JOANNA NEARY Uncool characters awash with delusion
If Lon Charter, was the man of a thousand faces. Joanna Nean. rs the woman of a thousand characters. Well. a dozen. at least. Having heen on the Circurt for some 1. ears rn
the company of her eccentrrc cltar'acter'rsatrorls rust/hrch range from a hrghly evolved doiphrn to a do‘.‘.rntrodderl taxr drrxerr the comrc was thrust from ohscurrt; \.'.:hen last year's Joanna Nearv ls Not Fee/r1 lg Herself helped her onto the shortlist for Per'r'rtir Best Ne‘.'.r(:()rrrer‘.
So. where does thrs chameleon like talent find the rnsprratron for such gems as Angela Funnel the craft ohsessed Cornrsh lady and Mr Trmkrrrs. the castrated cat. 'lheg start out wrth people I've met or things I overhear. Then I try to rrnagrne a whole v».'or'|d for them. One of my new characters rs hased on
I TWO BIRDS GO INTO A BAR . . .
Diverse female stand-up double bill
a comersatron | o\./er‘hear‘d rn Mrss Selfrrdge where thrs girl was sayrng to her friend: "Vt/ell, I drdn't like you on Saturday hut I liked you on Wednesday." It rernrnded me of the worst aspects of herng at school.‘
A common irnk petween the characters rn Jt'xrrrrra Near; ls
’an's Person rs the gap hetween therr perceptrons of themselves and how others see them. 'Yes. they're all completer deluded. lhat's unhatl frnd fascinating: | genurnei‘, lone deluded. Innocent. uncool characters.' rAllan Radclrffer I Ulltll?’l)t)r'/‘,’. (ill/l) [-135 3083. e ”<‘a‘ Aag Ilit)!
Female stand-up remains under-represented at the Fringe, but this show does something to address that, bringing two of the brightest new women of comedy to Edinburgh. Ayesha Hazarika is a Glasgow-born former government spin doctor and winner of the Young Asian Women Achiever Award, while Zoe Lyons was awarded the Babycham Funny Women Award last year, as well as turning up as a contestant on lTV’s ludicrous Survivor. According to Hazarika, the two women’s styles are chalk and cheese: ‘Zoe’s more of a physical comedian, she clowns things up, whereas I’m more observational. But I think we complement each other well.’ Hazarika has plenty of material, basing a lot of her routine on a rather unconventional childhood as an Asian in Scotland. ‘I did a lot of traditional Muslim stuff like learning the Koran, but then my mum used to take me to Scottish country dancing lessons straight after. There was actually quite a
lot of confusion.’
You’d think her time working as a spin doctor (‘it’s probably more accurate to say spin nurse’) would provide much comedy potential, and you’d be right, but that potential remains unfulfilled for now. ‘There’s plenty of comedy to be had there, but unfortunately I signed the Official Secrets Act, so for the foreseeable future I shan’t be drawing on that,’ Hazarika says, somewhat regretfully. ‘l’m sure at some point I’ll pen my thoughts and some interesting stuff will come out, but then I’ll have to get extensive plastic surgery and hide from the world.’ (Doug Johnstone)
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PLUCK Chords, cellos and classical chuckles
(Ilassrca! rrrusrc comedy: a trrckt. thrrrg to puli off. ()r' so you mrght thrnk. \Vrth rt he.ng a relatrvel; unexplored and specralrst genre. got. rr‘erght rmagrne this ‘.'.:I he full of ‘hnar'rous' classzcal .r‘. Jokes or references to ohscure composers. But r'r realrtv there .s so much
rr‘rleage rrr sending up what can he such art rrrcredrhlg. serrous and stard profession that even the srrnplest rhythrr‘s and srteatons can he explerted for (torrrrc effect. It ‘.'.ras out of fins reairsatr >rr t'rat Pluck}; corrrhrrzatrorr of slapstick and general huffooner‘, was horn. set to a soundtrack that coxers (T‘.’(3l\,lllrllt} from the Heates to Brarrrrts the hravnchrld o" ‘.I()llltri3l Adr'rart (Sar‘ratt. the shos.’ hrrngs together hrs talents as a husker‘ wth those of xrrola pia~,er .Jorl Regan and cellrst Srarr Kadrfachr. lhe cl; ssrcal|\, trained troupe return wrth a hrand nev. show rn a hrgger xenue. 'lhere as more of a plot rr: thrs year's perforrrrancef explarns(‘rarratt “Hat '.'..e're strll dorrrg lots of plagrng and pientg. of s:llv thrngs. ‘v‘ie'l! he (:o\.t;~rrrtg a wrde range of rrrusrc from iii-11% to 1985)ande\.'er\,'ttfrr1g rrt het‘.'.'een.' «Rachael Street: I f).’()(lf§(’i.'i(‘<? (Zoe/331 sass esso, ,' ;’§)/\;rg rno! l/l, [p/n, Eliot) l‘ltlg'ltlrl‘t’w‘ lit/V.
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DUTCH ELM CONSERVATOIRE Oddly named conspiratorial bunch
Sketch ensemhles can he very hrt or miss aftarrs .‘xrth unfavourahre Python cornparrsons hard to avord. llapprrv as .‘Jhlte. male lltr(l(ll(‘: class ensemhles go. the [)utcl‘. [ |lll Corrsenatorre appea' to possess a '.'./rll."rrltg formula. last year’s show featured such, surreal gems as a sheepdog revealrng rrrs moderrlrsatron prar‘s to hrs fellow farm arrrmals. nurhrre other preces. such as the operetta ahoat
hrrr rr.en, relred on the ursuai Impact of the Corlserxatorre gurrttet. '\."‘.’hat frrtd rs that the {ttl(ll(:lf(‘(: seerrr to .rke It hest when were
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' Em: . " THE LIST FESTIVAL MAGAZINE 25