Performing at Edinburgh Fringe, STUFFED's Co Artistic Director Grace Gallagher sat down with us to talk clowns, food inequality and Liverpool's creative scene...
Hi Grace! When did you know that you wanted to work in the creative sector?
It had always been theatre for me from a very young age. I eventually studied drama at Liverpool John Moores University where I had an incredible three years where I explored everything from acting, to learning tech skills, stand-up comedy, creating applied work and directing.
I believe this is what helped me become a more rounded theatre maker and why I ended up founding a company. It wasn’t until I left university however that I truly discovered clowning, and I realise now that I had always been a clown.
Talk us through the naming of your theatre company Ugly Bucket Theatre?
Disappointingly there is no big meaning behind Ugly Bucket Theatre! When we created our first show, we realised we needed to call ourselves something to set up a social media page to advertise and sell tickets. The room we rehearsed in had a pretty grim fire bucket filled with sand and cigarette butts - 'Ugly Bucket’ was just a placeholder that seriously stuck as we grew to love it.
STUFFED has been described as a ‘horrifying comedy on food bank’. What are your comedy inspirations?
Growing up I was always a huge fan of anything nonsensical or absurd which is why I loved Monty Python. I was also a massive fan of The Mighty Boosh for its outlandish storytelling, grotesque characters and gothic style. Garth Marengi’s DarkPlace was also a series I knew totally inside out. I also can’t ignore the effect that the YouTube series Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared has had on me in my own style. I loved how well the horror and humour are blended, and how its epicness can really take you by surprise.
Whilst I love absurdity, I equally love the humour in simple humanness and connection. I would watch The Royal Family with my own family over and over, being moved beautifully from laughter to tears in some episodes. I loved Caroline Aherne, and was giddy to do the same John Moores drama degree that she did years before.
STUFFED is highlighting serious political problems. How have you balanced this message with the show’s entertainment value?
It's absolutely a challenge, and I believe that the way that the comedy in STUFFED challenges its audiences is all part of the experience we want to create. Often, audiences will find themselves laughing at the absurd physicality of the clowns as they become a bizarre gaggle of pigeons, or perhaps laughing as one clown whose guts are hanging out comically swings them around.
Often, however, the comedy slowly mutates into something difficult or confronting. The pigeons begin to fight violently over a single crumb, or the clowns attempt to ‘fix’ the guts with a simple sticking plaster, highlighting the verbatim in the show where it is quoted that a food parcel can be ‘a sticking plaster for someone that’s been eviscerated’. When there is laughter, we are more open and willing to connect, however as that laughter slowly dies away - it puts the audience in an uncomfortable place to fully grasp the horror and awful absurdity of the current food poverty crisis.
What’s caught your eye in the UK (or Liverpool specifically) culture scene recently?
Liverpool has an incredible arts scene filled with fantastic physical performers and clowns. I would encourage people to check out the work of Fright Wig Theatre, whose immersive style is as haunting as it is hilarious. I also recently had the pleasure of working alongside Liverpool-based fool Jo Tremarco in exploring sacred clown and clown healing, which was particularly life-changing. I equally urge people to follow the work of RAWD, a Merseyside-based organisation who are trailblazers in accessible theatre and disabled arts.
Learn more about STUFFED.