Dramaturgy Habits: Godfrey&West @ Edfringe 2017

Godfrey&West present:

BAD HABITS by Ella Godfrey and Simon West

Run Info

13.30 August 15th-26th

1 hour run-time

The Big Cave @ Just the Tonic, The Caves (Venue 88)

£7/£8 (Weekday/Weekend) Discount for concessions

Bad Habits is a brand new comedy. In this feminist reimagining of Eliza Haywood’s Fantomina, a young woman abandons her high-society home in favour of adventure, disguise, and sex. With a predominantly female cast and female-centric narrative, Bad Habits sets out to prove that women can be just as outrageous, silly and raucously funny as any men.

What was the inspiration for this performance?

The book; clear parallels between the role of the femme fatale then and now?

Women don’t get enough great comic roles.

In mainstream theatre, film and television, women are very rarely given the best comic roles. We’ve always wanted to address this, but needed to find the right vehicle. Then we came across Eliza Haywood’s Fantomina, a genuinely funny story with female characters at its heart, and knew we could adapt the story into a really exciting show.

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

Totally

Show is about silliness- but

Make them laugh

What better way to argue that women can be funny than by putting them up on a stage and just letting them be funny? Job done.

Performance is visceral. If any actor is eyeballing you as they crack out some misogyny, you’ll think about what they’re saying.

Absolutely. Bad Habits is silly show that makes the audience howl with laughter, and for us that’s the most important thing. We want to demonstrate that women are funny, and what better way to do that than by giving them a stage, a script and letting them do their thing?

How did you become interested in making performance?

We have both been doing theatre shit for ages.

Started writing and directing together

And the lord saw it was good.

We have both been involved with creating theatre since forever, and have been writing silly comedy with bold characters since they met. After coming across the hilarious premise at the centre of Haywood’s Fantomina, this play simply had to be written.

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

Our philosophy is that if actors are having

fun, the audience will too. Because of this belief, our whole rehearsal process is driven by contributions from and collaborations with our actors. We believe in using our casts’ talents to the fullest and work to foster an atmosphere in rehearsals where actors feel free to experiment and venture their ideas about how the show could be even funnier.

Again, what better way to showcase female comedic talent than giving the cast full creative input?

Does the show fit with your usual productions?

Some key things we like- big bold characters, live music, ensemble casts, metatheatrical references, ridiculous plot twist.

Our most sophisticated show. Concept, venue etc. line up perfectly.

Godfrey & West comedies invariably include big, bold characters, tight ensemble casts, live music, metatheatrical japes, and plenty of bizarre plot twists. Bad Habits is no exception. Yet Bad Habits is our most sophisticated show yet - the show is holistically complete, complementing an eighteenth century convent setting inside the beautiful vaulted ceilings of the Big Cave at Just The Tonic’s cave complex.

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

Fundamentally, we want our audience to have fun.

Severe, but non-fatal, rupturing of their laughter glands - and the revelation that female comics are just top notch.

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

The show is that comic staple, a play within a play. Nuns act out their mother superior’s life story but step out to comment on it. Informality, addressing the audience directly.

Bad Habits has a constant barrage of jokes, all tied together by a lovable protagonist who our audience can follow and care about. There’s a bit of going down into the audience too, so lots of surprises. And let’s just say the story doesn’t resolve itself quite as you’d expect...

In the 18th-century’s wildest convent, five nuns act out the story of their Mother Superior: a young lady forced to don increasingly ridiculous disguises to seduce the same man over and over again. With the help of a sarky vicar, beleaguered innkeeper and most of Edinburgh, can Fantomina shake her bad habits? Bad Habits is the farcical tale of one woman's pursuit of love and sex. But mostly just the sex.

The Writers

The play is the Fringe debut for Cambridge University based duo Ella Godfrey and Simon West. Ella and Simon have an inventive comic style which combines bold characters, word-play, live music, slapstick, innuendo and pure silliness.

