What's On Stage interview with Camille O'Sullivan.
Camille O'Sullivan - The Dark Angel Multi-award-winning chanteuse, Camille O'Sullivan, has toured the world with her unique Cabaret performance style. Trained as an architect, the multi-talented Camille is also a proficient painter, actress and singer. Following 5 star sell our performances in New York, Sydney, Edinburgh and London, she now brings her critically acclaimed show, The Dark Angel, including work from Nick Cave, David Bowie, Tom Waits and Jacques Brel, to London's Roundhouse on 14 January. We sat down for a chat and asked her what being a cabaret performer is really all about.
What one achievement are you most proud of?
Hmmm.That I was crazy enough to leave being an Architect and become a performer and manage myself. And that I'm still doing it.
What is the best thing about being a cabaret star?
An excuse to feel the most alive when performing on stage, connecting to an audience, living in fantasy land and dressing up (I'm not good at reality).
And the worst?
When the fantasy is over, the slight embarrassment you feel after you've finished a show and wondered why the band hadn't tried to stop you rolling on the floor, climbing on somebody in the audience and falling off the table spilling wine over you. Organizing my life and tours is a wee bit of a nightmare too.
What attracted you to cabaret?
It began when my French mother introduced me to the dramatic emotive music of Jacques Brel and when I discovered the old German Weimar 1920's Kabarett music of Hans Eisler, Friedrich Hollaender and Kurt Weill. The Weimar songs are essentially narrative stories, a combination of poetry, politics, witty satire and song (which blossomed in reaction to strict morality laws whilst holding a mirror to society) Cabaret has a confrontational quality about it and, like theatre, it entertains, but, more importantly, it exists to make you think and reflect. There is an intenseness in delivery that is very similar to an actor doing a monologue, while in this case it is mixed with music and about inhabiting the song- making it your own-almost as if in conversation with the audience- yet there is no fourth wall.
That started my obsession with narrative song. I loved the fact that you could become a different character on stage, exploring every different aspect of yourself vulnerable, humorous, sexual, dark etc There is something very special in being a few feet away from the audience, involving them in a very direct and very personal manner, displaying vulnerability, anger, passion and humour, becoming many different characters but still being you. Though written by others, you must make the song your own, it helps when you're moved and obsessed by the songs!
Tell us a little about your background and the path that led you to cabaret.
I was raised in a village outside Cork city Ireland by an Irish racing driver father and French artist mother who instilled a real love of music, theatre, art and dance in my sister and I, so, after I became a painter and architect, it's no surprise that I left it all behind for the 'stable' life of a performer! My parents had a great, eclectic vinyl collection and introduced my love of Jacques Brel, Serges Gainsbourg, and David Bowie whilst growing up. Though not formally trained, I acted and sang throughout my college years, yet Cabaret was to be a big discovery for me. As an Architecture student living in Berlin I started to hang out in the smoky 'Kabarett' clubs where I first heard the music of Eisler, Hollaender and Weill. I hadn't heard that type of music before - telling stories in song (political, sexual, and emotional) and became obsessed with finding out more.
I loved the emotive quality -it ranged from funny to desolate, to harsh, sometimes creating a dangerous, uncomfortable atmosphere, other times sheer elation. Compared to the Jazz standards I'd previously sung - where it was more about the melody and how beautifully you sing - cabaret was more about theatre, a character, and using music to tell a story.
When I returned to Dublin I began performing their work in the Da Club. It was there that I saw the late great Agnes Bernelle- one of the finest Kurt Weill performers I've ever seen, who had settled in Dublin from her native Berlin, an inspiring mentor to me she was real Kabarett, not the cliched version of fishnet stockings and feather boas, but an actress who 'lived in' the song.
Since those early days in Dublin, I've had an amazing journey travelling the world with the Famous Spiegeltent (with my solo shows and LA CLIQUE) and performing at the Sydney Opera House, Glastonbury, New York and recently on Jools Holland.
Tell us a little about this specific show and what we can expect.
The Dark Angel show involves singing the dark and light music of Nick Cave, Tom Waits, Brel, Weill and more with a band of seven musicians. It is like several different characters on stage whilst inhabiting each song you interpret. You can never be sure what direction the show may take as I like to reveal and surprise (through change of personality or clothes) whilst always having an element of questioning in it. Emotionally - it can be a roller coaster for the audience (and myself exploring it -I do not like to hold back on my emotions on stage!) Happy, sad, vicious, loving, cheeky - it's quite intense. It has the feeling of a contemporary Kabarett and I like to spend time setting the stage with old vintage dresses, candles, invoking an old atmosphere. I love the intensity of a sad poignant song but I also love to laugh or just break the mood by singing a fantastic upbeat song, just enjoying the music. Nothing is quite what it seems.
You have had some glowing reviews for your work. How do reviews affect you and do you pay attention to them?
It is always nice to receive praise for your work, but I tend to not read either the good or the bad. I tend to get upset at bad criticism and if you can't take the bad then don't look at making yourself feel better by just reading the good (also you can sometimes change your performance by believing too much in what they liked about you). Proper criticism is good so I am open to friends reading them and then telling me "well this critic had a point perhaps you should try it like this etc"..!
You have worked with LA CLIQUE, who seem to be getting ever stronger after their residency at the Hippodrome. What was your experience of working with them like?
I've had a wonderful journey from being part of the original cast in Edinburgh 2004 to running away with them and the Famous Spiegeltent and travelling all over the world in the last few years. It is as exciting now as it was then to be part of such a fantastic evening of talented varied acts who have become family, I still get a thrill to watch the acts and see the audiences' reaction- like children at their first circus show! Audiences really embrace the variety and joy of circus & cabaret although I think I might be the most normal thing in the show, and the most unfit! You have to see me beside the boy in the bath, the English Gents, beautiful Yulia, to see what I mean! I have been stopped several times last week from people who are still smiling from having seen the show in the Hippodrome which has turned out to be a perfect home for this mad wee circus.
What's On Stage
26 December 2008
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