A pull-quote. I have a pull-quote.
"Jonah Non Grata" is getting another London outing! Next Saturday the nineteenth of July, at 9.30pm up the stairs of that old stalwart of the Edinburgh preview – but a duck-breaking first for me – the Hen and Chickens pub in Islingon. You can get tickets for just (over) a tenner
HERE, and if you have any further questions... well, maybe I've answered them below. Maybe not. Maybe you have some questions about my answers. (And if any of them concern the penultimate anwer, I had a lovely meeting about the book on Monday: Apparently, translation
rights are where a lot of the money is in childrens' writing. France doesn't like mermaids,
because they're sleazy, and – possibly for the same reason – Germany does not like circuses, so take note.)
(Also here are some gorgeous, unpublished Hobbit illustrations from Eva Natus-Šalamounová and her husband Jiří, on display HERE, in Prague, which was yesterday. A good week.)
I now have quite a few articles to to-do over the next few days plugging the show, so let's see how many more end up on here. Apologies in advance. Take it away,
Caro Moses of THREE WEEKS...
As you know – because we are always talking about it – we like new
stuff here at TW Towers. But you know what, we also like stuff that was
first really good a few years ago and which is now getting another run.
And all that relates to the show ‘Jonah Non Grata’, which was
originally staged in London back in 2004 to much acclaim, and is going
to Edinburgh this year. It’s the work of Simon Kane, an actor and writer
who has worked on loads of stuff I love from various media, like
‘Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme’ and ‘Ghosts’.
‘Jonah Non Grata’ is an absurdist solo show based on the events that
befell the biblical Jonah and I wanted to find out more about it. I put
some questions to Simon ahead of his upcoming edfringe run.
Can you start by explaining the premise of ‘Jonah Non Grata’? Who is it about and what story does it tell?
Inasmuch as it tells a story, it’s the Book Of Jonah, as in Jonah and the whale.
A very short, possibly satirical shaggy dog story from the Old
Testament about a prophet who refuses the call, tries to run away, is
swallowed by a large fish sent by God, does what He wants, but is
ultimately disappointed by the outcome.
The “premise” of the show, however, is that you don’t need to know
any of this, but will nevertheless spend an hour not being bored.
It’s a solo sequel to work I did with a beautiful immersive
collective called Shunt, whose greatest review may have come from
someone who’d missed the opening forty minutes of one show and so could
just enjoy what they saw without worrying about being expected to get
it.
What themes are explored through the play?
Exactly the same themes as ‘Hamlet’? Yeah, I’m happy with that answer…
Refusing the call to adventure. The comforts of inaction. Weighing
one’s love for people against one’s anger at the world. The very nature
of performance. Depression. Loneliness. Christianity. Extremism.
All that. But with songs and a bit where he thinks he’s gone to the moon.
How would you describe it in terms of style or genre?
Pop absurdist clowning. A strange world on a tight budget. A church for a churchless faith.
What was the inspiration for this piece?
A lot of friends were making solo shows that weren’t particularly
text-based and, although I love writing, I wanted to join in making
something more in the clown genre.
One of those friends’ shows was about the performer’s Jewishness,
“although,” as he said, “I’m not Jewish, because I don’t believe in
God”, so I realised that even though I’m an atheist, I’m also, similarly
– or at least culturally – a Christian, and that engaging with this big
mood might be a good starting point.
I’d also been thinking about the very first plays in English:
Mysteries, which might read like spoofs but were the work of people who
absolutely believed in the biblical reality of what they were
performing, and so I thought about writing my own. You know, something
“traditional”.
Initially, I had considered the various accounts of what Jesus got up
to after returning from the dead, but then, after reading a note about
Jonah in Alasdair Gray’s ‘Lanark’, I opted for this Old Testament alt,
as he seemed a good clown.
I’ve always liked comedies about heroes who run away – I would later
make a Radio 4 show called ‘Time Spanner’ about something similar – and a
show that plays with thresholds is a good, cheap concept – every venue
has doors.