Cast

Fantomina - Kathryn Cussons

Hugo - Simon West

Sister Agnes & Mother - Sasha Bobak

Sister Brigid & Tristan - Kate Collins

Sister Gertrude, Innkeeper & Carriage Driver - Jasmin Rees

Ginny - Amber Abrahams

The Nun with the Violin - Marcus Fantham

Producer - Nick Harrison

Directors - Ella Godfrey & Simon West

Dramaturgy Machine: Tom Ward @ Edfringe 2017

What was the inspiration for this

performance? 

To be very personal. But not serious!

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

Yes, and always will be. Where else will we go for that explosive, in the moment encounter where we can take the piss out of everything serious and po-faced?

How did you become interested in making performance? 

I always dreamed of some stage thing or other, from the moment I saw U2 videos of their Joshua Tree / Rattle and Hum Tour. It was just so full of energy and purpose. I wanted to be a singer, and then eventually was…until I got sacked from my band, Church of the Drive Thru Elvis, and had to look elsewhere.

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

Say a whole bunch of stuff and see what makes you hum inside, and then say only those bits. Look for themes and zone in on them.

Does the show fit with your usual productions? 

Probably. But with more sound effects and way more direct recounting of the stuff that hurts and delights me.

What do you hope that the audience will experience? 

Joy, Laughter, Happiness, Relief.  

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience? 

I thought about doing it as a play…but I couldn’t carry that off, I’d take the piss out of it immediately. I thought about singing songs but the same. I like talking in to people’s eyes rather than towards them or over their heads. Stand-up comedy is very special. 

Tom Ward’s new stand up show ‘Love Machine’ will be at the Just The Tonic @ The Tron for the month of August for tickets go to www.edfringe.com

Philosophical Dramaturgy: Charlie Dupré @ Edfringe 2015

The Fringe

What inspired this production: did you begin with an idea or a script or an object?
I like rapping and I like philosophy. A friend suggested that I put these things together and see what happened, so that's what I did, although it actually ended up involving various other performance skills, such as comedy, mime and shoe-stealing. 


Why bring your work to Edinburgh?It's a fantastic hub of creativity and awesomeness - the chance to observe the sheer variety of ways in which a room can be entertained, and to experiment over a longer run than usual. And they have great jacket potatoes. 


What can the audience expect to see and feel - or even think - of your production?
They can expect to see a man morphing into 12 philosophers and a chicken, to try and work out who he really is. They can expect to feel existential angst, messianic despair, confused joy, joyful confusion, considerable aural titillation, and the need for more hats. 
They can expect to think too much about how to think less. 

God and Dawkins face off in heated rap battle
Nietzsche gets Russell Brand-esque makeover
Rap-actor Charlie Dupré plays 12 philosophers (and a chicken)

Legendary Scottish philosopher David Hume is hilariously brought to life in a fantastic new solo comedy theatre show at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival.


In Charlie and the Philosorappers, writer and performer Charlie Dupré transforms himself into Hume, playing him as a dour Scotsman trying to ignore the affections of his Self. Hume, whose statue stands proudly on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, famously did not believe in a ‘self’, thinking humans were instead made up of a ‘bundle of sensations’.

In the high-octane Charlie and the Philosorappers show, God and Richard Dawkins go head to head in a rap battle – with the audience deciding who wins. Other philosophers who get the Dupré treatment are Nietzsche, who looks strikingly similar to egotistical Essex comedian Russell Brand, Descartes re-born as a rationalistic hip-hop artist and Jeremy Bentham as a Made In Chelsea reject.

The Dramaturgy Questions

How would you explain the relevance - or otherwise - of dramaturgy within your work?
It contains a rather bizarre conglomerate of styles that came about as a by-product of needing to find innovative ways to present each philosopher. Rap is a regular feature, but there are episodes of sketch comedy, mime, song so I guess I'm trying to explore as many ways in which one can do things on a piece of floor in front of some sitting-down people as possible, and tie this together thematically with my search for identity, in which the narrative is rooted.

