Dramaturgy Rinse:Mike Raffone @ Artworks Elephant

credit: Charles Gervais

IT’S A KITSCH GIVEAWAY AT SOUTH EAST LONDON’S NEWEST CABARET NIGHT

Lovers of Kitsch are sure to enjoy award nominated comedy performer Mike Raffone’s monthly Cabaret show Cabaret Rinse. Apart from featuring top acts from the world of comedy and variety, Cabaret Rinse also boasts a unique raffle.

Before the show the audience are each given a free strip of raffle tickets. Throughout the show they must compete with each other in a series of bizzare games to randomly generate the winning ticket number. And if that’s not exciting enough the lucky winner then gets to choose her/his prize from The Cabinet of Kitsch, a mock

conveyor belt of kitsch goodies that makes The Generation Game’s prizes look positively up market.

What was the inspiration for this performance?

With Cabaret Rinse I wanted to do something that could be a bit more anarchic than I usually do, I was always a big fan of the apparent anarchy of Tiswas when I was a kid. 

I was originally thinking of a sort of game show type thing, but that's been done quite a bit recently, but I knew (like everything I do) it had to have a heavy interactive element with the audience. I remembered that I ran a raffle in a comedy night that I used to run about 5 years ago. 

It proved to be the most popular thing in the show, and the only thing that actually made money. So I had the idea of having a load of stupid games and routines that would generate the winning numbers of the raffle, sort of a bit like the big song and dance they used to make picking the numbers for the national lottery. Only my version would not be as slick and bland, and would have the lotteries and gaming commission break out in a cold sweat. Also the prizes are kitsch tat, but people seem to love that as well. 

credit: Charles Gervais

That's how the idea of Cabaret Rinse was born. It was originally a show that I would mainly feature in, with a few special guests, but after starting to do it once a month it became clear to me that the other acts on the bill should take centre stage. It's a tall order to come up with an entire show once a month! So it morphed from a interactive show idea into a comedy night with a bill of artists and the raffle idea just holding the whole evening together .Actually, if I'm honest I'd say that the idea came to me in a flash of inspiration whilst walking down the street in Adelaide, South Australia when I was there for the The Adelaide Fringe, but I think these were the ideas that were brewing in my head.

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

I'm not sure that the performance has ever been a good space for the discussion of ideas, we performers set the agenda so any debate has to be a bit one sided. 

I do think that it's always been a great platform for the dissemination and advancement of ideas. You could say that ideas are discussed as you can look at things from a variety of standpoints. It always says something and has value and meaning, I'm not sure there is any debate thought.

How did you become interested in making performance?

A variety of reasons really. I did always love

the fact that theatre said things about all sorts of things, art, politics, science, religion, the human condition. I found that exciting as a young person which sometimes makes me wonder why I ended up in comedy and entertainment. 

But then good comedy says a lot as well. I also have a shallow though, and have always reveled in the theatrical nature of theatre, the shear affront and arrogance of showing off. And of course I fell in love with actresses and show girls when I was young. I just decided that it was a world that I wanted to be part of wit all of it's amazing facets.

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

Although my shows are heavily interactive and are not really overtly text based I do like to actually write the shows before I perform them these days, and I also work with a director a bit to refine the ideas once they are up and running. Of course it all changes when I perform it, but I like the confidence of knowing that for any show, but biggest problem is too much stuff. I find ideas easy, but I have to work at giving them coherence, and sticking to the point. That's the challenge for me. I also like to give myself creative limitations. 

For example for my one man comedy sketch show Brain Rinse the limitation was that every idea had to involve audience interaction and participation, whether onstage as individuals, or joining in en mass. I allowed myself to do anything, as long as I stuck to that one rule. I'm a great believer that it's impossible to fill the blank canvas without these sort of self imposed rules or creative limitations. 

With Cabaret Rinse, it was the idea that all the interactive ideas had to generate a number between one and ten in some way, again after that the sky's the limit. Of course what makes Cabaret Rinse different is I have to refine the whole evening, the sort of acts I book, what the running order should be, how many and how long the intervals should be etc etc. Not just the bits that I do.

