#simonjaycomedy

On Sunday we (as in "Simon") performed at The Hen & Chickens Theatre Bar in Islington - and ended up competing with the Wimbledon finale and the first bit of hot weather we've EVER had in Britain, which affected the turnout quite severely (what's the opposite of a sell-out)? 

But, still, we had enough people to fill in the front row, and they left happy. We were thankful to have been visited by David Benson, a well-known West End actor and comedian, and a very nice man, who was very positive about the show and gave us lots of advice for the future.  

Also in the audience was my best friend from home, and it was the first time she'd seen the show, or in fact anything I've ever done (actually staged), and she left happy - despite being picked on for the "audience interaction" bit. (She was particularly fond of the phrase "minge farmer"). 

And we also had a critic come along, who looked very critical throughout the whole thing (it's probably in the job description). My instinct tells me the review won't be a wholly positive one, but I'll wait and see. (We'll post it either way, along with our thoughts). 

My biggest observation was the difference between a large audience, and a small audience. When the audience is packed, there's an energy that Simon plays to, almost like in a studio audience sitcom - everything is heightened and everything lands. When it's a small audience, it feels harder. As part of the small crowd, you're aware that you're it - you're all that's there to stop this from being very quiet and awkward. You almost feel a sort of "pressure" to laugh at the funny bits; it almost becomes a duty, rather than pleasure - even when it is pleasurable - which creates a kind of atmosphere. Even though the quality of the performance is exactly the same, I think there's definitely something different about the energy of a smaller crowd, compared to a packed audience.

But these things can't be helped, and are part of the job! 

We've also started to think a lot more about our audience... who are we aiming this at? How do we get it "out there"? It's a very niche show, very hard to market - and as we're now learning - VERY hard to get funding for! We want to keep the crowds big - just because it's much more fun, and there's a better energy. So that's our new mission, as we continue to embark on our tour.

Hopefully we'll make a good start tomorrow, when Simon performs at the Solo Festival in London. (We just ended on a plug... how naughty)! Details below! 

Scott x 

9th/10th July - Solo Festival, 8.30pm

51 Camden Park Road London NW1 9BH 

The show: 

http://simonjaycomedy.tumblr.com/about

The tour: 

All the way back in 2010, when the Coalition was in its honeymood period (I don't think it was ever in its honeymoon period - there was a rose garden wasn't there), I embarked on my first one man show as part of our University work placement. 

The premise of which was so meta it intentionally disappeared up its own arsehole, the show was a one man show about putting on the one man show that you were watching, called 'How To Put On A One Man Show', and I was recording the experience as I went along. The only problem was I wasn't mentally very well at the time, and the text that I eventually wrote, was an incomprehensible mess, involving 'mood dolls', 'strange smells' and some rather questionable poetry - it was odd, let's just leave it at that - I was bored by it, I had booked 4 days at the sheephaven bay as part of The Camden Fringe 2010, but I had trouble learning the script, as I loathed it so much.... 

I did a mini-preview that I just improvised with a friend I just met, Sara Abed, (at a poetry venue) I called her Minty and thrust a camera in her hand, it had nothing to do with the one-man show... 

I then had a preview on a boat, which also had nothing to do with the script I wrote, where Sara had to dress up as a nurse. I came on in a wheelchair, quoting the Koran and rambled through 55 minutes with a strange collaged board - and a rather petrifying rendition of 'they'll always be an england'.... I was spent, running on empty, and I still hadn't learnt any of the script, so what did I do - erm - well write an odd essay about how I wasn't going to do it, and then erm... didn't do it.... 

But as Albert Einstein said out of each destructive act comes a constructive one - Scott, who had seen the preview, said 'Oh I didn't think the show would be like that, I thought you'd be playing lots of characters, that would refer to a Simon Jay', that wasn't actually me, and thus the one-man show was born. 

I remember our first meeting where we worked out the chronology of characters we'd cover over the course of Simon's life, I think only one scene from this original outline still exists in the 10th draft... ooh or two...: 

 (AGE: 0) NURSE - Throws the baby about

(AGE: 5) MOTHER - Drug-dealer on the phone, gives Si a knife, told to play with his lil sis.

(AGE: 10) BARRISTER - Inept, compares defence to a pop song, boy is sent down. 

(AGE: 15) SOCIAL WORKER - Fay social worker teaches masturbation 

(AGE 20) Poss. ARMY SERGEANT - From (Salvation Army) 

(AGE: 25) Corporate Away day for Big Issue Vendors. 

(AGE: 30) Mother embarrasses everyone at his 30th Birthday party.

(AGE: 35) Meets (OLD/WEIRD/FREAKY) Wife. 

(AGE: 40) WEDDING SCENE lots of characters 

(AGE: 45) His Son leaving for boarding school in Canada/Congo/Australia/Austria?

(AGE: 50) Cashier deals with cash problem unsympathetically 

(AGE: 55) Psychiatrist's chair - Unorthodox 'Doctor Electrodes' (Will Explain) 

(AGE: 60) Mother on her death-bed. 

(AGE: 65) Chris Tarrent or someone of his Ilk.... revealed as Father.

(AGE: 70) Bizzare Death/Murder (Perhaps socratian) (Again will explain ;)) 

(DEAD) Mortician plays around with his corpse.

(DEAD) Vicar gives eulogy although under the influence of a star trek book, shits in coffin? 

HEAVEN - big ending - song - all the characters faces poke out the clouds.....