What particular traditions and influences would you acknowledge on your work - have any particular artists, or genres inspired you and do you see yourself within their tradition?
Absolutely - Eminem is definitely in there. I love the letter form that he uses in Stan and often use it to tell tragic stories, in this case a young philosopher desperately pleading with Reality to come back to him. Tim Minchin has also been a big inspiration with his ponderous and very personal comic song-writing. And a few philosophers, I suppose. Yes I absolutely do. I am philosophy's face-lift.

Do you have a particular process of making that you could describe - where it begins, how you develop it, and whether there is any collaboration in the process?
I wrote a first draft, performed it for some people, and asked for feedback. I then re-wrote it (whiskey and all-nighters were involved with this part), edited when soberer, and repeated the process about three or four times. I did work with a director for a day, and she was helpful, but other than that it's just been me and people's comments, which I think has worked quite well, although I'm keen to collaborate more on my next project.


What do you feel the role of the audience is, in terms of making the meaning of your work?
Philosophy is all about interpretation and what it means for you. I've tried to offer mine in the most entertaining way possible, to encourage the audience to develop theirs. The narrative follows a progression of ideas, but it is up to them to form the conclusions. There are a few group activities, including a freestyle rap using words that they provide, so it can be very unpredictable, with the audience invited to respond and challenge. That said, no-one really has to do anything more than just enjoy the spectacle of a one-man rap tirade.


Are there any questions that you feel I have missed out that would help me to understand how dramaturgy works for you?
When I worked with my director she suggested that I change the concept so it was me telling a real story as me, rather than playing characters throughout. While I do lurch across personas, I found it really helpful to keep the show anchored in truth in this way and relate it to them as if they were mates down the pub. This way they have a much better sense of why this story is being told, and I think this is important if you want their complicity throughout the journey.

Writer and performer Charlie Dupré says:
“Charlie and the Philosorappers is designed to make philosophy exciting and fun. Thinkers such as Edinburgh’s own David Hume genuinely changed the world – but their work is often seen as difficult and out-of-date. Using rap, theatre and comedy I’m hoping to show Fringe-goers the human side of these great thinkers, and how they can help us understand ourselves and the modern world.”


Rapper, actor and poet Charlie Dupré has supported the likes of Scroobius Pip and Kate Tempest, and was a BBC Slam finalist in 2014. His first full-length rap-theatre show, The Stories of Shakey P, gave Shakespeare stories a riveting contemporary slant. Commissioned in part by the RSC, it debuted to acclaim at the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe. Since then it has toured festivals and schools, had London showings at the Arcola, the Roundhouse, the Tristan Bates Theatre, and at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Skirting Dramaturgy: An Elephant @ Edfringe 2015

The Fringe
What inspired this production: did you begin with an idea or a script or an object?
The idea for Annabelle’s Skirting Board Adventures came from me lying on the floor, with my head on one side, and one eye closed, imagining what it would be like to be tiny. I did this a lot as a kid, and have been doing more than a grown-up man really should of late.

I’m a stand-up, writer and performer who specialises in working with projected animated characters, live on stage, both for adults and children. I came up with the idea for Annabelle, but didn’t know if it would be possible to make it into a stage show. I thought that asking an entire audience to lie on the floor with their head on the ground might be asking too much.


I started by approaching Steve Pretty, a trumpeter friend of mine, as I wanted his trumpet to provide Annabelle’s voice. It turned he was an even bigger tech nerd than I was, and between us we came up with the various ways that we could put this story on stage. We worked out that with the help of VJ’s vision mixer, we could film a stage set from a very low angle with a series of micro-camera and mix a tiny cartoon elephant into the picture live in front of the audience’s eyes. 

 As we couldn’t afford most of the solutions we had come up with we then asked the Arts Council for funding. Once that was in place, I took the ideas that Steve and I had worked on, and started putting those into a script.

