CAMILLE:
WHERE ARE WE NOW?
(Bound & Gagged in
association with Tim Whitehead)
Circus Hub
7:45pm
(90mins)
Fri 4th
– Sat 26th Aug (not 9th, 14th or 21st)
Book here
What was
the inspiration for this performance?
It’s two strands – one is my love for musicians
that I was obsessed by when I was younger, like David Bowie and Leonard Cohan.
Their passing had a massive effect on me and I’m looking at their work now,
with a fresh perspective. At the same time, I’m looking at the world we live in
right now. It’s turbulent and terrifying place to live thanks to Trump and
Brexit. The world seems to have changed – it’s upside down. I came up with the
name of the show by using the song title from David Bowie, Where Are We Now. Since
2016 things have got a bit rougher for all of us and the whole world in
general. We’ve lost so many amazing artists in the fields of music, comedy,
acting and writing – people who changed the world with their creative minds.
This show is also just looking at the hope that there still is out there in
this world and notion that you should live your life to the fullest even when
all the craziness is happening around you.
Is
performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas?
Yeah
I really do think that it is a great way to create public discussion. I suppose
it depends on what I do as a singer and performer – it’s always been a huge
part of my show to be provocative. The shows that I’ve done over the years have
all been political and enigmatic, so I’ve always been interested in meeting the
audience after the evening is over to discuss what my songs mean to them and
what’s thought provoking.
I really love the feedback and hearing from people
about what each song and my interpretation of the lyrics have meant to them.
Sometimes people get things from what I do that I could never imagine and it
helps get me thinking of new ways to look at a piece of music or how I perform
something. But mixing light and dark together throughout my shows is very
important to me. I think it’s so important because we’re used to looking at X
Factor and generic music where you know where it’s going to end and what the
goal is – commercial music that sells. The ones who are now challenging the
public are the comedians and people who find new ways to make people look at
life through new eyes.
Nick Cave is still doing that with his music and lyrics.
Leonard Cohen was still doing it until the day he died. For me, the joy of live
performance is that it happens right there in the room so people have to engage
with you and that’s still necessary.
How did
you go about gathering the team for it?
The performer in my shows is me. But I’ve
gathered a new group of musicians who are at the top of their game. I’ve got a
drummer who I’ve worked with before and who is brilliant at what he does. And
also I have an amazing guitarist. But when we’re putting a show together I’m
working with several musicians while I’m on my own at home and they’re in other
parts of the world. So, basically I’m dictating things like lyrics and
performance notes to them which makes it a lonely experience in that way.
I’m
the crazy lunatic on stage, but we’re part of a team, so I’m hoping to drag
them on stage and let the audience see them more. In July we’re preparing for
the Edinburgh Festival, so their roles get stronger and we work harder to get
the show right for August. This show has such a strong theme, so the direction
might need to come from me and therefore be more authentic for them to perform.
How did
you become interested in making performance?
It wasn’t the straight forward route. I was a
painter to start with and then an architect before being a singer. I wanted to
be a painter. I like the solitude and the peacefulness of it all, so God knows
how I got to be a singer. But I go there in the end through my obsession with
music that developed when I was younger and also performing with drama
societies when I then went on to become an architect. What led to the change in
careers, was that I had a really bad car crash and that taught me to not be scared
of trying something that I really wanted to do. It made me see that life is
short. It took something pretty massive to get me to leave the security of the
life that I had. When that was done there was no turning back. It started very
small and I suppose it was at that point but it led me into storytelling and
then thinking ‘I’m not looking for a big fame, but I’d love to be a rock
artist’. Strangely, I have ended up doing songs that are about the messages
that are in my head and trying to get out. It’s a kind of therapy. Those songs
are thought provoking and emotional. It helps to be obsessed by them so you can
perform them over 20 years without them ever feeling stale. I have a great love
for the songs that I perform. I’m singing them to myself more than everything
when I’m on stage. I’m a full on performer on stage, but sometimes I’d rather
the audience wasn’t watching because my performances are so personal. But to be
honest, I’m drawn like a magnet to performing for people.
Is
there any particular approach to the making of the show?
Variety
is important to me, along with trying to see how the show should begin. I ask
myself, ‘how do I bring the audience in from the start?’ I usually start quite
quietly and then go into an explosion of song and dramatics. I also want to
start shows with the lighter material so that I can go to the dark place and be
unforgiving and then not hold back. As a musician I don’t want to hold back.
The last show I did was all animal masks, animal noises, glitter and mirror balls.
But this show should be more like hymns and just a lot more simple. For me,
shows should be all about you being as normal as possible in front of the
audience so that they feel the authenticity of my performance. Maybe wearing a
sparkly jumpsuit is a good idea but it’s like thinking in 3D sometimes. I then
go on to think how the song will end. Will it explode or slowly taper away? At
the moment, I’m looking at a Radiohead song but I think am I crazy to try it,
but then I have the ambition to find a way to make it my own. I’m terrified of
falling on my face in front of an audience but the list keeps changing. The
audience’s view of you is as important as how you see yourself, so you have to
think how will the audience feel about that song and if I should perform it for
them. If it moves me and brings something emotional out in me, then I can sell
it to the audience. But equally, if it doesn’t move me then I won’t be able to
sell it to the audience and it’s just a waste of my time and their time.
Sometimes you sing something and you know it sounds like you’re faking it but
you really want to make it work just so hard – that’s the time when you have to
put your own feelings aside and think of the people you’re performing for.
Does the
show fit with your usual productions?
Yes
but I think it’s more specific than it’s ever been before. When we did the Dark
Angel show, the title was dreamlike and I like to change who I am when I’m
performing. I will do that again this time, but because I’ve given it a question
mark at the end I have to choose songs that relate to that title. I’ve never
done that with my show before and it’s exciting to be doing something
different. People will know that we’re in a turbulent world at the moment and
so I’m not going to do my usual show as a way of reflecting that. A lot of my
shows are suitable for the Festival, but I’ve done them in Edinburgh before so
I’m faced with having to do new songs this time around. This show is like the
others in the way that it’s got to keep that one theme throughout and that’s a
spiritual thing for me. I’m looking at the loss of the artists that I have
loved and the fear that I feel and the anxiety about the world in general. I
need to address that so there’s a truth in this show and I’ll be more Camille
than ever. This show has to be as authentic and real because it’s closer to me
than anything and I’d like to think that people in the audience will share
their experiences as the show goes on.
What do
you hope that the audience will experience?
I hope that the audience will get some kind of
catharsis from this show and it will make them stop and
think. My shows are about being human and kind and crazy, while finding ways to
express yourself to the people you love and also to people you meet along the
way. I hope people go away moved and feeling joyful after watching my
performance, but hopefully not feeling it was too dark. When you think about
Bob Dylan and Nick Cave and those types of artists, people feel like we’re
sharing the journey of the performance with them. The world isn’t perfect and
neither is our lives so there’s a crack in everything but the light gets in,
which is where the best things come from. That’s what my show will be about.
What
strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?
What I love in theatre performances in general
is that it needs to make people questions things as a result. I’m an emotional
person so that’s why I like to delve into matters of the heart and where we are
in the world. I’m an eccentric and I like the bizarre things in the world, so I
want to reflect all of that in the shows I do for people.
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