It is August which only means one thing – it is Camden Fringe time! Over the next few weeks we are chatting to acts that are performing at the festival and finding all about their show and what they would call this years iconic Camden Fringe Pigeon! Today we find out about All These Pretty Things

Date: 28th – 31st July
Time: 21:00
Price: £15 Concession £12
Location: Etcetera Theatre
Ticket Link: https://camdenfringe.com/events/na-all-these-pretty-things/

How did you come up with the name of your show that your taking to the Camden fringe?

Names are so important as a first impression for a show. When I started writing, the songs came first before the mini-memoir style narratives that now sit in and in-between the music. The first time I performed the show I had no name for it at all. 

Then sitting in New York a year or so after that first run, drinking tea and brainstorming with my Aussie girlfriend, Karen Jacobsen (AKA the Australian voice of Siri) I asked her: “Hey Siri what do you think is a good name for the show?”

She immediately answered with ‘All These Pretty Things.’  One of the key songs in the show is called Things and it tells the story of what happens when someone leaves a life, home, filled with the things that fill it and decorate it’s walls, the dinner plates and the books, photo albums, the whole life that one partner walks away from and leaves the other one to sort out alone. I guess the process of getting through all that, now meaningless stuff, is also a  metaphor for getting through all the stuff that accumulates in the mind, the anguish, the sadness, the anger, the despair. So I guess another good title could have been ‘All These (not so) Pretty Things.’

Tell us a little bit about your style of show?

What do you do when your husband leaves you for your teenage goddaughter? You dye your wedding dress black, write some killer songs and make a show It’s described as a musical memoir. I tell stories #truestories about my life before, during and after the  fallout of the 23 year marriage.

The stories are followed by songs (all my own and co-writes) that steers the story-line to the next scene. All the songs are performed live, it’s just me on stage with a piano. It’s pretty candid, to say the least. It’s also gut-wrenching at times and hilarious.

There’s nothing quite like hindsight to bring out the humour in the pain of human relationships. There’s that fine line between the two (love and hate) and I cross it many times in this show. In the words of Divinyls’ singer, Chrissy Amphlett, There’s a fine line between pleasure and pain.

What other acts are you looking forward to seeing at the fringe?

Seggs, Green Tea & Early Nights, Shit Lawyer, Shirley Knot the Siren, Kin-DREAD…should I keep going. Lordy I hope I get to see a show every day I’m here. Too many to choose from.

How are rehearsals going?

 I’m thrilled I am already playing the show and had a chance to do 15 shows in Adelaide in February, then six shows in Sussex in May. It’s really interesting the process of putting on a show like this with so much content to remember, after a run of shows I put it to rest for a few weeks and then 4 weeks before the next dates I start rehearsing again. Mostly on the street while walking my dog around my neighbourhood in Brooklyn, New York. No one even bats an eye-lid.

What is the best thing about performing at the Camden fringe?

What can I say it’s London. Actually a performers dream to play a show in London, most certainly a dream for me. Camden is the perfect place, so diverse, lively, hip and on-fire. I can’t wait!

London can be an expensive place to perform in – what key advice would you give to performers that is a sort of life hack?

Do you have friends in London you can stay with? That makes a huge difference, no accommodation costs. Fringe makes renting theatres more of a possibility than trying to put on a show independently, so that’s a bonus. 

I tend to not eat out too much everywhere I go. I do a quick fresh food shop and prepare at home. Healthier and cheaper. But I’m also a vegetarian so I can be a bit neurotic about food I call myself a macro neurotic . Plan ahead with budgets and pay in advance or in instalments for things you can, like accommodation, printing, advertising. Makes it feel better when you’re there and some things are already paid for.

Who would be your ultimate dream audience member?

The Netflix TV series producer hahahaha.

The iconic image of the Camden Fringe is the Pigeon – if you could call this years pigeon a name to represent its style what would it be and why?

Love the pigeon image who created it? I’d call him ‘red-eye’ after the flights I seem to always end up on across the Atlantic. He is resilient this ‘red-eye’ he doesn’t suffer fools and he is very discerning. He’s the chief executive of the Fringe isn’t he?

If people want to find out more about you where can they follow you on social media?

My best social space is instagram follow me here: @traceyyarad

And Finally in three words – Why should people come and see the show?

LEARN ANYTHING’S POSSIBLE

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