Butt Dramaturgy: Deanna Fleysher @ Edfringe 2017

The Pleasance and Kapinski enterprises present;

BUTT KAPINSKI

Pleasance Dome: Ace Dome

20.10 2 – 27 August (no show 9, 14, 21) 

Think it’s a solo show? Think again. Private Eye Butt Kapinski IS BACK and invites you to co-star in a choose-your-own-adventure murder mystery. With new neighborhoods to investigate, new gangs to infiltrate, new characters to interrogate - leave your games console at home and create a new dark world with Butt Kapinski. 

Part-comedy, part social experiment, this show makes audience members play dead bodies and cops, men become whores, women become abusers and Butt roams amongst the audience, casting left right and centre, guiding the audience on a gender-bending ride – all lit only by his streetlamp. 

What was the inspiration for this performance?

Film noir, gender dysphoria, DIY, immersive, Raymond Chandler, childhood speech impediments, Burning Man, bravery, vulnerability, Dapper Dan.  

Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas? 

No, I don't think so. I think most people go to the theatre expecting to be entertained and/or challenged in an increasingly specified way.  It may be that the more mind-blowing art and idea-discussion is happening elsewhere, but I do think that the art of performance is a perfect breeding ground for more three-dimensional experiences and conversations. I'm seeing more possibilities these days in the worlds of interactive/game culture. 

How did you become interested in making performance?

Well, it got me out of being painfully shy and phobic when I was 6. Theatre classes taught me how to juggle scarves and improvise with my body. It saved me! I've been trucking along ever since.  


Is there any particular approach to the making of the show?

It's cool to think about what experience an audience needs to have, and to orient the making of our show around that.  That gets us out of the space of "well, I need to express this or that." What does the audience need?


Does the show fit with your usual productions?

Sure!  


What do you hope that the audience will experience?

Surprise, delight, an increased connection to the other people in the room, possibly one or two body fluids.  


What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

Light, space and consent.  People go into a theatre expecting to sit in a row, look straight ahead and never move or speak.  How can the space be set up to make the audience feel more free, both more isolated and more together?

How can the light be like a roving camera, capturing magic in different parts of the room at different times? To what extent do audience members give consent, and how can they feel that their level of consent is deeply considered by the performer? 

Audiences appreciate our consideration, just as we appreciate theirs. 

Lit only by a streetlamp - Adelaide Fringe Weekly Award Winner 2017 for Innovation and Fringeworld Best Comedy 2017– Deanna Fleysher is Butt Kapinski. Butt lands in Edinburgh straight from extensive seasons in US, Canada and Australia, set to take the fringe by storm. 

Fleysher has been performing as Butt Kapinski for almost 10 years. Her work blends clown, bouffon, improv comedy and immersive/interactive theatre. 

She is the founder of the Naked Comedy Lab, a touring workshop in audience connection and physical comedy. Fleysher has performed and taught extensively across the U.S., Canada, Australia and at the Edinburgh Fringe.