“Normally I’m a book tickets in advance, send calendar invites, spreadsheet sorta gay, so it’s fun to be wildly spontaneous for a change.”
WHO: Jess Ducey
WHAT: “This gender euphoric cabaret is a musical paradise for thems, mens, femmes, and everyone in between. ‘It’s a big, silly party where transness is centred and everyone is welcome’ (Theatreview.org.nz) by artists from NZ and NYC! ‘It feels like hanging out with your friends at a house party. With a band. And rainbow glitter. Everyone’s wearing sequins. You’re inside but you can pretty much guarantee unicorns and bunnies are frolicking around in the garden.’ (Regional News). Nominated for Excellence Awards for Theatre for Social Change and Best Ensemble, Wellington Theatre Awards 2022.”
WHERE: theSpace @ Surgeons Hall – Stephenson Theatre (Venue 53)
WHEN: 17:00 (45min)
MORE: Click Here!
Is this your first time to Edinburgh?
I was a postgrad student at St Andrews [redacted] years ago, and spent a couple of days as a Fringe punter when I first arrived. Then I was here last year flyering for and supporting my partner Ania (the co-creator of both our shows this year) doing a short run of their solo clown show Transhumance – I made matching sandwich boards for their dad and I to wear while flyering.
But this is my first time properly here as a producer for the whole festival! We’ve got two queer musical shows running in rep with a company of seven on the ground (plus Milo Robinson and Sarah Bell, our two designers back in NYC and New Zealand), and it’s such a massive shift to have a big team.
The all-consuming nature of Fringe is incredible. So many artists in one place! I love the serendipitous meetings of other artists, randomly going to a show because someone made you laugh while flyering and discovering something you might never have found otherwise. Normally I’m a book tickets in advance, send calendar invites, spreadsheet sorta gay, so it’s fun to be wildly spontaneous for a change. When I’m not producing, I’m also working on my own practice as a writer, and so I love getting to see the sheer variety of work out there. It’s a great inspiration to actually make something of the ideas note in my phone!
What are the big things you’ve learned since 2022 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?
Last year I was surprised and delighted by how much fun I had flyering, and how effective it was. There’s such a rush when you see someone you chatted to on the street turn up at the show!
Most of the company this year is here for the first time, and I’ve really loved watching them see the magic of Fringe. Seeing everyone discover and hone their personal flyering strategies (look out for Andy and Felix improv-ing musical sonnets with a banjolele!) fills my cold gay producer heart with joy.
As for lessons I haven’t quite learned – Fringe is about having fun, meeting cool artists, seeing amazing work, developing your own practice. It’s not about money or awards! I’m still working towards my goal of checking box office reports less than three times a day. It’s a journey.
Tell us about your show.
We describe A Bit Too Much Hair as ‘gender euphoric musical chaos.’ It’s a bunch of songs and stories about gender euphoria – that feeling when you’re perfectly at home in your gender identity and presentation. Our other show, Antonio! is a queer punk musical that reimagines all of Shakespeare’s characters named Antonio as one real life pirate (who was also Shakespeare’s lover). It’s fun and joyous and full of nerdy Shakespeare jokes.
Butch Mermaid Productions in its current form came together in Aotearoa New Zealand. It all started when Ania Upstill, William Duignan, and Andy Manning performed in a production of Once at the Court Theatre in Christchurch. A month or two later, Ania directed me, Georgia Kellett, and Felix Crossley-Pritchard in a queer comic ballet called Sapphic Lake in Wellington. Then Will and Ania made Too Much Hair, with Felix as part of that cast and me producing. Jthan Morgan, the fourth original cast member, couldn’t make the Edinburgh trip, but then the universe gifted us with the incredible Evan Michael Smith, who we met in NYC earlier this year and who has slotted right into our queer chaos.
Ania and Will co-wrote A Bit Too Much Hair, and they’re joined by Andy (now based in Glasgow) on the writing team for Antonio! The first season was at BATS Theatre in Wellington in June 2022, just before Ania and I moved to New York. Last year, Ania had the idea that all Shakespeare’s Antonios were the same guy, and now, after a lot of google docs and wrangling time zones on three continents, here we are! The whole crew came to NYC in mid-July to rehearse, and we premiered Antonio! at The Tank in New York just before we left for Scotland.
As for what’s next – who knows! Definitely recording an album. Personally, I’m dreaming of a longer version of Antonio! (maybe even one day on Broadway) so we can spend more time really delving into Antonio’s love stories and add some truly extravagant choreography! For A Bit Too Much Hair, I think we’d love to tour the show to intimate venues all over and build community with new trans, nonbinary, and gender diverse friends.
What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?
Obviously, we have to shoutout our Kiwi mates. Laser Kiwi makes brilliant circus and Double Goer looks like some incredible dance. Hysterical is an award-winning feminist poetry show (that, in classic New Zealand form, was on at BATS at the same time as Too Much Hair last year, so of course we’d have to travel all the way to Scotland to see it). A Mulled Wine’s The Shit Kid comes highly recommended and James Nokise is a great Kiwi comic. I want to see A Shark Ate My Penis based solely on the brilliant title and Tutu for the great
Beyond New Zealand, Niall Moorjani is just the loveliest human as well as a brilliant storyteller (Mohan last year was a highlight of my Fringe) and I can’t wait to see all three of their shows this year. T1J’s Reclaim is mind-blowing circus and acrobatics that also involves cellists and opera singers (‽‽). I saw Cirque Kalabanté in NYC earlier this year and would see them again here just to watch that incredible contortionist again.
I kept running into the team from And Then The Rodeo Burned Down while flyering last year and they were just delightful, so I’m glad they’re back this year and I’ll finally get to see their show too.
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