Why bring your work to Edinburgh?
That’s a question my wife’s been asking a lot recently. I’ve got a family now and so disappearing for most of the summer holidays and risking a pile of money that we could be spending on an extension is something that I’m not allowed to take lightly. 

 But I think we’ve created a properly unique and amazing show, and that is the sort of thing that the Fringe really appreciates. Edinburgh’s a great way to get the finished product to a wider audience, both at the Fringe and to venues around the country and perhaps the world. Every big break I’ve ever had in my career, from TV series, international festivals or the Royal Variety have all started by showcasing my work in Edinburgh. 

If you’ve got something that you think is worth shouting about Edinburgh’s really a no-brainer.

What can the audience expect to see and feel - or even think - of your production?
Annabelle is a fully inter-active tiny 2D cartoon elephant, but through a mixture of stage-craft, and live vision mixing the audience will be able to see her standing on the stage in front of them and crossing it, and the living room set we have on stage, as if it was an enormous landscape. Hopefully that makes them feel something special. 

 Then the story is about a tiny person achieving big things against all the odds, with the help from her friends. So we hope they’ll feel joy and happiness. Our younger audience will hopefully think “that was amazing!”, and our older audience will hopefully think “how on earth did they do that?” The key message behind Annabelle is “Anything is possible if you put your little mind to it.” This is true of Annabelle’s story, and of the story of how we put this very silly idea on stage.

The Dramaturgy Questions

How would you explain the relevance - or otherwise - of dramaturgy within your work?
To start explaining the relevance of dramaturgy in my work I’d firstly look up what “dramaturgy” meant, on Wikipedia. When I’d done that (ie, now) I’d say that dramaturgy was the key to getting this show right. Putting the story of an elephant who’s too small to see on stage is not easy. Without some clever solutions, it’s just not going to work. Before we started deciding the exact shape of the story was, we had to know that it was possible to stage it and relay it the audience.

Putting a cartoon onto a physical set has obviously been done on film and television, but it’s never been done in a theatre, live and in real time. But there’s no point in doing that unless it’s telling a great story. We wanted to build the story in beats that we could firstly, physically achieve, secondly, be hugely entertaining and thirdly create a brilliant picture on stage. So as we wrote the story we designed the tech, the set and the costume around it. As we developed each of these further it often meant coming back and altering the story so that the it worked better with the way we had to present the story to the audience.


What particular traditions and influences would you acknowledge on your work - have any particular artists, or genres inspired you and do you see yourself within their tradition?
My work straddles various genres. I’m a stand-up, and animator, and a story teller. I recently got invited to perform at a Puppet Festival in Northern Ireland, and found I fitted in very well there. A South African shadow-puppeteer pointed out that both they and I make the inanimate animate. So The Muppets were a huge inspiration to me, I got to write for The Furchester Hotel last year, which was amazing, working with writers who’d been working on Sesame Street for 20 years. That experience taught me how to write for young children.

For Annabelle specifically the worlds of Toy Story, The Borrowers and Grandpa In My Pocket have got to be a touch-stone visually, both as an inspiration, and to make sure our stories aren’t veering too close to theirs. 

 In terms of creating engaging visual stories for younger children I think the Animations of Studio Ghibli are ace. My Neighbour Totoro is a great example of creating a magical story for younger kids that doesn’t risk scaring the living daylights out of them at any point. In my adult work Sean Lock and Harry Hill’s live stand-up sets were an early inspiration. Python, especially Terry Gilliam’s animations definitely were for my animation work, not so much in visual style, but in his anarchy.

Do you have a particular process of making that you could describe - where it begins, how you develop it, and whether there is any collaboration in the process?
Making this show was unlike making any show I’ve made before. When putting together a stand-up or Little Howard show I usually work on the show alone, running scripts past my regular writing collaborator Chris Chantler. Trying them out in front of an audience when I thought they were funny enough and altering them accordingly, or not, depending on how stubborn I felt about them.