Does the show fit with your usual productions?

Yes, and no. Yes for all the reasons that I've explained, and no because for once I'm not the star of the show. I tend to so one man shows, write them, promote them, star in them, even do my own sound cues from onstage. 

credit: Charles Gervais

I'm a bit of a control freak. I'm an performing empire builder, a bit like Chairman Mao, except my empire is very small, and I'm not so mean. I also don't have a little book... of any colour, but that's beside the point. It's interesting for me though, to take a back seat and let the other acts on the bill drive the show. 

I actually enjoy having these great acts share the stage with me. I have genuine love, passion and respect for the acts that I book. Again it's creative limitations, this time applies to my programming of the evening. They have to be acts that I love, and then I hope that I communicate that love to the audience when I compere the evening.

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

Well I suppose the obvious answer to that is that I hope that they experience laughter, but also a togetherness. I want my comedy night to feel like it's just hanging out with friends. In fact some to the club stalwarts are friends of mine and I have no problem in calling them by there first name and being familiar with them. 

I want them to feel like they are being entertained in their front room I guess... that familiar. I also love it when people tell me that they don't usually like audience participation but they loved my show. 

I try not to put people down, but encourage them to go further with joining in than they ever thought they would. Then they are rewarded as being the heroes that they are, and it becomes their show. As for the acts I book, I've always seen Cabaret Rinse as being primarily a comedy night for acts, like me, who are misfits, who don't fit easily into any genre, or circuit of work. Many of the acts are unknown, or have been given licence if they are experienced for trying something new, or experimental so I guess I also want the audience to feel the excitement of this edge, of not quite ever knowing what they will get, but trusting that it will be good.

A Star Trek toby jug, a Chesney Hawkes picture disk, a home burlesque kit and a nodding Buddha, are just some of the prizes that audiences have eagerly snapped up over the past few months. But it’s not all about tacky consumerism, there has been a lot of fun along the way too. Audiences have re created a Busby Berkely water dance, taken part in a human version of space invaders and played a classic party game with a role of gaffa tape, some sweets and a man dressed in a piñata costume.

Mike explains further, “We get some great acts at Cabaret Rinse, and they are all different and very original in their own way. I felt that just bringing them on in the normal way just wouldn’t do them justice. I wanted a fun, madcap, off the wall way to compere the evening and the eureka moment came when I was on tour in Australia. That’s when I hit on the idea of an interactive raffle and it’s proved a real hit with our audiences. Last month’s raffle winner was so chuffed about winning the 1972 Ed Stewpot Stewart Pop Pary LP, on vinyl with a double gatefold sleeve that she tweeted about it after the show. I think she wasn’t even alive when the record was first released.”

ny c) America

Cabaret Rinse is on at The Artworks Elephant, Elephant Road, Elephant and Castle on every second Friday of the month. Next show is Friday 9th February. This month’s acts include Malcolm Hardee award winning character comic Candy Gigi and Jon Hicks, star of the hit variety show Slightly Fat Features. Show starts at 7:30pm and the Cabaret Rinse pop up bar is open from 7pm. Tickets are £9/£6 concs and there is a £2 discount if you book online via www.cabaretrinse.co.uk.

Kaye Dramaturgy: Reuben Kaye @ Edfringe 2017

Dead Man presents

Reuben Kaye

Assembly Checkpoint

21:00, August 2-27 August

no shows 14^th & 28^th Aug

Launching himself upon the Edinburgh Fringe, Reuben Kaye is here to tell his story.

Filthy, funny, smart – Reuben Kaye’s first full length show comes to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Fizzling with obscenities taken from the banned section of any good book shop, video library or adult store – Reuben Kaye is what happens when you tell your children they can be anything.

This isn’t just cabaret - yes, there are divine costumes, perfect makeup, a band and a demigod - but this is a ‘statement piece’ that isn’t just about glitter (there will be glitter). 

What was the inspiration for this performance? 

A desperate need for approval that reaches far beyond the capabilities of prescription narcotics... 