As I mentioned, a third influence was the show I’d just been
performing with Shunt, ‘Dance Bear Dance’, a clownish immersive piece
about the Gunpowder Plot coincidentally devised during the opening
months of the War On Terror.
I wanted to play more both with the idea of making an audience
complicit in a religiously motivated act of violence – but with laffs –
and the idea of presenting a surreal church service as a basis for
audience interaction – it’s nice if the audience has some clue as to
what’s expected of them.
My work with Shunt in general also made me want to ensure every show
was different and surprising, hence the levels of audience
participation, as it used to be called. Basically, everything I do in
the show is built upon things I’d already enjoyed doing, and had seen
people enjoy me doing.
It’s been quite a while since you first performed it – what motivated you to revive it now?
I missed it. And I’d landed an advert, so could afford to take it to
Edinburgh. The show had never had a proper launch. It was just a thing I
did, that people liked.
But I’m finally now beginning to learn, not only how to make a show,
but how to keep it alive, something I’d never known how to do on my own
before.
Also, I’m seeing less and less stuff like it, and wanted to see if
there was still an appetite for this kind of recklessly – if not
irresponsibly – personal silliness. I think you can do anything onstage.
I hope this show communicates that.
Has the show changed at all in the meantime?
Barely. I’ve written a few more jokes about the nature of audience
interaction to help me get from A to B. And I might not use a real
candle any more, but that’s actually funnier. One of the things that’s
so exciting to me is how much it still chimes, but how differently.
You haven’t brought it to the Fringe before – why not before and why now?
See my previous answer! I couldn’t afford it. I didn’t know how. And I
can now and I know how. But also, I think my confidence in the show has
grown.
There are a lot of things I’ve wanted to make a show about right now, but it turns out Jonah is still that show.
Are there any post Fringe plans for the show?
Hopes, currently, rather than plans. This is why I’ve got a producer. I
very much want to just get it in front of as many people as possible
for as long as possible.
It’s my clown show. But I’m also curious how it works as a play text. Theatrical criticism is still very ‘play’-based.
What do you like about the Fringe? What will you get up to in Edinburgh when not performing?
It’s people making things. I’ll see things. Sometimes I’ll see five
things in a day and they’ll form into one big thing in my mind. It’s
magic.
So do you have a hit list of other shows you would like to see?
I like finding out what’s interesting once I’m up there, but I will
definitely be seeing ‘Simple Town’, and I will definitely be seeing Neil
Frost’s ‘The Door’.
What drew you to performing as a career? Was it what you always wanted to do?
I could do it. I could hide in plain sight.
My Dad’s an actor and a writer, but he mainly stayed at home on the
typewriter when we were growing up, which was very nice for us.
His brother, however, my wonderful Uncle Gordon, was a proper
jobbing, touring actor, and we loved him, and everyone loved him, and
acting professionally seemed a very nice, fun, feasible way to not grow
up.
In that sense, yes, it’s something I always wanted to do.
I have to say that you’ve been involved to a greater or lesser extent
with some of my Very Favourite Things. What would you say have been the
highlights of your career thus far?
That’s nice! I
don’t really think I have a career, because it’s so often work with
friends, but I suspect they’re definitely My Very Favourite Things too,
and it’s a broad if not hefty mix.
I think the work with John Finnemore is unique in that it has fans
who will be fans until I die. Cunningly, however, it’s all been
highlights.
Even the terrible work has been with brilliant people, and having
brilliant people in your life is the very best thing. I’ve only one
rule: never ever work with or for the bored.
What aims and ambitions do you have for the future?
I think I still want to do everything.
What’s coming up next for you after this?
I’ve no idea. The next show? I’ve written a screenplay. I’m writing a
book. I guess the next thing – now I seem to have worked out how making a
show works – is to work out how all that other stuff works too.
Simon Kane will perform ‘Jonah Non Grata’ at The Assembly Rooms from 31 Jul – 24 Aug, find the edfringe listing here.
... But you guys knew that.
