Come With Dramaturgy: Helen Duff @ Edfringe 2016

Helen Duff: Come With Me 

at the Pleasance Courtyard 

Fringe First-nominated Duff takes her audience on an 'absolutely shameless, boldly ridiculous, embarrassingly funny journey' to achieve the sexiest climax of the festival. Expect to be aroused, amused and a little frightened by the lengths she'll go to achieve her first big O...

What was the inspiration for this performance?
I've never had an orgasm so I thought dressing as a sperm, creating an online survey all about sex, then recreating a giant orgasm with an audience, might be fun.

How did you go about gathering the team for it?
To start with it was just me, sperming about and getting smashed to bits by Ginger Nuts. Then Tom Parry (one third of sketch legends Pappy's) came on board to help shape my quest towards ultimate pleasure.

How did you become interested in making performance?
I studied acting at LAMDA, but you never get put up for the kind of parts I make for myself (unsurprisingly!) so I headed to L'Ecole Philippe Gaulier in Paris then worked with the amazing Bristol based clown teacher Holly Stoppit, to feel more free fooling about on stage.

Was your process typical of the way that you make a performance?
I gig a lot on the open mic circuit and audiences loved being chatted up by a sperm - even when I compare a one night stand to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre - so I knew I was onto something.

What do you hope that the audience will

experience?
Ultimate pleasure of course!

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?
The show sounds confronting and I know from personal experience that there can be a lot of shame associated with talking openly about sex, so it's been amazing to  see how enthusiastically women, men, couples, even my parents (!) respond to the stupidity and irreverence of the work. It's a really liberating show and that's clear when  everyone goes bananas (quite literally) in the orgasm at the end.


Do you see your work within any particular tradition?
Clowning takes lots of different forms but the fundamental idea running through all the people whose work I admire - Lucy Hopkins, Dan Lees, Spencer Jones - is the connection with their audience. Whatever you've planned to do, if you're not playful and alive to what's in the room, I'd rather be watching YouTube.

A Pianist's Dramaturgy: Thomas Monckton @ Edfringe 2016

Aurora Nova presents Circo Aereo & Thomas Monckton:

The Pianist

Part of the From Start to Finnish 2016 showcase

A highbrow piano recital turns into a spectacular catastrophe in a Total Theatre Award nominated clowning show

Performed by Thomas Monckton | Directed by Sanna Silvennoinen and Thomas Monckton
Assembly Roxy, Central 4 – 29 Aug 2016 (not 10, 15 & 22), 12.25pm (1.25 pm)

A show that’s toured the world from the USA to Finland to London’s Southbank Centre and Edinburgh Fringe 2014, The Pianist is a solo contemporary circus piece from Lecoq trained Thomas Monckton centred on, in, under and around one of the most magnificent of all musical instruments, the grand piano. 

Accompanying this elegant apparatus is the poised pianist himself. Only he is so focused on impressing everyone that, before he realises it, his show has transformed from the highbrow concert he hoped for into a spectacularly amusing catastrophe. 

To salvage his somewhat unsalvageable dignity, the pianist draws on his imagination and comes up with some rib-tickling and absurd results.

Thomas Monckton – (Performer and co-director) – The Pianist 

What was the inspiration for this performance?
Elitist social gatherings. They are to comic material as mud is to a hippo.  

How did you go about gathering the team for it?
If we were all hippos, then the director hippo (Sanna Silvenoinen) already had a crew of creative hippos in her pond (lighting hippo, music hippo, costume hippo, set design hippo) and had collaborated with those hippos as part of previous hippo performances. I joined the hippo pond from another pond after being invited to wallow in it by Sanna. I did so quite happily because even though it was a bit of a waddle over to the new pond, their pond did have quite a good reputation. 

How did you become interested in making performance?
I learned to juggle at about 8 years old. Through juggling I became more interested in circus skills and through circus I discovered clowning and through clowning I discovered physical comedy, and new wave clown. Quite recently I also discovered the hippopotamus Wikipedia page.

Was your process typical of the way that you make a performance?
It changes so much from piece to piece, but for the sake of simplicity, yes more or less. The only difference was working with Sanna as a director. I usually work with an object or scenario for a starting point and have a trick or physical skill I want to learn in mind. That fools me into physical training which I find helpful for relaxing my brain but I often never get the trick solid enough to perform. 

