WINDOW: Luke Rollason's Planet Earth

WINDOW is Brighton Fringe's Arts Industry showcase created to develop and encourage artists ready for the next step in their career. We spoke to Luke Rollason of Bright Buoy Productions, whose show Luke Rollason's Planet Earth was selected as a WINDOW participant.


WINDOW: Luke Rollason's Planet Earth

Could you first introduce yourself to the readers?

I'm Luke Rollason. I'm a clown, physical comedian and part-time vegetarian.

Could you describe your act for us?

My show is a low-budget, one-man nature documentary that sees me create the third series of David Attenborough's Planet Earth by myself on stage - armed only with office supplies and a surreal imagination. This ecological clown show sees a shower of paperclips becomes the birthing of thousands of seahorses, a hummingbird hovers with the help of a pair of desk fans, and a spider swings from a cellotape web.

Why did you want to perform at Brighton Fringe?

Last year the Brighton Fringe inspired me to create this show - in the sense that I applied asking myself "if I was to apply to perform at the Brighton Fringe, what show would I pretend to have created". That run of an earlier version of this show at the Warren last year was really life-changing, as it led to a short run at the Edinburgh Fringe (and a full run this year). This is a bit of a homecoming. Having elected the country's only Green MP, Brighton is the perfect home for a show about lost causes - and about trying to transform a hopeless world with a little imagination.

Why did you decide to apply for WINDOW?

The Brighton Fringe was the first festival I performed at where I didn't feel like my work was getting completely drowned out. I really got to know my venue and the crew, and we really felt part of a community whilst there. It helped it was also the first time I was performing my own work as well - the kind of work I want to continue to make in the future. So, WINDOW felt like a great extension of what was special about the festival in the first place - the Brighton Fringe is big enough to provide excellent opportunities, and small enough to give you a chance! WINDOW is all about helping artists take the next step in their career - but I think you need to take that first step yourself. 

How did you react to being told you’d been selected to be showcased?

I was really, really relieved. It's very tough producing your own show, and any help available is a massive relief.

How has it helped you so far?

It has given me and my work legitimacy in the eyes of my parents.

What is the best part of your job?

People have given up asking me what I do for a living. This saves me a lot of time that I could otherwise spend writing jokes. I don't spend this time writing jokes, however. Apart from that one!! That was a joke.

The actual best part of my job is laughter.

Conversely, what has been the most challenging?

Avoiding being sued by any large National Broadcasting Corporations who may be responsible for a certain television series that my show is loosely inspired by.

Do you have any pre-show rituals?

Panic. The set-up for my show is utterly ridiculous and involves dragging a suitcase with a battered old overhead projector (which we are never sure will survive each show) thousands of paperclips and metres of masking tape from venue to venue. This doesn't leave a lot of room for pre-show rituals!

Most shows begin with me compressed in a curtained metre-cube of backstage space, wearing an office lamp on my head in order to play an angler fish, listening to the audience enter to The Circle of Life from The Lion King (which really gets you in the mood). I love this moment. It's utterly terrifying.

What is the process you go through when looking to create a new show? Are you very disciplined or do you need to be strict with yourself?

This is the closely-kept secret of the Luke Rollason Process:

Get Obsessed Over An Idea, Tell Everyone You Are Going To Do It, Panic. You now have to do it. Backtrack. Change your mind. Change the idea. It's now a film! It's now a book! It's a show again! It's a show but it'll be filmed! In a book!

But in general, the more joyful the process, the better. I created Luke Rollason's Planet Earth in my bedroom with one of my best friends. We finished the show the day before we first performed it. But a joyful process results in a joyful show.

I think doing the thing you really want to do is easier than not doing it. Unconsciously, you are putting more effort and love into it than all your other obligations - so I'm not sure if being strict with yourself is the answer. We convince ourselves that work must feel like work, and if it doesn't then we must find ways to make it harder for ourselves. I think that's unnecessary.

On the other hand, if having a good time and doing what you loved was easy, then everyone would do it.

What has been the single best piece of advice you’ve been given in your career?

Try not to get sued by any National Broadcasting Corporations.

or

"We are always searching. When you find your style, that is a good day to die" - Philippe Gaulier.

or

"Relax your face" - Jamie Wood.

What do you think has been the most dramatic change to the industry in the last five years?

This is a really hard question. For my particular corner of the "industry", I think Dr Brown winning the Edinburgh Comedy Award changed peoples' perception of performers who called themselves clowns... I don't think the term is any less misunderstood, I just think there's now a perception that it refers to a zeitgeist-y avant-garde form of comedy. I'm not sure if that's a more helpful perception to have to compete with when you're performing. But "Clown" remains a relatively open and welcoming term, I think.

I think a dramatic change that is in the process of taking place is the increasing polarisation of expensive commercial venues, and free/pay what you want venues - and the dawning realisation of the viability of the latter model for the venues, the audiences and the artists. I think alternative business models are emerging which are actually better business - whereas the traditional models are finding themselves having to continually grow (and become less sustainable) in order to survive.

If you could have any other job in the world, what would it be?

Jacques Cousteau.

or

Double bassist in the lounge band that plays hold music when you are calling the bank.

Imagine you possess the power to send one message back in time to 16-year-old you. What do you say?

Stop eating animals all the time.

or

Start learning how to juggle now so I can impress people at parties please.

or

Call me back if this isn't a good time.

What advice would you give to young people who want to enter the industry? What should they do and not do?

Find what you love and do it. Doing is the most important thing.                           

Where can people find you on the internet, and find out more about your show?

You can follow me on Twitter @LukeRollason, on Facebook @LukeRollasonIsAClown, or you can follow me home at night.
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Author

Tom Inniss

Tom Inniss Voice Team

Tom is the Editor of Voice. He is a politics graduate and holds a masters in journalism, with particular interest in youth political engagement and technology. He is also a mentor to our Voice Contributors, and champions our festivals programme, including the reporter team at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

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1 Comments

  • Kayt Button

    On 27 April 2018, 10:39 Kayt Button commented:

    I really enjoyed this interview and found myself laughing much to the chargrin of my colleagues! Any show that starts with someone with a lamp strapped to their head to impersonate an angler fish has to be worth seeing!! Hope it all goes well - I doubt he needs to juggle at parties to be interesting!

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