On Thursday we heard from a quartet of performers participating in the 15th annual Uno Fest. We asked them all some rapid-fire questions about their shows, which will take place during North America’s longest-running solo performance festival. Now here are another five performers attempting to peak your interest in their shows, starting May 24 in Victoria. And if you thought Thursday’s answers were interesting, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
Name: Andrew Bailey
Show: The Adversary
Sum up your play in only 10 words: Nebbishy funnyman caretaker threatened by a dangerous, drug-addicted psychopath.
Worst moment ever on stage: I completely blanked on a line during my solo show Putz. It was an emotional moment so I couldn’t just make a joke about it. Instead I pretended to be so overcome I couldn’t speak.
Best moment ever on stage: Also during Putz, I was pretending to rub up against a table in a rather naughty fashion when a member of the audience said, very sincerely and very audibly, “I’ve done that!” There was a long moment of tension as the audience looked to me. I turned to him and said, co-conspiratorially, “It feels great!” which may not sound clever now, but at the time brought the audience and I into a wonderful comedic communion.
Why should people come see your show?: You can see The Adversary because it’s funny and fast-paced, tackling mental illness and justice, both big in the news right now, from a new perspective. Or you can see it because you think my previous sentence was grandiose and you want to prove me wrong.
What’s something about your show that audiences probably won’t notice?: It originally was a very different show, which compared my work as an inner-city church caretaker with my work as a sacristan at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.
Name: The Birdmann
Show: The Birdmann: Man Like No Man
Sum up your play in only 10 words: Fantastic avant-garde, environmentally edgy vaudeville in a tight black suit.
Worst moment ever on stage: I started doing my unique vaudeville on the streets many years ago and I laid out my props on the ground one day and a lady came up and asked, how much for the toaster. She thought I was having a garage (yard) sale.
Best moment ever on stage: There have are a few though it was an honour and a delight to MCee the Australian National Circus Festival main cabaret in 2011.
Why should people come see your show?: Well, I would like to see you there and maybe it is nicely described here in one of my favourite group of words from your area: “He is fantastic. I got more and more drawn in. This man on stage was charming after all. And quietly, clumsily, I found myself really relating to his story. He reached in to my slightly lonely, note very exceptional, rather shy, but hopeful heart and took a piece of it up on stage with him. And he took it dancing. Like a rock star! And by the end, I felt so joyous and liberated and in love with my life. Like I could be fantastic, too.”
Name: Julia Mackey
Show: Jake’s Gift
Sum up your play in only 10 words: A WW2 veteran’s reluctant journey to find his brother’s grave.
Worst moment ever on stage: Performing for an audience of students and teachers who texted and talked through the whole show.
Best moment ever on stage: Performing for WW2 veterans at the Canadian War Museum on the 65th Anniversary of D-Day.
Why should people come see your show? Because they get to sit in a dark theatre for 60 minutes and share an intimate story with a room full of strangers.
What’s something about your show that audiences probably won’t notice? How much I can hear them.
Name: Julian Cervello
Show: Canterbury Cocktails
Sum up your play in only 10 words: A highly physical performance of Chaucer’s middle English, medieval poetry.
Worst moment ever on stage: So far, getting bullied by the unhappy director of a bad high-school production. But since that’s not very exciting you might prefer the time I had to piss really badly during the staged reading of a new translation of Cocteau’s Orphee, by Rachael Wyatt, last week. Or the time I had a terrible itch on my right eyelid while playing a corpse in Our Town.
Best moment ever on stage: The premiere of my next Canterbury Tales installment, The Wyf of Bathe, as part of Intrepid Theatre’s Youshow series.
Why should people come see your show?: Because it’s a unique experience. Chaucer isn’t well known anymore, and if you’re not familiar with his work then it takes less effort to attend my performance then to read it yourself.
What’s something about your show that audiences probably won’t notice?: People sometimes joke with me about Chaucer (and with Shakespeare) that if I forgot my lines, nobody would notice. Cynicism aside, everyone would.
Name: Erin Fleck
Show: Those Who Can’t Do…
Sum up your play in only 10 words: Repressed high-school teacher is thrown into a student sex-game controversy.
Worst moment ever on stage: It was in high school. During a chase scene, I slipped in a puddle of water in loafers, flew across the stage, and landed under an armchair just as the house lights went down at the end of the first act. Pretty sure I had a concussion.
Best moment ever on stage: During one of the more controversial teenage monologues in Those Who Can’t Do…, an audience member in the second row kept turning to her partner and saying things like, “Oh my goodness,” and “She’s talking about blowjobs!” loudly. At the end of the character’s speech, she turned to him and very loudly proclaimed, “This! This is real life!” I almost forgot the next character monologue because of it, but it was worth it.
Why should people come see your show?: It’s about our collective fear in dealing with our children’s, especially girls’, sexual development and how those experiences can have massive repercussions in our adult life. It was an issue when I was in high school, when my parents were in high school and it’s still an issue now. It’s serious and funny, and seriously awkward sometimes… which is funny!
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.