Sanna and I spent the beginning of rehearsals kind of machine-gunning ideas all over the place and then the remainder of the time trying to stitch them all together. It’s not a coherent process. 

Neither is my morning routine. Sometimes I have coffee directly after brushing my teeth. Not that it matters anyway because the toothpaste in our house isn’t minty, it’s salty so it doesn’t clash with coffee but it’s disgusting just on it’s own anyway. I can’t wait to finish the tube so I always put a LOT on my toothbrush. 

What do you hope that the audience will experience?
It changes depending on what the piece is, what style it is, and what my intentions are behind it. Mostly I just hope they like it. With The Pianist I wanted to create a sense of relief for an audience by making a show about someone failing spectacularly at living up to his own expectations.

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?
I’m not sure if I’m that forethoughtful to come up with any strategy. I don’t think I’ve ever come up with a strategy about anything ever. I sometimes write a list before I go shopping but I usually forget to take it with me. 

The rehearsal process was basically coming up with ways of not doing what the pianist was trying to do but doing it in a way that was enjoyable to watch. I think what we ended up with is a wonderful turmoil of uplifting failures. 

Do you see your work within any particular tradition?
It’s changing quite quickly. When I started it was definitely within a circus format. I created short skills based acts normally tightly glued to a piece of music. Now I am more interested in contributing to the progression of contemporary physical comedy. With The Pianist, it is as much classic clowning as it is contemporary circus and physical theatre. If it was an animal it would be a camel (not a hippo). Nowadays I’m aiming more at platypus type shows.

Assembly Roxy, Central 4 – 29 Aug 2016 (not 10, 15 & 22), 12.25pm (1.25 pm) 

Thomas said, “I thought it would be nice to use the old upright piano at my parents place in a show where the piano fell to pieces. I suggested a similar idea to Sanna Silvennoinen in conversation then later she came back to me having reimagined and extended the idea. 

The show changes slightly from audience to audience and from country to country. It also

changes sometimes when I forget the chronology of the show or if the technicians get bored and start improvising with the cues. Unfortunately, I have had to eliminate the standing double backflip I used to do because it was just too offensive to most audiences.

“The piano is temperamental in reality as well as in the show. I think it must be a method actor. And we have to tour with it.” 

Thomas Monckton is a Lecoq trained circus performer originally from New Zealand and based in France. His past shows include Moving Stationery (winner of Best of Fringe, Best in Theatre, and Stand Out Performer Awards at New Zealand Fringe 2012), Caterpillars (Best of Auckland Fringe 2015), Chameleon Demo (Best in Physical Theatre and Best in Innovation Awards at New Zealand Fringe 2015) and Only Bones v1.0 (Best is Physical Theatre Award and nominations for Best in Innovation and Stand Out Performer at New Zealand Fringe 2015). 

The Pianist was most recently seen in the UK at the Southbank Centre as part of London International Mime Festival (2015), and was nominated for the Total Theatre Award for Circus at Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2014. 

Thomas will also be performing his new show Only Bones with Kallo Collective in association with Aurora Nova at Summerhall from 3 – 28 August.

Sanna Silvennoinen is an artistic director at Circo Aereo, an international contemporary circus group based in Finland and France. Founded 1996 and currently one of the most active Finnish groups in terms of performing abroad, Circo Aereo is among the flagships of Finnish cultural exports, performing in around 30 countries. In the past few years, Circo Aereo's productions have been a major factor contributing to the rise of Finnish contemporary circus internationally.
From Start to Finnish is an annual showcase presented at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe that represents the best in Finnish performing arts. 

Now in its 6th year, From Start to Finnish 2016 will also feature Carl Knif’s dance solo about emotional struggle Red at Dance Base, and political satire The Chicken Trial from ACE-Production at Pleasance Courtyard.


Running Time: 60 minutes | Suitable for ages 12+
Performed Thomas Monckton
Directed by Sanna Silvennoinen & Thomas Monckton
Sound design by Tuomas Norvio
Lighting Design by Juho Rahijärvi


Costume design by Kati Mantere
Production by Circo Aereo and Show Pony

Listings information
Assembly Roxy, Central, 2 Roxburgh Place, Edinburgh EH8 9SU
4 – 29 Aug (not 10, 15 & 22), 12.25pm – 1.25pm 

Sick of Dramaturgy: All In Theatre @ Edfringe 2015

Love Sick 

Aug 6 - Aug 30
Performance time - 19:00
Duration: 1 hour
Assembly Hall - Baillie Room
Suitability: 14+ (Guideline)

We are an award winning devising theatre company who use our own style of clown and physical comedy to first and foremost entertain. 

