In one sentence tell us about your show.
It’s a surreal exploration of brain surgery, mythology and show business; inspired by the music of Tom Waits, with burlesque, storytelling and puppets.
What made you decide to bring a show this year?
I’ve been creating short comic burlesque pieces as Jeu Jeu la Foille for several years, and I needed to see whether Jeu Jeu had the stamina for an hour long show.
Any advice you've heard or can give to anyone coming to the Fringe for the first time?
It’s like a bubble – magical, directionless, and easily burst. And don’t hug a performer directly after their show, as you’ll probably catch festival flu from their sweat!
What makes your show stand out from all of the others on offer?
It’s enchanting and disturbing, beautiful and strange, and I have a 4 piece puppet band!
What show, other than your own, do you not want to miss?
Kill The Beast – ‘Don’t Wake the Damp’. It’s an apocalyptic, sci-fi musical…with puppets.
Finally, the boring but essential bit...
Name of the show: Jeu Jeu la Foille: Frontal Lobotomy
Venue: 264 Southside Social, upstairs bar
Dates: 4th – 21st August, not 8th or 15th.
Time: 8.45pm
The previews are done, the suitcase is packed - it weighs a ton - and I leave for Edinburgh early tomorrow. I had a mix of experiences with the previews. The one at the Rosemary Branch was amazingly well-attended and received, but I felt my own performance was lacking. Nerves got the better of me again, and I froze a couple of times. The preview at the Bread and Roses a week later was more intimate in terms of audience, though it was the first time I had properly connected with the piece, and felt I could defend it.
There's no doubt that what I've made is strange, chaotic and difficult to catergorise, but audiences have also called it striking and disturbingly beautiful, and said it made them forget where they were. I took on board the feedback from the first two previews, and by number three it was starting to feel like something was gelling. Here follows a round up of all of the audience comments from preview number three that I can remember:
* It's very beautiful, and once you've done a few shows you won't feel for your lines as much, and using the props will be second nature.
* Watch that your real voice doesn't escape on the lip-synch, it's very good though.
* It's the type of show that would work if you had one person in the audience or a full house, it doesn't rely on the audience like some shows do.
* Play with the piano mime, I love how you discover it works on it's own, you can play with the dimensions now, use it to underpin the words, it's your image so have more fun with it.
* It needs audience interaction now, the frontal lobotomy part should be done on an audience member. Put lipstick on them, make them complicit in your world. Make them feel guilty for laughing at you.
* By the creation myth I totally forgot where I was.
* Scream when you lobotomise yourself.
* Love the puppet band, so much fun.
* Love you way you presented the song.
Here we go, sixteen performances. I'm excited to see what will happen. Xxx
PS: I have a feature coming out for This is Cabaret...more later x
It’s a surreal exploration of brain surgery, mythology and show business; inspired by the music of Tom Waits, with burlesque, storytelling and puppets.
What made you decide to bring a show this year?
I’ve been creating short comic burlesque pieces as Jeu Jeu la Foille for several years, and I needed to see whether Jeu Jeu had the stamina for an hour long show.
Any advice you've heard or can give to anyone coming to the Fringe for the first time?
It’s like a bubble – magical, directionless, and easily burst. And don’t hug a performer directly after their show, as you’ll probably catch festival flu from their sweat!
What makes your show stand out from all of the others on offer?
It’s enchanting and disturbing, beautiful and strange, and I have a 4 piece puppet band!
What show, other than your own, do you not want to miss?
Kill The Beast – ‘Don’t Wake the Damp’. It’s an apocalyptic, sci-fi musical…with puppets.
Finally, the boring but essential bit...
Name of the show: Jeu Jeu la Foille: Frontal Lobotomy
Venue: 264 Southside Social, upstairs bar
Dates: 4th – 21st August, not 8th or 15th.
Time: 8.45pm
The previews are done, the suitcase is packed - it weighs a ton - and I leave for Edinburgh early tomorrow. I had a mix of experiences with the previews. The one at the Rosemary Branch was amazingly well-attended and received, but I felt my own performance was lacking. Nerves got the better of me again, and I froze a couple of times. The preview at the Bread and Roses a week later was more intimate in terms of audience, though it was the first time I had properly connected with the piece, and felt I could defend it.
There's no doubt that what I've made is strange, chaotic and difficult to catergorise, but audiences have also called it striking and disturbingly beautiful, and said it made them forget where they were. I took on board the feedback from the first two previews, and by number three it was starting to feel like something was gelling. Here follows a round up of all of the audience comments from preview number three that I can remember:
* It's very beautiful, and once you've done a few shows you won't feel for your lines as much, and using the props will be second nature.
* Watch that your real voice doesn't escape on the lip-synch, it's very good though.
* It's the type of show that would work if you had one person in the audience or a full house, it doesn't rely on the audience like some shows do.
* Play with the piano mime, I love how you discover it works on it's own, you can play with the dimensions now, use it to underpin the words, it's your image so have more fun with it.
* It needs audience interaction now, the frontal lobotomy part should be done on an audience member. Put lipstick on them, make them complicit in your world. Make them feel guilty for laughing at you.
* By the creation myth I totally forgot where I was.
* Scream when you lobotomise yourself.
* Love the puppet band, so much fun.
* Love you way you presented the song.
Here we go, sixteen performances. I'm excited to see what will happen. Xxx
PS: I have a feature coming out for This is Cabaret...more later x
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