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

If you don't think that you shouldn't be performing, right? If it's not about something its not art.  And it doesn't have to be preaching. Or even have a point of view. It just has to present an idea for it to be under discussion. Even my show... My self absorbed, camp, anarchic, mental breakdown meets broadway musical kaleidoscopic, glitter tornado of a show has a tiny kernel of actual substance.  You've just got to look hard enough. 

The real problem for me is questions like this because it asks me to examine something I'm busy doing. Can you really be outside something you're in?  Which also happens to be the slogan for my lecture on Sex In The Modern Age.

How did you become interested in making performance? 

I had no choice. My mother was a ballet dancer turned film maker and my father was a painter and sculptor.  If I didn't do something creative the only option was being left on a hilltop to be raised by wolves.

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

You've seen the Hindenburgh footage?  Like that but with glitter.  It's my first "One Man Show" so I had no process to compare it with. Also the show involves a lot of off the cuff, improvised material. 

So really I just created the spine of the story and my Musical Director, Shanon Whitelock and I created the arrangements of the songs. Everything else I dance around and create on the night depending on the audience. A show is a living thing right? The audience, myself and our relationship are different each night so every night is a chance to play with that, and as a result the show changes each night. So come more than once! (Subtle Marketing Strategy right?)

Does the show fit with your usual productions?

In that it mainly centres around me trying not to injure myself or set the place on fire, so yes.  But in this show dare I say it, I show... Depth. (Am I spelling that correctly?) But depth surrounded by solipsistic extravagance.

What do you hope that the audience will experience?  

Laughter, hysterical laughter and an uncontrollable urge to either throw FOLDABLE money and/or go to bed with me.  But in reality, I'll be happy if someone looks at the show and sees their child. And if their child isn't the "typical" boy or the "typical" girl... They love that child and nurture it. 

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

Well I made sure the doors to venue lock from the outside so they can't leave for the duration, and I've found a way to pump diazepam through the air vents so I'm sure the audience experience should be just fine.  

I can't tell you strategies because I had/have none. It's a balls to the wall hour of jokes and music. I'm very lucky to perform  with such a phenomenal band. If I wasn't in it. I'd see it.  Maybe that's my strategy... Create the show you'd want to see.

In a world where experts are derided and it’s not so in vogue to have smarts, Reuben’s on a quest to remind us why they matter via the stage. A rich cultural critic with a show layered with word-play all delivered at the speed of a, well, someone on speed, come out to play. A gay superhero necessary for the modern age.

For fans of vaudeville and drag - think Charlies Pierce and Danny La Roux; for fans of books think Bronte sisters and novels read after dark under the covers; and for fans of just pure cabaret? There will be songs.

Part runway show, part mental breakdown - Kaye’s the new guy in town, and it’s already a success story.

Kaye has graced the stages of the Berlin Opera House, State Opera of Hamburg and Royal Albert Hall, alongside luminaries such as Barry Humphries and Meow Meow. Feted as a “quintessential cabaret performer” (Herald Sun), a blink of his long lashes and a twist of his painted mouth will have you gagging... for more.

WINNER: Best Cabaret Adelaide Fringe 2017

Assembly Checkpoint, 3 Bristo Place, EH1 1EY

21:00 (70mins)

Dates: 02 – 27 August. Previews 2-3 August. No show Mon 14 Aug,

Tickets: Previews £8; 4-6, 9-10, 15-17, 21-24 Aug £12, 7-8, 11-13, 18-20, 25-27 £13

The Travelling Dramaturgy: The Travelling Sisters @ Edfringe 2016

The Travelling Sisters

 Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33) ​​

Aug 10-28 10.45pm

With wild eyes and a wicked flavour of comedy, Australian trio The Travelling Sisters serve up a gang of tragically charming misfits. Ridiculous. Unexpected.

What was the inspiration for this performance?

Life for a start, of course. When you get in a room with friends and wigs and start being silly, just about anything becomes funny. We’re particularly inspired by the beautiful, the grotesque, and the nonsensical. And we see as much theatre as we can!!

How did you go about gathering the team for it?

