Broadway Baby talks to Rebecca O'Brien, joint artistic director of Knuckle and Joint about their upcoming show The Black Hoods Cabaret, which promises adult humour, puppet murder and puppet nudity!
The Black Hoods Cabaret is an adult puppetry sketch show full of an assortment of silly and nonsensical humour. There is minimal spoken language and it can be enjoyed by international audiences.
Tell us about your show
Marvel at an eerie-looking pair of puppeteers in their manipulation of a variety of different puppets in a bizarre and slightly surreal series of events. The Black Hoods Cabaret is an adult puppetry sketch show full of an assortment of silly and nonsensical humour. There is minimal spoken language and it can be enjoyed by international audiences. In a chaotic battle between puppeteer and puppet, The Black Hoods Cabaret will throw you right into the middle of the action (or slapstick)!
Why did you decide to take your show to Space UK this year?
We want to premiere The Black Hoods Cabaret at Space UK to reach international audiences on a daily basis at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. This production is accessible to international audiences as it uses silent comedy so all nationalities can laugh together. We want to be a part of a fantastic, vibrant festival and contribute to the exciting comedy and growing puppetry scene at the Fringe.
Have you brought a show to the festival before?
Yes, we have previously performed with another puppetry company, Little Cauliflower, in Street Dreams (Underbelly, Cowgate, 2011), The Night of the Big Wind (Underbelly, Cowgate, 2012) and The Machine (Pleasance Courtyard, 2012).
What makes your show unique amongst the thousands of others at the festival?
It is a puppet cabaret that uses dark humour, silent comedy, puppet nudity, plenty of self deprecation and murder. This is a puppet cabaret for adults and will stand out in the late night comedy scene of Edinburgh Fringe.
What has been the biggest challenge in getting your show ready for Edinburgh?
Trying to direct puppets! Absolute divas! Never punctual!
And finally, how did you create your show?
The Black Hoods Cabaret was born out of Knuckle and Joint’s enthusiasm to get involved in cabaret circuits and create a puppetry production specifically for adults. We first showed a 15 minute work-in-progress at Puppet Place’s Smoking Puppet Cabaret in Bristol in November 2013. Encouraged by positive feedback we continued to develop the short cabaret and took it to other scratch nights around East Kent. Our finished performance of the 15 minute edition premiered at New Diorama Theatre in February 2014 as part of their short form theatre evening, No Such Thing. A 45 minute edition was also shown at the International Youth Arts Festival in July 2014.
Venue Theatre 3, Surgeons Hall
Dates 7th-22nd August
Times 22:10 - 23:10
Twitter Handle @KnuckleAndJoint