 

We believe the escapism theatre provides is fundamentally important in day to day life - In dark times we need light.

 

We want you to enjoy being an audience as much as we enjoy being on stage. 

The Fringe

What inspired this production: did you begin with an idea or a script or an object?
Steven Sobal: We wanted to make a show about why humans love. I remember watching a David Attenborough show about animals that stay with their mates for life. We started thinking and about why humans do it. What's the benefit? I think at the beginning we wanted to make something a bit scientific. It didn't work out that way.

We recorded interviews with people. Some that we knew and some that we stopped and asked.

Questions like:
What is love?
Where can we find it?
What's the point in it?
How does it work?

The answers where amazing. Some heart felt and nearly all very funny.

This was our starting point.


Why bring your work to Edinburgh?
We have performed Love Sick in a number of great festivals including Brighton fringe and Brighton comedy fest. And have always had our sights on Edinburgh. 

Aside from being a great platform for us as a company and being able to write to potential producers and agents, we also have the chance to give the show a longer run that it is used to. We love performing this piece and the more people we can get to see it the better. That's what Edinburgh is great for. 


What can the audience expect to see and feel - or even think - of your production?
We take a look at love from a beautifully innocent angle. It's very silly, very physical and rather bizarre. 

The audience will see us living in the moment and trying to entertain them from start to finish. They will feel included. We talk to our audience and the show is created with them in mind. It's all about them. And they may think about what it really is all about. Love. Life. The whole thing. They might not. But that's also fine. 


The Dramaturgy Questions

How would you explain the relevance - or otherwise - of dramaturgy within your work?
We had no director or outside eye so dramaturgy is massively important to us. We work with a number of different styles in the show but always from a place of optimism and play. It's a hard style to rehearse as so much of what we do depends on if the audience are going with it or not. 

We have had to truly trust the work and trust ourselves as performers. 

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?Both myself and Amalia are actors that have trained in clown. We use a number of traditions but hopefully with our own style.

Companies and individuals that have influenced us are spymonkey and Philippe Gaulier.

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?We try very hard to keep things simple. Not to over complicate the scene or idea. This involves getting our heads in the right place before each meeting or rehearsal. Staying light and playing is so important to us.

We also have the challenge of only being two people. Both performing, devising and directing at different times.

We found there are very different roles between two co actors and say an actor and director.

For example one actor can say to another actor "I'm not really in the mood today" but you wouldn't say that to a director.

In the same way a director can say to an actor "you didn't do that very well..." But one actor would never say that to another.

We found that having a actual hat that we would in turn put on when we are being the director was so helpful.


What do you feel the role of the audience is, in terms of making the meaning of your work?
The audience is the most important thing to us.

It's all about them. We have the house lights on for our shows so we can see them and talk to them. We try to stay sensitive to what each particular audience as enjoying and of something isn't working we try something else or move on.

They are the reason we are allowed to be on stage.

Blooming Surprise

About the Artist and the development of the piece.
Devised and performed by Saras
solo clown show for an adult audience.
Contemporary clown is about vulnerability and connection with the audience. 

This kind of clown is not that which remind us of our nightmares but one that is born out of our little craziness, our most internal feelings, emotions, illusions, fears, desires. It is based in honesty.

Through their eyes, a clown becomes an open diary that shares its story with audience, while it is being written!

Almost involuntarily, with innocence, in the moment and with all their heart.

Saras Feijóo was born in Venezuela into a Spanish immigrant family. She has
performed as part of clown groups, duos and solo shows in Venezuela, Colombia,
“Blooming Surprise”
A story about loneliness, hope and love for oneself
7:30 P.M., December 12 and 13, 2014
Assembly Roxy Edinburgh,
2 Roxburgh Place EH8 9SU.


Sáras has created CloWnStePPinG, a platform dedicated to the understanding,
promotion and development of the art of theatre clown.