Tell us a little about your The Struvvel Bushell
In a broad sense, it’s about the kind of stories that we are read as children and the lasting impact that they have on us. More specifically, it’s about a book called “The Struwwel Peter” (or “Shock-headed Peter”) that my littler sister and I were read when we were little and it is truly terrifying. It was kind of passed down through my family and I guess it was just accepted that this was a book that you could read to children. But it’s not. And the ‘lessons’ that you’re meant to get out of it are really out of whack. It really has to be seen to be believed.
And there’s almost no information out there about this book, so I thought it would be great to just make up the ENTIRE story about it…about how someone could write something like this. What were they thinking?! So I’ll be getting the audience to help me spread lies, basically.
I’ve tried to mix it up a lot this year. So there’s story-telling, there’s stand-up, there’s some really fun character stuff, and there’s the long-lost diary excerpts of Mark Twain. And pretzels. Dangerous pretzels.
In your stand-up spots, you’re often seen as a very politically angry comedian, but last year’s “Dirt, War… & Why I Don’t Eat the Fishies” focused much more on storytelling and your own personal story. How does your new show fit into that?
I really love the story stuff. It’s great to take an audience from some underground theatre in Melbourne on a Wednesday into this whole other world that they might know nothing about and you build it in their heads. Last year it was Berlin and mad-cow-riddled England. This year, it’s much more about the audience and their specific memories of childhood stories as well as introducing them to this book.
There’s still a bit of a historical bent, but being heaps more playful with it. Making up the history this time, as opposed to reciting it. We get to have a bar fight with Beatrix Potter. Bring it on!
FourtyFiveDownstairs is a great space, but how does being outside the Town Hall and Trades Hall hubs affect your festival experience?
It’s only up on Flinders Lane so I haven’t really noticed anything. FortyFiveDownstairs has a stage you can land a plane on, with these really massive, dramatic windows so it’s really liberating and pretty spectacular to watch a show in. I think it lends to the show really well… particularly for stories because you’re almost performing in this secret place. In your own world like you’d make up when you were a kid.
It’s like hiding under your doona, if your doona was made of bricks and had a staircase and a bar that sold Pure Blonde.
The Struvvel Bushell runs from March 20th through April 13th. See the comedy festival website for bookings and further details.