The Travelling Sisters have been together for three years and the show is an ever-evolving beast. We were lucky enough this year to get the directorial genius of Kimberly Twiner on board. We kidnapped her for a few days and cocooned ourselves up in a London turret. She went about clinking and clanging the collective material we had been hoarding, until we emerged with newly fitted wings for our beastly back.

How did you become interested in making performance?

The three of us are trained actors from Brisbane, Australia. In that part of the world there ain’t a whole lot paid work for actors, especially straight out of uni. We figured, if we wanted to keep performing, our best bet would be to make it ourselves. We didn’t realize we’d fall so madly in love with it…or each other!

Was your process typical of the way that you make a performance?

Yes. Wigs, silliness, and frequent baking. Our process develops constantly, becoming more efficient as we get to understand each other and they way we all tick. Creation is a tough gig, but the fun always outweighs the blocks and frustration.

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

Worlds of fun. Surprise and laughter.

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

Nothing we create is fourth wall. We’ve tried, but it’s just not our style. Everything we do we share with our audience.

Do you see your work within any particular tradition?

The timeless tradition of silliness.

Billie Holiday & Dramaturgy: Bonita @ Edfringe 2016

Bonita & Billie Holiday

Assembly Roxy (Venue 139) ​

 Aug 3-28 9.50pm

‘Whether you’re a Holiday fan or not, Bonita’s homage is a must-see!’ (Examiner.com). Lifetime member of The Actors Studio, Bonita has studied and worked with Academy Award winners Martin Landau, Ellen Burstyn, Mark Rydell and Al Pacino to respectfully name a few. Performing in over 70 plays, Bonita made her Broadway debut at Houseman Theater, starring with Charles Dutton in Unrefined. Her theatrical credits earned several NAACP Theater Awards, including a Helen Hayes Award nomination.

What was the inspiration for this performance?
When I was 12 years old, I snuck into a movie theater to see a film titled, Lady Sings the Blues, starring Diana Ross.  I was blown away by the whole experience!  It left an indelible mark on my life.  It was my rights of passage into my teen years. I talked about it so much, that my neighbor, Ms. Smith gave me my first Billie Holiday album.  I never ever imagined that that would be the beginning of my quest.

How did you go about gathering the team for it?   

That’s a long story!  Let me see if I can make it short.  I ran into a girlfriend (very talented actress/director) at the market, and she was crying.  I asked her why, and she told me that her television series had just been cancelled.  Cut to -- me telling her that I had written a script that I’ve been holding very close to my heart, waiting for the right moment to produce it.  I asked if she was interested in reading it to consider directing it.  During that time, I invited 6 other producer friends to lunch, told them what I was doing, and asked if they’d be interested in coming on board… for very little money!  The rest is history… or shall I say her-story!

How did you become interested in making performance?

At the beginning of my professional career as an actress, I had the fortune of portraying Ms. Dorothy Dandridge in a play called, Satch’s Place.  And then years later, I had another opportunity to audition for Dororthy Dandridge in a different theatrical production, North on South Central.  I didn’t get the role, instead I was cast as Billie Holiday.  At first, I was disappointed and considered passing on their offer.  The moment I began my research on Lady Day, I soon realized that this was a role of a lifetime.  A friend came to see the show, and afterwards, suggested that I pen my very own Billie Holiday story.  It was actually something that I had been thinking for quite some time.  And now was the time.

Was your process typical of the way that you make a performance?

Ironically not!  This took years of research and development. Some channeling and purging!

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

To be transported back in time to a place that seems familiar.

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

It’s an interactive show where the audience can tangibly touch the artist. Vivid images displayed, with dancing, and singing to beautiful music played by award-winning local musicians.

Do you see your work within any particular tradition?

Oppression, segregation and other atrocities befell on “Negroes” during the greatest jazz era of all time.
However, music was and still is the great equalizer.  

Kitchen Cabaret Dramaturgy: JoJo Bellini @ Edfringe 2016

JoJo Bellini's Kitchen Cabaret

The Stand Comedy Club 2

Aug 4-14, 16-28 1.20pm

Join JoJo Bellini for a hilarious show filled with fun, food and the songs of Tom Jones.

