YVE BLAKE: LIE COLLECTOR
Wed 5th - Mon 31st August, 5.20pm (no show Mon 17th)
Pleasance Dome, 1 Bristo Square, EH8 9AL (Venue 23)
Tickets: £6.50 - £10.50
Box office: pleasance.co.uk / 0131 556 6550
Lie Collector is a glorious musical celebration of our darkest secrets, collected anonymously online from more than 2000 strangers in 154 different cities around the world. When Yve Blake asked the internet ‘what’s the worst lie you’ve ever told?’ the answers became bold, spectacular musical comedy.
From the ridiculous to the deeply disturbed, Yve takes her audience on a rollercoaster journey of faked pregnancies, flying sharks, a gown made of pizza and claims to leprechaun ancestry. Be prepared to be dazzled and disturbed by a show inspired by over 2000 confessions.
What inspired this production: did you begin with an idea or a script or an object?
Yve Blake: The show’s called Lie Collector, and it’s a collection of true stories strangers have sent me about lies they’ve told. I started collecting these because I'm obsessed with finding ways to get people to tell me the most self exposing/honest stories possible, so I could put them onstage. It also begins with the dream of wearing quick change costumes, which has since come true. (there’s a gown made of pizza too, I’ve said too much!)
Why bring your work to Edinburgh?
Jacket potat- No, because Edinburgh’s a trade show. And it's a chance to share work with new audiences & other artists.
What can the audience expect to see and feel - or even think - of your production?
To see: a pizza gown. and many other costumes.
To feel: bahahahaha
To think : I don’t know if it’s appropriate to laugh anymore, this just got really dark.
The Dramaturgy Questions
How would you explain the relevance - or otherwise - of dramaturgy within your work?
My work is about remixing and and curating stories people have sent me - so dramaturgy is the most important part of the process. If my shows are three course meals, then the dramaturgy is the menu. The dramaturgy defines the order of the stories in the show, and determines that the salad will taste better if you eat it before the ice-cream, not after. Or that it’s a bad idea to if I try to serve the salad and the ice-cream on the same plate. The dramaturgy makes the meal delicious instead of awkward.
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’m inspired my theatre makers and comedians that are great storytellers or great at being silly. Sam Simmons, Felicity Ward and David O'Doherty are great examples. I’m also inspired by internet Icons like Nyan cat, grumpy cat, and Doge.
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?
It begins with collecting stories from strangers, then in the middle there’s lots of Pinteresting and whispering rhymes into my phone at bus stops. and then it ends with me changing it infinitely. Plus in the middle there’s the part where I rope in lots of talented people to interpret the stories with me and make costumes/animations/music production.
What do you feel the role of the audience is, in terms of making the meaning of your work?
Lie Collector is created entirely from audience contributions, so my audience are my co-writers.
Yve Blake makes her Edinburgh Festival Fringe debut with Lie Collector; her VAULT Festival headlining comedy show co-written with the internet.
About Yve Blake
Yve Blake is a Sydney-born London-based musical comedian and theatre maker. She makes all her work in collaboration with her audience via her interactive website WhoWereWe.com. Anyone around the world can submit a confession, and perhaps be included in one of Yve’s shows - so far, more than 2000 people in 154 different cities around the world already have.
In 2014 Yve's sold-out show THEN premiered at VAULT 2014 and returned to London five times by demand, playing at Battersea Arts Centre and Soho Theatre. This year, she was invited back to VAULT to headline their 2015 festival with Lie Collector. In February this year, Yve released an EP of 4 new songs & 3 music videos inspired by stories she has been sent to her interactive website WhoWereWe.com. An award-winning and published playwright, Yve’s Sugar Sugar, a play she developed at the Royal Court Young Playwright's program, premiered in June at MKA Theatre of New Writing in Melbourne in May 2014.
Yve is currently developing songs with Larmer Tree Festival to mark their 25th anniversary, and with Pleasance Theatre to showcase the comedy talent performing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2015. Yve will be performing THEN at The Australian Theatre for Young People in Sydney in September this year.
