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10 Questions: An interview with Socks

Thursday, November 29th, 2007

Socks from the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre took time out from his immensely busy schedule and to answer 10 Questions.

This was Socks first airing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and he really found his feet performing to packed audiences. No lying around the floor or relaxing beside sofa cushions, it’s straight to the fast spin – and what a job to catch up with him! You can see Socks on BBC 3’s Comedy Shuffle tonight at 11pm, after the Mighty Boosh.

1. What made you become a performer/artist/?

We’re talking socks, our options were limited!

2. What is your show/future show about and what should the public expect from your show?

We’re talking socks! We also sing. We also do plays, eg Romeo & Juliet in 8 minutes flat, that sort of thing. People seem to like it.

3. What is your favourite Festival or Fringe and why?

Edinburgh is the first, the biggest and the best and we had a great time at our first ever this year. We’ve also played at the Leicester Comedy Festival which is smaller, colder and very good indeed.

4. What’s your best advice for aspiring artists/performers on the Festival/Fringe circuit?

Save up lots of money and prepare to spend more of it than you’ve actually got, and don’t expect to see any of it again.

5. What is your funniest experience performing or attending a Fringe/Festival?

In Edinburgh we were, like, on the street, like, talking and stuff and someone points at us and says, like, look it’s a talking pair of socks, and we laughed and they laughed and… you pretty much had to be there.

6. As you travel performing at different festivals/fringes, what is your favourite place to vacation and chill out and why?

A laundry basket or a radiator. We are, as we may have mentioned, socks.

7. Who is the person you most admire/d and why?

The greats, ie Basil Brush, Sooty, Lamb Chops, Kermit, Miss Piggy, The Swedish Chef also of the Muppets, etc.

8. What is the best tip you have ever been given?

End with a hymn, said Gran. We never actually end with a hymn, but I bet if we did it would be brilliant, cos Gran was never wrong.

9. What is the best book you have read and why do you like it?

There are loads. The Joy of Socks; Socks and the Single Girl; All You Ever Wanted to Know About Socks; Socksing The Cherry. Do you see what we’re doing here? We take the word Sex from a famous book title, and we put Socks in its place. Hours of endless fun.

10. If you could change one thing about the world what would it be?

We would prohibit the existence of any other sock or puppet based comedy acts until we had secured every gig that was going, including ads, I mean that bloody monkey, where’s it get off advertising a TV thing that goes tits up then next thing you know it’s doing bloody tea bags, where’s the justice in that?

For more information about Socks check out his MySpace web page and also his YouTube web page.

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10 Questions: An interview with Oliver Lansley

Wednesday, November 28th, 2007

Today the spotlight falls on Oliver Lansley, the multi-talented playwright, performer and founder of Les Enfants Terribles Theatre Company. The Terrible Infants is a quirky, murky tale about “Tum, the boy who eats his mum, Thingummyboy with a face even his mother forgets, Little Linena; the material girl, Manky Mingus and of course little Tilly and her terrible tail.” The story telling, puppetry, live music, and theatricality all create a unique world of new lore for both child and adults alike.

Oliver [with his illustrator/designer Sam Wyer] has produced three magical Virtual Flyers drawing us in with his creative mastery to tell a story: 2006 Edinburgh Virtual Flyer, 2007 Prague Virtual Flyer, 2007 Edinburgh Virtual Flyer. With such skills to catch the public’s attention, we had to find out more about Oliver’s real life story for 10 Questions.

1. What made you become a performer/artist/writer?

I think probably for the same reasons as most artists – I couldn’t see myself doing anything else. A lot of people dabble with this profession at an early age and then end up settling into something else. It’s not really an easy business to making a living in, there’s so much rejection, competition and unpleasantness in the industry that I think if you feel like you could be happy doing something else – do it!

This however is what makes me happy. It has taken me to some amazing places, introduced me to wonderful people and given me some truly unique experiences that I’ll never forget.

