list.co.uk/festival Briefs | FESTIVAL FEATURES
P H O T O :
K A T E P A R D E Y
P H O T O :
K A T E P A R D E Y
DECADENCE
this year. Briefs’ risk-taking beliefs align with her own: she is, after all, a woman covered in nothing but blue paint singing about her mental health. Of course she was going to get along with the team.
‘They are who they are, and they don’t say sorry,’ she says. ‘They take up space. They have a really strong focus on putting people of colour on the stage, and queer people and people who are happy to play with their gender. Their shows pack a punch. And also, they’re just so fun.’
Yana wrote her show, Between the Cracks, while she worked in a coffee factory. It deals with mental health, her struggles with anxiety, and all she really wants from performing it is for people to feel less alone when it comes to their mental health issues.
‘The show ends with Leonard Cohen’s song “Anthem” and the chorus is: “There’s a crack in everything / that’s how the light gets in”,’ she says. ‘I see that it’s our dysfunction and our l aws that make us who we are. Sometimes you’ve got to accept when you’re sick and you may not recover, but that’s who you are and that’s okay.’
It’s that sense of hope that resonates with Briefs’ ideology as well. Their show this year, Close Encounters is very recognisably a Briefs their spirit production: they’re maintaining
and anarchy and taking audiences on another journey. ‘In this show, we’re coming from the future to let people know that the future is bright, the future is waiting for us,’ says Fa’anana. ‘We’re sorting through some pretty heavy stuff as a planet, so we’ve just come back from the future to celebrate life and remind people that we do actually get there in the end.’
Briefs’ usual blend of questioning masculinity via circus, drag, burlesque and comedy means you should look forward to aerial acrobatics, biting politics, beautiful artistry and perhaps just a touch of nudity. Basically, all the best elements of Briefs they’ve l aunted in the face of audiences over the past decade.
Briefs: Close Encounters, Assembly Hall, until 26 Aug (not 20), 7.15pm, £17.50– £19.50 (£16–£18).
Yana Alana: Between the Cracks, Assembly Checkpoint, until 26 Aug (not 20), 8pm, £12–£13. Hot Brown Honey, Gilded Balloon Teviot, until 27 Aug (not 8, 15, 23), 7.30pm, £15.50–£16.50 (£14.50–£15.50).
8–15 Aug 2018 THE LIST FESTIVAL 27