Bedfringe 2024 Interview: outside, in the laneway, under the stars – Part 1 (Childhood)

Posted in *Bedfringe 2024, *Written Interviews by

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“Will folks in Bedford relate to stories about a gay young man in Canada in the 1970s and 1980s? I feel more confident that they will than I might have a year ago.”

WHO: John Arthur Sweet

WHAT: “From Canada. Navigating one’s queerness is a lifelong odyssey! Three-time Prague Fringe Award nominee John Arthur Sweet continues his B-eautiful B-espoke tour of English Fringes beginning with the letterB. After Brighton, Barnstaple, and Buxton, John will be thrilled to arrive in Bedford.

John is bringing an autobiographical mélange of theatrical monologue, storytelling, and spoken word. This is the tale of a gay, bullied smalltown Canadian kid who found refuge in theatre. The show is in two parts: Part I (Childhood) and Part II (Adulthood). You can enjoy each of them separately, or you can choose to see both! Content warning: Numerous pop culture references from the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s.”

WHERE: Quarry Theatre

WHEN: 20 July 2023 @ 15:00 (60mins)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Bedfringe?

This will be my first time at Bedfringe. I’ve done a fair number of festivals over the years, going back to 1998. Most of them have been in Canada. In 2009, I did my first international fringe when I applied to (and was accepted by) the Prague Fringe, and I’ve been there five times altogether (most recently last year). My first UK Fringe was Brighton in 2016, and then again last year.

Generally speaking, as both a performer and a punter, I’ve preferred the smaller Fringes, where you get more of a sense of community, you keep bumping into the same people, you ask them what they’ve seen, what they liked. It feels like a celebration of life! Those chance encounters are lovely! To date, the place I’ve most had that feeling was in Prague, and then last year at a small Fringe in Canada (North Bay). Paradoxically, at a smallish festival, you feel as though you’re part of something bigger, whereas a very large festival can make you feel small, almost invisible, which isn’t the greatest feeling. I love the fact that Bedfringe seems to be quite contained, geographically speaking, with the shows all taking place in more or less the same location.

What are the big things you’ve learned since 2023 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?

The highlight of 2023 for me, performance-wise, was doing my show at the On the Edge Fringe in North Bay, Ontario, last August. My show is about growing up as a queer kid in a small city in Ontario, so it felt in some ways as if I was going “home” to talk about my misadventures of 40 or 50 years ago. The big surprise was that my show attracted a lot of young folks, in their late teens and early twenties! Maybe being gay in 2023 or 2024 isn’t that different from when I was young? Anyway, they really embraced the show, and it felt as though I was maybe giving back to those young folks some lessons I’ve learned the hard way, but also sharing hope that you can get through things and come out stronger.

The lesson I hope I’ve absorbed from that experience is not to form too-definite ideas of who your audience is! Will folks in Bedford relate to stories about a gay young man in Canada in the 1970s and 1980s? I feel more confident that they will than I might have a year ago.

Tell us about your show.

My show is actually two shows. The show on 21 July is totally different from the show on 20 July. They can be enjoyed separately, but if you see the show on Saturday and love it, then come back on Sunday and there are whole new tales to hear!

Do you know Bronski Beat’s “Smalltown Boy”? My show is a bit of a twist on that story. I was a bullied gay working-class kid from a small town who escaped to the city (in my case, Toronto). But there my story goes onto a different track. Rather than embrace my gay self, as Jimmy Somerville did, I escaped into theatre and acting, and enjoyed being other people. Loving myself as the gay man I am would have to wait a very long time.

Taking the two shows together as if it was a single show, it’s the story of episodes of my life from 1971 through to 1985, with a few scenes that represent the post-1985 (adult) me. There are some scenes of straight storytelling, others of spoken word poetry, others of theatrical monologue. It’s not all serious! There are laughs to be had.

In a larger sense (i.e., beyond my personal tale), it’s about the way personal pain can inspire creativity, but it also asks the question: How far can a life of the imagination be a replacement for a physical life?

What should your audience see at Bedfringe after they’ve seen your show?

Okay, let me say at the outset that I’ve had a good look at what’s on in Bedford and I don’t know any of the other artists and haven’t seen any of the shows. That said, I decided to stay in Bedford for a total of six days so I can see other shows, and these are ones that I’ve already earmarked:

Transformations (in the Studio): because it’s storytelling and because the storyteller (Mark Steinhardt) is a Bedfringe veteran! Two very compelling reasons to see that one.

Kin (in the Theatre): because it looks like a real piece of theatre, and I sometimes find it hard to find full-fledged theatre at a theatre festival amidst everything else, wonderful thought that all might be.

Freud, Erikson & Me (in the Studio): because the performer is in the same age range as me and is using poetry and spoken word to examine his life. Can you imagine why I’d find this appealing?

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