This show was hugely collaborative. I made it with Steve Pretty, who’s a brilliant trumpeter, but also a tech geek. I discussed the idea with him and he helped to come up with the various ways we put the idea on stage. Steve is hugely ambitious technically, which is great, because it’s very rare that someone else is coming up with more outlandish ideas than me. I had to be the sensible one at various points, which is new for me. We then took on a Dramaturge to help with the story structure, and a technical consultant to help solve our various AV, lighting and set challenges. 

 We then tried parts of the show out at a local primary school, and made changes according to how they reacted to different aspects of the show. We made a lot of big changes at that point, because the kids reacted to a lot of stuff in very different ways than we were expecting. It was only once we knew that the show we wanted to make was physically possible to stage, and that our audience would respond it in the way we expected that I started work on the full script. We then went into an intensive rehearsal period and started a small tour of the show, tweaking and fixing up problems as they arose.

What do you feel the role of the audience is, in terms of making the meaning of your work?
The show is about trying to see the world as a child sees it. Creating something that children can be inspired by and relate to; putting the things they’ve imagined on stage in front of them. So without the kids in the audience the show has no meaning at all. For the adults in the audience it’s hopefully about recreating that child-like way of looking of the world for them. 

 On a more concrete level the show involves a lot of audience interaction. Some children are introduced to Annabelle individually, she’s taken around the audience on my finger and has live conversations with the kids (If I told you how we did it, I’d have to kill you), she climbs to the top of one of their toys. The show is all about the audience.

There is no comedy without an audience - just an insane man talking to empty chairs. Lewis Schaffer is Dramaturgical until Famous

What inspired this production: did you begin with an idea or a script or an object?

Lewis Schaffer: This is what I do. I am a comic. I gig. This is a gig - or a series of gigs and that is what I do.

Why bring your work to Edinburgh?

It isn't "work". It doesn't exist until it is performed. 

What can the audience expect to see and feel - or even think - of your production?

My face stretched when I read this. If I knew, I wouldn't do it. I hope they laugh and think I am funny. I hope they think and feel something all tingly. I hope at one point they think that they have made a mistake by coming in to see me. 

The Dramaturgy Questions
How would you explain the relevance - or otherwise - of dramaturgy within your work?
I can't. I had a student follow me for two years and wrote a sociology paper about how women in my audiences acted noting their micro-interactions. Her final paper - she got a First in Sociology at Goldsmiths. She understands this stuff. She's a genius. Full on. You are asking a tiger why he has stripes.

What particular traditions and influences would you acknowledge on your work - have any particular artists, or genres inspired you and do you see yourself within their tradition?
I am part of the Jewish Tradition. Another student wrote a paper about me, saying my act was Shakespearian.I would think that my work is like Tommy Cooper, after he died on stage.  

The student got a First Hons at University of Portsmouth. He is a genius, too.

Do you have a particular process of making that you could describe - where it begins, how you develop it, and whether there is any collaboration in the process?
I say something. It gets a laugh or another weird response. I try to say it again. The longer bits get put into my shows immediately. I try to remember the shorter bits, the one liners, and put it together with other one liners to make a longer bit. There was film made about me:  by a film student, which shows how the art is made, if it is art.

I don't usually collaborate as I don't like to share credit and I don't remember what others say, usually. I also don't trust that a joke another comic comes up with is orginal.

That said, recently I have had some smart young people around me who've helped me with the jokes, including though I am loath to give anyone credit. Okay, I suck the lifeblood of young people to make my stuff funnier (or even funny).

What do you feel the role of the audience is, in terms of making the meaning of your work?
There is no comedy without an audience - just an insane man talking to empty chairs.


Are there any questions that you feel I have missed out that would help me to understand how dramaturgy works for you? 

At least these were only a few questions. That Maria from Jongleurs sent me 48 questions for her PHD thing and I told her to fuck off. 

Well, I asked for £100 which is the same thing. She never gave me work at Jongleurs and she sold the company for millions so to hell with her.