As the 15th annual Uno Fest approaches, local theatre fans are deciding which of the 14 solo shows to check out during North America’s longest running one-person theatre festival. In the spirit of equal opportunity, Nexus put a call out to all of the solo performers at Uno and asked them the same five questions about their shows (as of press time, we had four of 14 performers, so the other 10 must be busily prepping). As for the answers we did get back, they were, well, interesting…
Name: Deborah Dunn
Show: Four Quartets
Sum up your play in only 10 words: A physical interpretation of T.S. Eliot’s poems danced to Alec Guinness [ed. – that’s 11 words!].
Worst moment ever on stage: Prop problems demanding superhuman strength
Best moment ever on stage: Prop problems demanding superhuman strength
Why should people come see your show?: Because they are intrigued by the content and want to watch the play of words and movement.
What’s something about your show that audiences probably won’t notice?: The delicate state of my right knee.
Name: Dave Morris
Show: Photo Booth
Sum up your play in only 10 words: A one-man improvised play, exploring moments in a character’s life.
Worst moment ever on stage: In improvisation there are no mistakes, only bad follow-throughs. Every worst moment has turned into a great moment. (Such a cop-out.)
Best moment ever on stage: Too many to really say, but I think one of my favorites was in a Christmas show I did, where the audience accompanied the scene with a rendition of “Little Drummer Boy.” It was beautiful and creepy.
Why should people come see your show?: Because when you see Photo Booth, it’s a show created just for you. Each night you get to see a completely new and in-depth character created before your eyes, and you get to influence the direction of the story.
What’s something about your show that audiences probably won’t notice?: They should notice everything, but they might forget halfway through that the show is completely improvised.
Name: Mike Delamont
Show: God Is a Scottish Drag Queen
Sum up your play in only 10 words: The funniest 90 minutes with God ever! [ed. note – 7 words]
Worst moment ever on stage: Split my pants in the middle of a song in a musical.
Best moment ever on stage: It’s the moment when you try a new joke and it gets a huge reaction.
Why should people come see your show?: It’s a show like no other. It’s alive. It’s like standup comedy on steroids.
What’s something about your show that audiences probably won’t notice?: The cleverly hidden references and homages to the British kings of comedy.
Name: Christian Barry
Show: The God That Comes, a work-in-progress
Sum up your play in only 10 words: Cabaret-rock show, telling the story of Bacchus, God of wine.
Worst moment ever on stage: Once, when I was a performer (I’m directing/ co-creating this show), the band in the pit started a song in the wrong key, the pianist had accidentally hit the transpose button on the keyboard. The song was a full triton higher than usual. After a very uncomfortable first verse, I had to make my way over to the conductor’s box and signal that we would have to change the key. Cue my “finger-snappin’-improvised-dance-break” while the band awkwardly migrated us back to the home key.
Best moment ever on stage: Seeing a show I created (Revisited, which played at Intrepid Theatre in 2007) connect in a very powerful way with audiences on the other side of the world.
Why should people come see your show?: For the music and the wine. It’s a chance to be a part of the creation of a new show as well, since these early work-in-progress showings will teach us a lot. It’ll be raw, alive, and a little dirty.
What’s something about your show that audiences probably won’t notice?: That Canadian playwriting superstar Hannah Moscovitch wrote bits of the prologue for us.
Uno Fest runs May 24-June at the Metro Studio and Intrepid Theatre Club. Go to intrepidtheatre.com/uno-fest-2012 for a full schedule and more information.