2. What is your show/future show about and what should the public expect from your show?

Our current show is called ‘The Terrible Infants’ and it’s full of puppetry, live music, storytelling, physical theatre – a bit of everything really… It’s based on a series of twisted children’s stories written by myself and illustrator/designer Sam Wyer. One of our reviews said it was “Like giving your inner child an enormous sack of sweets and a cuff round the ear” which I think is a pretty good description. It’s suitable for anyone. It’s dark, twisted and funny and has drawn comparisons with the likes of Tim Burton, Roald Dahl, Edward Gorey, Lewis Carol and Shockheaded Peter.

As a company we’ve never tackled a show like this before so it was quite daunting but we previewed it at the ‘07 Edinburgh Festival where we received rave reviews and performed to sell-out audiences so the response has been terrific.

We’ll be touring the piece throughout 2008. I think above anything it’s a lot of fun, the audience and the performers all seem to be having a ball and I think that’s why it works.

3. What is your favourite Festival or Fringe and why?

I think most festivals I’ve been to have something unique to offer. However I guess it would have to be The Edinburgh Fringe, it’s the biggest in the world and having done it for six years running it’s given me some fantastic experiences. There’s nothing else like it, you have to experience it to understand it.

4. What’s your best advice for aspiring artists/performers on the Festival/Fringe circuit?

Enjoy and believe in what you’re doing. There’s no point in doing it for the money – because most of the time you’ll be losing money! You need to be doing it for yourself and for the experience. The fringe/festival circuit offers a pretty unique environment for you to express yourself and do the work you want to do, so make the most of it – You never know what other people will make of your work so the best you can do is make sure you’re happy with it, that you believe in it and then just enjoy it.

5. What is your funniest experience and also worst experience performing or attending a Fringe/Festival?

I don’t think either would be suitable to print here!

6. As you travel performing at different festivals/fringes, where is your favourite place to vacation and chill out and why?

I love to travel with work as it gives you a great flavour of a place and going to a festival often feels like a vacation to me. We did the Prague Festival recently and it’s such a beautiful city it was a real privilege to get to perform out there. I guess I don’t really have a favourite place to holiday as there’s so many places to go it seems silly to go to the same place more than once.

7. Who is the person you most admired and why?

That’s tough… I think you can take a lot of things from a lot of people. I have a great respect for people like Steven Berkoff, he sort of took on the industry, did what he wanted to do and created his own unique style of work. There’s a lot of passion and energy, particularly in his early work, which is very inspiring. And he’s still going. I’ve seen him perform live on many occasions and he’s incredible to watch, very controlled.

8. What is the best tip you have ever been given?

If you’re attacked by a shark poke it in the eye.

9. What is the best book you have read and why do you like it?

I like different books at different times so I don’t think I could pick one favourite book but recently I’ve enjoyed Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis, Under the Skin by Michel Faber, The Wind-up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami, Phillip Pullman’s ‘Northern Lights’ Trilogy and Harry Potter! I like books which are ambitious, tell great stories and have unique voices.

10. If you could change one thing about the world what would it be?

I’d make it better!

For more information about Oliver Lansley and Les Enfant Terribles, please see their website.

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10 Questions: An interview with Neel de Jong

Tuesday, November 27th, 2007

Neel de Jong is a deeply spiritual performer who translates dance into theatre. She is highly sensitive of the dualities in life: the “inner reality” and “reality”. She constantly processes the external world and attempts to classify everything by searching inwards. Her finely tuned dance routines, sometimes working in stark silence, using oblique body language, gestures and facial expressions are recurring themes in her work. Check out her Virtual Flyers: “Moving Landscape” for the 2007 Edinburgh Festival Fringe and “Inner Landacape” for 2006 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Neel also teaches weekly dance classes in Rotterdam and Den Haag so I had to catch up with this talented artist and dancer from her home in The Netherlands to find out more about her.

Dance Parade of Holland Dance Festival – Neel is on the right

1. What made/inspired you to become a performer/artist?

I think that loneliness made me become an artist. The feeling of being different from other people around me and the suffering which came out of that. And then, there was the accident, and all of a sudden I became visible during a theatre-class, and even better: I could see myself!