What was the inspiration for this performance?

It is a reflection of the state of entertainment. Performance should be a celebration. Performance can also approach serious subjects and make audiences think on certain topics but first and foremost it is to entertain. The inspiration for me with Kitchen Cabaret was to create a silly, saucy show where we can all feel good for an hour and enjoy ourselves.

How did you go about gathering the team for it?

My team has been vast, singing lessons, consultations with cabaret artists, previews with friends and family. All people I have met through the industry have been instrumental in creating this piece

How did you become interested in making performance?

For me the interest in making performance has come from a need to share love and joy to people. To take audiences on a fun filled journey that takes them away from the horrors of the world. 

Was your process typical of the way that you make a performance?

First it comes with a ridiculous idea when I hear a song. Then before I know it there are 9 other songs that go with it (including ridiculous ways of performing it) that creates a show. With this show it all stemmed from the fact that I was listening to Thunderball by Tom Jones whilst blending soup in my kitchen. Then the idea to do a cabaret show where I cooked, sang and danced for the audience whilst singing the songs of my favourite singer Tom Jones was born!

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

Laughter and the pure joy of Jazz Hands

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

What the audience are doing, thinking and experiencing throughout the performance is important to me. With cabaret especially it is about the intimacy and trust you share with your audience. 

Do you see your work within any particular tradition? 

Most definitely with Vaudeville. A variety of hilarious and saucy things that produces great entertainment. 

A Broad Dramaturgy: D’yan Forest @ Edfringe 2016

A BROAD ABROAD!

Feisty octogenarian D’yan Forest brings her new cabaret show, featuring songs, jokes, saucy memories and a ukulele, to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for the first time.

Appearing at Greenside @ Infirmary Street from 5^th to 27^th August, she looks back over eight decades of music, madness and foreign affairs, as she recalls her adventures after fleeing to France in the Sixties to escape a disappointing marriage.

Raised conventionally in puritanical Boston, D’yan quickly made up for lost time while working as a chanteuse in Parisian clubs, taking lovers of both sexes and extending her amorous horizons to Italy, Austria, Jordan and beyond. Her racy memories are punctuated by songs, both original and standards, accompanied by James Cleeve on piano and herself on ukulele.

What was the inspiration for this performance?

I wanted to share the exotic experiences I've had travelling around the world. I am 82 years old and feel I can use this opportunity to inspire others to travel and to find happiness. Coming from a more traditional standup comedy background, I wanted to use music and storytelling to move audiences a bit more than they would get with traditional standup.

How did you go about gathering the team for it?

Well, it's mostly me - but I did work with my director on the structure and developing some jokes and bits. It's so important to be on the same page...and luckily we both have a similarly radical sense of humor.

How did you become interested in making performance?

I had piano lessons when I was 5 years old. It was classical music. I don't know any better! I thought that was ALL piano playing. Then when I was a teenager in 1947, my mom dragged me to Boston to see the very first musical, "Oklahoma." I fell in love with the singing and dancing. I came home and acted out the show in front of my mirror.

I was hooked on musical comedy. So I took more piano lessons and singing, and my parents finally allowed me to do pop music - which at that time was a sin! I had a fight with my parents over it. My first song was "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun." Maybe I should add that to my repertoire?

Was your process typical of the way that you make a performance?

What process? We all have our own process. After making a living as a cocktail pianist and cabaret singer for 40+ years, and dabbling in standup for many years after that, it was time to marry my life experiences into this show. I guess my process was my whole life. I didn't want my whole life lived in vain.

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

That life can be adventurous even at 82. I want to give audiences hope and hopefully, they'll laugh and cry and wonder "Is this all really true?" Trust me...I can't make this stuff up. 

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

I worked to make the show an arc...like a good story should. I connect with the audience and joke with them and even have them sing along  with me. I want it to be like an intimate cocktail party. Who doesn't enjoy cocktails?

Do you see your work within any particular tradition?

No. I do my own style. Just 100% D'Yan Forest. Let's hope it works over there.

the idea of the performance as a gig: what qualities do you think make this the case? what do they share?

