alone a lot and not by choice, everything gets magnified. I was so aware of the way people spend time with each other, and how it felt to be around someone who was really present versus someone who was moving past you. I came to a conclusion that I don’t really agree with anymore; that hanging out the way we do as adults is a waste of time. It led me to think about how we would play together in ways that felt not only really special but also finite as kids. You were aware that your friend was going to have to leave soon or it was going to be bedtime soon. The way you experienced time felt more out of your control.

The other thing was that I got really into reading artist profiles and interviews. It was a means of being close to someone in a way that wasn’t draining to me. I think a lot about how rarely we’re touched platonically in our lives and how important that is, someone touching you and not asking anything of you, and I think that those profiles, for me, were a sort of platonic touch, where this person was giving so much and I didn’t have to and couldn't give anything back. So I started fantasizing about making this show where I would talk to people and play with people from that place.

SAD: Could you describe what PLAYD8s is?

[The show’s host] Me-Me’s number is 8, her birthday is on the 8th of every month, so it’s [a web series] called “PLAYD8s” with an 8 and there are 8 episodes. In each episode, a friend comes over to Me-Me’s bedroom and we talk about how they play within a specific theme. So the first episode is about sound, the second science, the third language and so on. The basic structure of the questions, although we veer off from them quite drastically, is how did you play, how do you play, and how would you like to play. When we think about play, we think about childhood but I think that we play all the time. We play in these facets of our lives that we would not associate with play. One of my favourite episodes is about how the guest plays in and around religion. I think that we’re creative and playful in parts of our life that we don’t even realize.

SAD: What creative influences figured in the idea of the show and the aesthetic world of it?

This is kind of a tough one. I’m so precious about my nostalgia that I didn’t re-watch anything for the show.

SAD: You didn’t watch any children’s programs or anything?

I didn’t do any research. This show is more about what the memory of watching kids’ TV felt like. It’s very nebulous. So I was thinking about shows that were live-action but incorporated cartoon elements, like Blues Clues or the Big Comfy Couch. The clown aesthetic is indebted to that. I was also thinking of anything that broke the fourth wall and made you feel included. I was a big Bob Ross kid.

This is maybe now veering into the intention of the show, but Bob Ross and others who really made people feel safe or included, that was really important to me. As much as the show is kind of a Pepto Bismol that you swallow, it’s very pink and pretty, my hope for it is that there can be sincerity sewn into it as well.

SAD: I feel like there is a cultural binary between the world of “adults” and “kids”, and shame or disdain attached to adults acting in ways that are perceived to be childlike; silliness for example. How did you navigate these feelings or expectations as you worked on this project?

That was in my head from the very beginning when I was thinking about this project because I remember really distinctly when I was 12 or something and Jasmine R invited me over to play and I was like “I don't do that anymore”. That made me so sad! Because I think there is definitely a point in time when that kind of thing becomes shameful or weird, but I also think the way we play changes. [With PLAYD8s] I don't think I needed the other person to be on the same level as me. They were welcome to do it and I invited everyone to dress up in a way that felt most playful to them, but I think that it just goes back to bringing the word “play” into adulthood.

Because all I mean by play is unproductive exploration. I like to use play because I think it is a word attached to a specific sensibility that I want to Trojan horse into more serious things too. But I think that in order to get people feeling ok with doing that, it goes back to what I was saying about how I think that play is so tied to safety. And it's so tied to feeling that you're allowed to do it, it’s ok. I was mostly aware of how I can make this person feel at ease to talk to me. The feedback that I got was in the way that we played with crayons on the show, it ended up being something that people found really soothing and it allowed them to feel more at ease.

You can watch PLAYD8s videos on Youtube and follow them on Instagram.

SAD Online

Bringing Play Into Adulthood in PLAYD8s Video Series