2. What is your show about and what should the public expect from your show?

While I perform my show I am looking for the crack in my soul over and over again, because in that crack lies the truth for me. I listen to my body and ask myself why is today different from yesterday? Out of this search I prepare an open concept where I can fall back on or/and can start from; at the moment I am working with the themes ‘the doll’ and ‘feeble legs’. During my shows I listen again to the crack in my soul, I mix that with all the ingredients out of my studio-work and that will be my communication with the public. The public can experience feelings and emotions on a higher level than what happens in daily life. Intensity is my speciality.

3. What is your favourite Festival or Fringe and why?

Up till now my favourite Fringe is the Edinburgh Fringe, because I feel welcome there and recognised. That’s great! The church Roxy Main is a beautiful place to perform!

4. What’s your best advice for aspiring/artist/performers on the Festival/Fringe circuit?

Strangely enough I don’t believe in advice from a distance, because my experience is that everybody has to find their “own wheel”, that’s part of the job.

5. What is your funniest and also, your worst experience performing or attending a Fringe/Festival?

My most profound moments on stage are when I fall together into myself and time and space are fading away in front of the audience. Mostly afterwards I realise that I did what I thought I never dare to do. That’s magic.

My worst experiences are when I feel that the public cannot handle my special sense of time (it can make them restless, sometimes even angry) and when I cannot keep the distance between them and myself. That’s hell.

6. As you travel performing at different festivals/fringes, what is your favourite place to vacation and chill out and why?

I love to work and I travel only for that reason, all my dedication is towards that. I chill out within my work.

7. Who is the person you most admire/d and why?

At present I don’t have any idol. I am longing for horizontal meetings.

8. What is the best tip you have ever been given.

Listen to your inner voice and be honest towards that. Dare to be lonely, because it has happened already.

9. What is the best book you have read and why do you like it?

The Bible – so many different worlds and beautiful stories, it is unbelievable.

10. If you could change one thing about the world what would it be?

This question is an illusion for me, so there’s no answer possible.

Apart from that, I can say: “Self-realisation” is my life-quest.

For more information about Neel de Jong, please check out her website.

 

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Centenary of the Jersey Eisteddfod

Monday, November 26th, 2007

This year the Jersey Eisteddfod celebrates its Centenary! The Jersey Eisteddfod was founded in 1908 by the then Dean of Jersey. His vision was to encourage competition in the arts between his fellow islanders to improve their speech, presentation, and musical standards. With the exception of the war years, The Eisteddfod has taken place annually.

There are two seasonal festivals in the Eisteddfod: “The Festival of Creative Arts”, held in March, known locally as the ‘Spring Festival, and the “Festival of Performing Arts” held in November known as the ‘Autumn Festival’.

The Autumn Festival of Performing Arts is held over a period of three weeks from approximately the 7th to 27th November. Independent judges are engaged to judge each section, and competitors receive an appraisal and learn how to improve their performance. Nearly 3,000 entries are received each year for the fourteen artistic categories: Arts and crafts as adult, primary school, secondary school and youth creative arts; photography, flower arranging, video, handwriting and needlework; dance, music, English speech and drama, Norman-French and French.

To find out more about the Jersey Eisteddfod and their centenary celebrations check out their website. Or check out Channel Online TV for more information.

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Monkey of a Festival!

Sunday, November 25th, 2007

A most fascinating and unusual festival takes place in Thailand each year. The Lopburi Banquet is a festival exclusively for monkeys, in particular the long-tailed macque monkeys who inhabit the Khmer ruins. The macaques are regarded as disciples of Chao Pho Prakarn, the four-armed deity whose likeness is enshrined in the centre of town.

It was first started by an enterprising local hotelier, Yongyuth Kitwatananuson to give thanks to the monkeys who bring business to the city. The exclusive monkey banquet attracts hundreds of monkeys to the feast while tourists can only view this spectaclar event.

I think this would be one of the most must-see festivals in ones life time. Imagine the clean up operation, it must be phenomenal! If any festival goers have video footage or photos we will credit your work.

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