This is my job...being an entertainer. And it's been that way for me for 60 years. So, I want people to get their money's worth. They get an exotic, erotic, charming entertainer who sings, tells stories, plays piano, plays a ukulele, and also rolls around the stage singing a song from "The Rocky Horror Show."

are there any musicians you'd point to as an influence?

Well, Ethel Merman certainly had a huge influence on me - even though I don't claim to have her singing chops. Cole Porter. Rodgers and Hammerstein. All the classic musical theater composers have influenced me - not only as a singer, but also as a songwriter. I have a great deal of fun with parody lyrics. I still love classical musical and I can still play it, but you won't hear any in this show. It's revenge on my parents!

what is gained by live musicians on stage?

It's more in the moment. There's an interactive element when the musician or musicians are with me on the stage. I not only need my pianist to accompany me, but I also use them as a secondary character as much as possible.

and is anything lost?

Unless their dress is more sparkly than mine, nothing is lost. I have to make sure my pianist doesn't upstage me so I ask them to dress down. Once you see my opening headdress, you won't be looking any further than the top of my head.

On returning to the US, D’yan became a regular performer in Manhattan cabaret clubs such as The Metropolitan Room, The Ukulele Cabaret and The Cutting Room, and – after launching herself as a stand-up ten years ago – comedy venues such as the Gotham Comedy Club, Caroline’s Comedy Club, The Broadway Comedy Club and Dixon Place.

It was in this milieu that she developed A Broad Abroad!, in conjunction with co-writer/director Eric Kornfeld, who has written for Bette Midler (Kiss My Brass, the Emmy-nominated The Showgirl Must Go On), Betty Buckley, Elaine Stritch and Rosie O’Donnell, amongst many others.

A Broad Abroad! premiered to rave reviews at New York’s Frigid Festival and D’yan performed it at the Orlando Fringe Festival in May before bringing it to the Edinburgh Fringe. Expect pithy songs, witty stand-up, risqué stories, ukulele-playing – and yodelling!

5-27^th August (not 14-15^th, 21^st-22^nd), 18.25 (60 mins). Suitability: 18+.

Greenside @ Infirmary Street (venue 236), 6 Infirmary Street, EH1 1LT.

£9 (£8); previews 5-6^th August £5; 2-for-1 8-9^th August.

Box Office: 0131 618 6967 

Duplex_Cutdown 1_16 from Dana Rubin on Vimeo.

Laugh? I almost had a revelation of truth.

Dramaturgy gets Scratchy: Ruxy Cantir @ BOUFFON SCRATCHINGS

BOUFFON SCRATCHINGS

7:30pm, Saturday June 25th 2016

Main Hall, Assembly Roxy Edinburgh, 2 Roxburgh Place EH8 9SU

Tickets £7.00

The team behind Clown Cabaret Scratch Night gleefully present BOUFFON SCRATCHINGS, our first bouffon scratch night: a cabaret style den of iniquity and hilariously sharp moral musings from a variety of Scotland’s finest up and coming performers.

Plutôt la Vie, CloWnStePPing and Melanie Jordan welcome you to a feast of dark delights as our hideously charming Bouffons invite you into a netherworld of insidious pleasure... 

Featuring: Calum MacAskill, Lucy Amsden, Ruxy Cantir, Beth Frieden, Charlotte Hastings, Ronan McMahon, Sita Pieraccini, Dylan Read, Max Scratchmann, and Andrew Simpson.

You've enjoyed our clowns, now welcome to the dark side…

Bouffon Scratchings is directed and produced by Tim Licata, Artistic Director of Plutôt la Vie, Fringe First award winner Melanie Jordan and Sarás Feijoó, Creative Director of CloWnStePPinG. Bouffon Scratchings is self-funded with support from Plutôt la Vie and the Assembly Roxy.

Clown Cabaret Scratch Night has produced five

extremely successful nights since 2014 and has been invited to participate in Conflux's Surge Festival in July 2016. CCSN Special Edition will be presented at the Tron Theatre, Glasgow on Sat. July 30th 2016 as part of Surge - Scotland's annual festival of street arts, physical theatre and circus produced by Conflux in partnership with Merchant City Festival in Glasgow.

