He's Such A BASTARD...

Remember July 2013? Before Red Bastard was a Fringe hit? When only one theatre critic knew what was about to happen? 

Nowadays, I guess RB is too famous to interview... but here is that interview, which ended up as The List's first festival cover article, in full...

When i saw you back at the surge festival, my mind was blown by the mix of aggressive physical theatre and hardcore philosophical concepts... what process led you to this combination?

Well, much of my formative life as an artist was spent in New York City. It's a tough town. You get angry. You get smart. Red Bastard is a product of compression. Press enough dirty coal together and eventually you'll get a cool, hard diamond- razor sharp. The philosophical concepts are universal. They are things I wondered about. Is it possible for me to be who I wan? Why am I so scared? Where does authority come from?


Your show probably isn't for the faint of heart - are you planning to get the audience involved in the action this time? and will you be taking any of the show to the streets?

The audience IS the action in my show. You will be intricately and intimately involved. But do not fear being destroyed. You may feel you were taken apart. But you will be brought back from the underworld with a new awareness, in one piece. Those who do not follow the chaotic rules of my realm will be thrown out on their arse (with grace and charm of course). It's possible you may see me prowling around in George Square. Come say hello. There's no avoiding our meeting.

I am slightly overdosing on lecoq this year - probably because i am a lazy minded writer who fancies seeing whether he can get any cheap gags in his headlines. what is your relationship to the French School?

I studied with people who taught at Lecoq. Ron and Ludvika Popenhagen and Philippe Gaulier. I also studied with Sue Morrison, who did not go to Lecoq, but was a student of Gaulier and Richard Pochinko- a Canadian who also attended the school and went on to combine the European Lecoq style with Native American clowning practices.


Are there any shows you feel share your ethos? is your work especially resonant of a NY style, for example?

I suppose I am a collection of my experiences. But no show, is quite like my show. In general I am told that it is unique. It is a bouffon show, but I am solo- rather than part of a pack, which makes it unusual.

 I tell jokes, like a standup might, but I wear a grotesque body. I am not your typical, nice and impotent clown- rather I am dangerous and play with the energies of anger, criticism and sex. The show is not particularly political, and yet it will effect how you govern your life. Though not a dancer, I move with grace and sensuality. You'll find Red Bastard registered in the comedy section and yet some audiences might be moved to tears. You must experience it to define it.

Can you briefly explain the difference between a chickenshit and a bastard?

Some days there is no distinction ;) Red Bastard IS you. He bounces around in the collective unconscious, penetrating the files of your not-so-hidden passions. His swimming pool- filled with your dirty secrets. His flesh- woven of your dreams and disappointments. In moments of ecstasy, rage, jubilation or enlightenment- you know what it is to be a Bastard. All else is chickenshit.