Wednesday
Mar092011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011 at 2:45AM IF YOU LIKE OUR BLOG, PLEASE SHARE
Underclass Hero. Oval House Theatre Thursday 9th March 2011
REVIEWED BY MARTIN PERRY
In the middle of a small dark theatre space, lit by a single spotlight knelt the androgynous figure of La JohnJoseph, dressed in an electric blue shellsuit, head bowed, hands clutched as if in prayer. The wall in front of him was decorated with reflective shards of mirrored paper resembling a large arched stained glass window, or perhaps the head of a huge penis or is a bishops hat? Shiny silhouettes of rats rush up towards its centre.
Over the next hour we are taken on a journey, beginning with the Pope's first visit to UK in 1982, an event that also marked the date of our Underclass Hero's birth into a life of poverty in a Liverpool housing estate. Punctuated by iconic indie torch songs the formative years of La JohnJoseph are recounted, often surprising, sometimes funny but always poignant and unshrinkingly candid.
La JohnJoseph's studied delivery of his own exacting prose transported the audience into a vivid world of childhood turmoil, multiple house moves, an unending stream of 'stepfathers', of child abuse, a wayward mother, Catholisism and uplifting adolescent sexual explorations in the most ungodly of locations.
La JohnJoseph's haunting singing voice accompanied by violin and harmonium was the perfect tool to convey the mixture of melancholy and pathos. The makeshift screens, hung either side of the stage faintly reflected scenes form Thatcher's Britain subtly adding historical context to La JohnJoseph's monologue. By his own admission part Noel Coward, part Joan Crawford, part Penny Arcade, part Quentin Crisp La JohnJoseph owns the stage and brings vivid light and shade and not a little charm to what must clearly be a painful, yet cathartic story to tell. A story which on paper could sound depressing, but the overall effect of the show created the complete opposite effect. It was both life-affirming and heart-warming and I urge anyone with an interest in contemporary queer performance to seek out the next (as yet unannounced) performance from this most talented of orators.
Underclass Hero is the third of a trilogy of monologues, and I was left wishing I'd seen the other two. I'll certainly be first in the queue as and when La JohnJoseph's next sermon is delivered.
Underclass Hero was written and preformed by La JohnJoseph and directed by Jeffery Gordon, set design was by Stevie Hanley and musical accompaniment by Jordon Hunt on the Violin and Jack Tame on the harmonium. The show is a work in progress and is planned to be developed further so check La JohnJoseph's website for details.
Underclass Hero formed part the First Bites: Transgressions series taking place this month at the Oval House in Vauxhall a shining light of London's experimental Queer theatre. The same series will see the next offering by the Writer Director Nathan Evans I Love You But We Only Have Fourteen Minutes To Save The Earth. Watch this space for a blog by Nathan himself on the process of working on the piece which stars David Hoyle, Fancy Chance, Timberlina, and Bette Bourne with projections by video artist Kate Pelling.
Monday
Feb072011
Monday, February 7, 2011 at 10:07PM IF YOU LIKE OUR BLOG, PLEASE SHARE
PHOTOGRAPH: ADRIAN LOURIE
BY CIARAN RUA
La JohnJoseph’s choices growing up were to join the priesthood or the army. Luckily for us, he decided on neither and since then, the world of performance art hasn’t quite been the same. Upon meeting La JohnJoseph, one is initially struck by his idiosyncratic allure, an allure which was to become embedded on my memory after I had the pleasure of meeting him in Berkeley, California some years ago…
A self-styled transdrogynous performance artist, La JohnJoseph is quite unlike anything you’ve ever seen before and, for those of you who haven’t, keep your eye out for him, as you’ll never know when he will pop up. Right now, he’s hiding out somewhere in Berlin, after a successful run of his show, Underclass Hero in London.
Weaving together real events and experiences from his own life, Underclass Hero is the perfect introduction to the strange and bewitching creature that is La JohnJoseph. It is the third in a trilogy of memoir-based pieces which he has been working on for three years, culminating in his current pièce de résistance.
This transatlantic performer’s rise to stardom began when he was living in Berkeley in 2004. He had been asked to perform at a ‘gay prom’ which he later described as both “inane” and “mediocre” but which was to catapult him into the world of performance.
Having not come from a traditional theatre background, his only experience of performing before this had been working as a model (which he now speaks of negatively), explaining how it left him with the impression of having been used as an “artefact without consciousness”. La JohnJoseph decided, following his performance at the prom, to help establish ‘Boyfriend Robotique’, a troupe of performance artists whose own brand of irony and insanity brought them success along the West Coast of the United States.
This was followed with a tour of Paris, London and Liverpool (La JohnJoseph’s native city) where they were met with much acclaim. Following his work with Boyfriend Robotique, La JohnJoseph moved on to solo pieces whilst he was living in New York.
He was asked to perform at Dixon Place and it so happened that he concurrently had been thinking about writing an autobiography. He decided to use the text he had been working on and turn it into a show. This resulted in Notorious Beauty, his first memoir-based show. The following year witnessed the birth of I happen to like New York, the second in the trilogy.
La JohnJoseph’s shows are difficult to define, lying as they do in the margins of various genres. Perhaps this is appropriate for this transdrogynous performer who is equally as difficult to define, living as he does in the murky middle area between genders (he was first questioned about his gender at the age of 12). It is this undefinable mélange that makes his work so captivating and distinctive. They are points of transvergence for burlesque, drag, live art, cabaret, song and the absurd, all of which is overlaid with La JohnJoseph’s intelligent, witty and articulate observations. Such honest, heartfelt and engaging pieces of performance are to be missed at your own peril.
YOUR CHANCE TO CATCH LA JOHNJOSEPH'S SHOW: UNDERCLASS HERO, IN LONDON, IN MARCH:
La JohnJoseph “Underclass Hero” at Oval House
March 3rd, 4th , and 5th 2011
“Poutily poignant, bracingly glacial…A sublime young talent” – Time Out
The show is a frank, and almost charming tour of the artist’s formative years, in which La JohnJoseph tells all about life as an oversexed, underage Catholic on Liverpool’s most glamorous council estates. Part JT LeRoy, part Evelyn Waugh, part Jean Genet, the show is morbidly funny and genuinely raw, combining outspoken monologues with near the knuckle candor and tender ballads. Delivered in the wild and witty signature style, that made his previous show I Happen To Like New York such a hit, Underclass Hero offers indiscrete storytelling interspersed with reworked classics from Suede, Bowie and Broken Social Scene. A success at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern’s Hot August Fringe last Summer, “Underlcass Hero,” returns to London for three nights only.
Tickets are £5 and can be booked at www.ovalhouse.com or by calling 020 7582 7680
