|
The
Crazy World of Camille O'Sullivan (part 1)
Performing Hazards - Life
on the Road
Building Connections
In a previous life, before falling for the lure of the greasepaint and
the sleazy underworld of Jacques Brel songs, Camille was a talented
architect. The two parts of her life were quite separate until one fateful
night, a few months ago in Dublin, when she was booked as "a special
turn" for a large office party.
Dressed in fishnets and blonde wig as Naughty Lola, she jumped out in
spectacular style from behind a huge birthday cake. Staring back were
the shocked faces and open mouths of previous clients and colleagues.
Instinct (and panic) took over as she quickly turned to the cake and
started investigating it for shoddy workmanship. "This definitely
needs double "glacing"" she said as she beat a hasty
exit. She had many offers to return to architecture that night, but
fortunately for Edinburgh audiences she decided to stick to the dark
side!
Fairy Tale of Dublin
A Christmas Party, December 2003. Camille's mobile rang. She was shocked
to hear the unmistakable drawl of Shane McGowan - Ireland's "man
of many words and few teeth"! She dropped the mince pie half way
to her mouth as he asked if she could get down to the Olympia Theatre
in 20 minutes to duet with him on Fairy Tale of New York. 5 minutes
later she was cycling like mad through the streets of Dublin, with the
song lyrics pinned to the handlebars of her bike, memorising them as
she pedalled. Their performance went down a storm with the 1,000 capacity
audience, as she waltzed around the stage with a man she admits to being
one of her heroes.
Smoking v No Smoking Venues
A small venue in Dublin.
A packed audience of around 100 people.
Partway into the 3rd song, Camille started to think that the smoke machine
was being just a bit overenthusiastic. The audience was starting to
disappear in the haze. Not to mention the odd smell. Not before time
FOH realised that in fact the stage curtains were on fire and the entire
audience was quickly evacuated. Not one to sit still for long, Camille
performed another couple of numbers on the pavement before the venue
was eventually declared safe.
It Never Rains, but…
A few years ago, on tour with her Camille Sings Brel show, Camille was
singing My Death - a song which she sang while remaining stock still
throughout. It had been stormy all day and suddenly part of the glass
roof overhead shattered spectacularly, under the pressure of the constant
rain. True to her art, Camille remained in position, scarcely skipping
a beat, as the tiny bits of glass showered around her, with the revolving
disco ball swinging precariously just above her head. The recent deluge
in Edinburgh brought this experience back to mind with vivid clarity
- especially during the thunder and lightning storm which accompanied
her recent Dark Angel performance in the Spiegeltent.
Other Side of the Tracks
A small cabaret venue had been set up for the recent Dublin Fringe.
It was so compact that there was no set storage space at all. Most of
the acts had very little in the way of sets or props. Except one company
who had built a set of railway tracks right through the centre of the
venue (and to a standard of solidity that would have made a navvy proud!).
Camille had to perform her set stepping over the lines.
|
