The Hot August Fringe returns to the RVT this summer with a vengeance, and you’d be a fool to miss out on some of the cabaret stage treats they’ve got in store. To find out more we caught up with programmer Catia Ciarico and owner of the RVT Paul Oxley to get the lowdown on what’s going down…
For the uninitiated, what is the Hot August Fringe?
PAUL: The Hot August Fringe is a three and a half week creative birth. That royal baby has nothing on us! We programme new artists and new work from artists you already know. It is the original cabaret festival in London and a bit of a pioneer; when the festival was launched in 2009, it was the only one of its kind, even the Edinburgh festival only began to acknowledge cabaret last year officially in its programme, and many of the people that began here at the Hot August Fringe in 2009 are now Edinburgh Festival and London cabaret heavyweights.
How did the Hot August Fringe come about?
CATIA: The Festival was the brainchild of Paul [Oxley] who felt that it was time to showcase and give a platform to all the budding new cabaret work out there. At the time in 2009 it was a massive risk, and we were all unsure of its outcome. Would it work? Would there be people who would come to see these performances? Five years later I think we can safely say it was a roll of the dice well worth taking.
PAUL: The festival has grown in the sense that it is part of the performance landscape now, and performers see it as an important step in building their careers or pushing new shows.
What should we be excited about coming to see this year?
CATIA: Oh, where do I start? The opening night is looking pretty hot, with the Harry Clayton Wright show, a kid of the YouTube generation and multi-media genius, it is full of shower sing-alongs, bedsit hook-ups, questionable substances, webcam shows, famous friends and bedtime stories – expect to be entertained in this ridiculous case study of human existence. This is followed by BURN, the moving images night curated by Ben Walters, one of the most ‘ahead of the curve’ and brilliant cabaret nights out there.
Will many of the RVT’s regular cabaret stars be associated with HAF?
PAUL: Yes, we have the fabulous David Hoyle closing the HAF along with Lorraine Bowen’s show of greatest hit songs – I love the crumble song! Also, the LipSinkers are part of our programme, along with Topping and Butch with a new show called ‘Go Commando’.
Tell us also about the new performers and writing you are supporting.
CATIA: This year, for the first time, we have a night called HAF Baked, a scratch night for performers trying out ideas for new shows before they become fully-fledged. In the past we had lots of requests for short spots for people who had begun to develop a show but did not have a full performance hour and needed a platform to progress these ideas, so HAF Baked was born.
PAUL: We also have Rola Bear, an up and coming gay comic who has great potential, and The Dick and Debs show by Tall and Ernest productions with an entirely new and hilarious double act. Also, Two Dumb Blondes are opera singers and have created a new show with this art form; they have big voices and big boobs – their words, not mine.
CATIA: Plus the redoubtable Holestar with her new show Sorry, I’m a Lady, which premiered in East London and is now part of the Fringe. This is Holestar’s first full length show and absolutely brilliant, too.
HOT FRINGE TOPO 5
BURN
Ophelia Bitz, Vicky Butterfly and Ernesto Sarezale experiment in very different ways with what happens when you project moving images onto the body.
Thursday 1st August. 8.30pm, doors open 8pm.
Pink Sinatra – Swing with a Twist Cabaret
The Pink Sinatra engages his audience in a whirlwind of quirky queer humour and loads of audience participation. You’re sure to get a kick out of him!
Wednesday 7th & Thursday 8th August. 10pm, doors 9.30pm.
HAF Baked – Scratch Night
A night of short scratch performance in which acts from all genres will try out new ideas and pieces, to find tomorrow’s next hit show!
Monday 12th August. 7pm, doors 6.30pm.
Gregoire Aubert – Judy in Person
Judy is here and she’s going to talk! About her life and her career, through hilarious anecdotes and witty patter, plus singing, too.
Wednesday 14th & Monday 19th August. 7pm, doors 6.30pm.
Topping & Butch – Go Commando!
Polish the rubber and buff up the leather, as this duo present a G-string of new material and songs along with a few sure-fire hits for Vauxhall’s saucy boys and girls.
Friday 9th August. 8.30pm, doors 8pm.
DON’T MISS!
‘FRECKLED’ starring Son ofa Tutu
A brand new ‘one-woman show’ by the award-winning Son of a Tutu, chronicling Miss Tutu’s search for the elusive multicultural nirvana that she had dreamt of back in her village in Nigera…
Thursday 22nd August. 8.30-9.30pm.
The Voodoo Woo Woo Show
Voodoo Mick presents an exciting cocktail of mentalism, mind-reading and psychic intuition combining to give an entertaining, enlightening and empowering experience for the audience.
Wednesday 7th August. 8.30pm.
Hello! Dexter Clark!
Dexter Clark is London’s foremost celebrity hairdresser. He adores celebrity and likes nothing better than to hack at the heads of the rich and famous.
Friday 9th August. 7pm, doors 6.30pm.
The Hot August Fringe runs from Thursday 1st August to Friday 23rd August, at the RVT, 372 Kennington Lane, Vauxhall, SE11 5HY.
www.hotaugustfringe.com