 What was the inspiration for this performance?

Sita Pieraccini and I (Ruxy Cantir) are collaborating on making a short bouffon piece entitled I am are ART. In it, an unearthly duo use a sorry homeless person as their subject matter for a new piece of live art for an eager, intellectually acute audience. I am are ART is a commentary on our inability as people to ever deal with the reality of our world in any capacity.

Sita and I were both interested in working with each other and when we started brainstorming about the things that make us laugh and tick, we naturally gravitated toward a common experience – volunteering at a festival. We both had stories that were fresh at the time, so we just went ahead with it, especially since the subject matter concerned us, as artists, as well.

How did you go about gathering the team for it?

Sita and I had talked about creating and performing something together before, and this seemed like the perfect performance opportunity – a scratch night during the summer in a form that we both enjoy.

How did you become interested in making performance?

You mean in creating and devising my own work? My first courses in physical theatre in London are responsible for that. I was a decent actor, but misfit lots of roles, especially as a woman who doesn't have a dewy-eyed sensitive demeanour. In my first Neutral Mask and Clown classes, all of a sudden, I could do the thing that was aching to get out and hadn't had an outlet in drama class before. This is, of course, a much longer story, but this is a nice and concise start to it.

Was your process typical of the way that you make a performance?

More or less, yah. We began with an image and the character duo, and went from there. The first rehearsal was creating a mask for the characters and try to get through what happens in the piece, in very large brush strokes, with bouts of improvisation. 

And after that, lots of detail work-age and building the relationship between the two characters. The form of Bouffon allows space for directed improvisation, so we've allowed ourselves that, especially when we perform on June 25th – responding to each other and to the audience in time and space.

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

Laughter and mystery. That laughter that comes from an unknown place within you that bubbles out in a sound that is unfamiliar to you.

I mention Mystery because the Bouffon characters that we will bring to life are of a different world – a ferociously grotesque one that spawned terrible, yet intelligent entities. You wouldn't recognize this world, but you won't be able to take your eyes off because they remind you of something you used to know before.

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

Character development and relationship building, first of all. Secondly, we are playing a lot of with contradictions – pushing one side only to reveal the other.

Black is never far from white, and so we ride that thin line that is disturbingly delicious. We'll sing you a beautiful-sounding song but with disgusting lyrics, or we'll dedicate a graceful dance to the problem of homelessness right after stretching our legs on the homeless person lying right next to us. Or something else equally as terrible, but just as true.

Do you see your work within any particular tradition?

Well, I define myself as a physical theatre artist and actor-creator. I have trained and formed my perspective (which continues to evolve) in a physical theatre devising programme (Dell'Arte International) so I'd say I come from that tradition, for sure. This, of course, means very many different things for different people. 

I normally try to clarify and say that when I say Physical Theatre, I mean using the body as a highly transformative instrument and in-dweller of the Other (character). And so, my work will include: physical comedy, eccentric characterization, Movement theatre, Mask work, among others. 

With a series of stellar evenings under their belt, the Clown Cabaret Scratch Night team throws caution to the wind and takes another leap of faith to present Bouffon Scratchings, Scotland's first evening of Bouffon Cabaret.  

Bouffon Scratchings offers an opportunity for emerging and established performers to explore the theatrical territory and tradition of Bouffon; a style of performance was explored and re-invigorated by Jacques Lecoq and Philippe Gaulier at Lecoq's famed theatre school in Paris.

Bouffons are the lowest of the low.  They have nothing to lose, so are completely Free.  Their Freedom is a huge power.  Their weapons are their enormous laughter, intelligent eyes and biting parody. 

Social misfits, soothsayers, outcasts, shunned and feared... Bouffons embrace their ugliness and bless their hideous form for saving them from the hypocrisy of ‘God’s beautiful children…’.  Their performance is a vicious parody of our ‘great and good’ society.  Remember... we're all in it together...!

Their only fear is to be killed before their parody has hit home…