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EAST ENDMake way for the

Half Moustache Army!by Nicholas D

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ND �– Thanks for saying yes to the interview

BB �– Oh no problem

ND �– Two questions are you in character and who are you out of character? So you can answer whichever one you want rst.

BB �– Okay. Bernadette Byrne is my name, both in and out of character. There�’s not a lot of difference for me in terms of reality and the show because it is a musical comedy actually, and we write all our songs based on things that actually happen to us in real life.

ND �– If you don�’t mind me asking�…your age?

BBpeople but you seem like a nice guy.

ND �– Alright I�’ve got you fooled

I�’m 36 myself, I�’m happy to trade off ages.

BB �– Ha ha, no problem.

ND �– So the characters are based on everyday experiences in the show?

BB �– Yes.

ND �– How did you meet you collaborator Victor Victoria and where did you meet?

BB �– Well actually we have known each other since we were children. I�’ve been trying to get rid of her for about twenty years now, even longer. I think we were about 4 years old when me met at a mutual friends birthday party and essentially she has been following me around ever since�…although she is quite useful �– she plays all the instruments in the show, kind of my one man-woman band.She has a half moustache, she is half man/half woman, she is useful to have around, you know?

ND - I did notice she is covering both gender roles quite nicely.

BB �– Yes, well, puberty was a very confusing time. I have to say; the half -moustache actually looks quite good on her. Not many people can rock it but I think she does it very well.

ND �– She is doing quite well with

BB �– We are starting the half-moustache army of Melbourne. We�’ve been handing out half-moustaches on sticks to try and cultivate the look a bit more in Melbourne, the full is back in fashion but we think the half is a

ND �– We will nd out how much commitment these hipsters have got if they are willing to only have half a moustache on their face.

BB �– Its only half the work of a full

EAST END CABARET

AUTUMN 2014

NICHOLAS D SPEAKS WITH �‘BERNADETTE B�’ OF THE EAST END CABARET

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moustache, you only have to style one side, it would be a lot easier.

ND �– A lot easier to keep it symmetrical too.

BB �– It�’s quite a good look.

ND �– Now, when I think of cabaret, I think of Liza Minnelli and the lm Cabaret. Now that was a long time ago and since then, burlesque has enjoyed quite a resurgence and the Spiegeltent has been around for a while. Can you give me an updated de nition of Cabaret?

BB �– It�’s a very dif cult question darling but I think a lot of people have very different ideas of what it is. It can range from the lm Cabaret to someone singing Gershwin songs on a cruise ship. What we like

trying to de ne it on our own. Our form of cabaret is musical comedy and the element I guess that makes it very cabaret in a traditional sense is that it is quite naughty �– quite sexy, quite lthy �–

no one gets nude, we don�’t do any burlesque, we are far too uncoordinated for that, but the subject matter that we do sing about is all those naughty things that you wish to talk about behind the water cooler at work and everyone can relate to it, it is part of every day life in a very human way. Every one has a story or a friend of a friend that can relate to what we are talking about. We are not �“old school�” cabaret, we have a very modern show with very modern material but the element that we love about the genre is it is always a conversation with the audience. The audience is very much part of the show, we like to talk to them, not at them.

ND �– Yes

BB �– We like to play with them, I sometimes get a little bit intimate

with them. I start the show by riding in on the back of a �“man beast�” that I select from the audience �– if there is any beautiful men, I get them to be essentially a man-chariot, they kneel down and carry me to the stage, you know? It�’s quite a lot of fun.

ND �– It actually sounds like a pretty good perk from my point of view, to have a man chariot take you to the stage.

BB �– Man beast is the only way to travel. Seriously, when you can�’t get a cab in Melbourne on a Saturday night it�’s a great way to get home.

ND �– Okay. Man-beast. Okay.

BB �– Yeah man-beast, it�’s the only

darling what you look like but I feel from your voice you might make quite a good man-beast.

ND �– Um�…yeah I�’m an endurance athlete rather than a power athlete so going upstairs might be hard but I could probably carry you around for a fair amount of time.

BB �– Oh amazing darling, that�’s what I need.

ND �– East End cabaret is a recent project, how many years have you been working on it?

BB �– About 4 years now I think. Vicky and I have been playing

FEATURE

“We are starting the half-moustache army of Melbourne. ”

DJ COMPNATIONAL CAMPUS

ENTRiES NOW OPEN for heat on 15 May 2014

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together for years now since we were children.

ND �– It seems to be enjoying success and I noticed you did quite well at Edinburgh Fringe?

BB �– Yes, oh we love it there, it is such an amazing festival, have you ever been?

ND �– I have not had the privilege at this stage, I haven�’t been to Europe either.

BB �– You have to go, Edinburgh Fringe Festival is incredible. Here we have played Perth Fringe, Adelaide Fringe, Adelaide is the second biggest in the world after Edinburgh. Edinburgh is just mayhem, the entire city has over 3000 shows in a month where the Melbourne comedy festival has 450 or so. There are performances in every single building, even McDonalds has a stage. We had a wonderful time there.

ND �– Can you offer some advice from your experience for anyone who wants to embark on a creative artistic career and doesn�’t know where to start?

BB �– You just have to go for it �– I know that sounds ridiculous but if its something that you really want to do you have to go for it; you have to go for it in such a way; you have to get and see as much stuff as you can, meet as many people as you can because it is all about the people�…its about getting yourself known to the right people who can help you, there is a lot of people with a lot of wisdom and all you

have to do is ask�…if you can�’t get work in the eld that you want, make your own work. That�’s what Vic and I have always done. Just do it and see what happens. You are far better off doing something than waiting there for someone to discover you because that�’s not likely to happen.

ND �– If you can�’t get your own work in the eld, make your own work. Can I quote you on that?

BB �– Of course darling, that is such an important thing to know, a lot of people do not realize that is an option. You know? Making it happen for yourself. Nobody is ever going to hand it to you on a platter.

ND �– Well that�’s right or otherwise I never would have got myself in the position of becoming a man-chariot.

BB �– Exactly darling.

ND �– The East End Cabaret show - how did you get from nothing to something?

BB �– We have a creative director

and the three of us together have always thought about progression. It has always been about knowing where you want to get to and then working steps on how to get there. We�…started by approaching a venue and asking if we can do our show for free on a Sunday and they said sure, we worked out our show, then realized in London there is quite a big cabaret scene there�…we looked at the length of our show and the places and festivals we

wanted to play�…we worked out a big step by step plan of how we wanted to make that happen. A wise man once said you have to put on your business card what you want to be not what you are. I think in creative industries a lot of people

odds of it just happening are very small. You have to make a plan and follow it through. To really know what you want and work out how to get it.

Pertinent advice.

Nicholas D is studying a Bachelor of Writing & Publishing at NMIT�’s Fair eld campus. The more often he is published, the more often his family (and his lawyer) request he stops using his last name. He writes about

not writing at

meenwhylemedia.com.

FEATURE