We chatted to the actor about starring in Hold Onto Your Butts, the parody of Jurassic Park coming to the Arcola Theatre before embarking on a UK tour.
What can audiences expect from Hold On To Your Butts? A fast-paced shot for shot parody of everyone’s favourite dinosaur movie, with energy, playfulness, joy, sincerity and a sense of (hopefully organised) chaos. The structure of the production follows the movie but there’s a lot of room for play, improvisation, and trying to make each other laugh. We never quite know what to expect onstage, and I hope the audience will love joining us on the journey whether they’re super fans of the movie or not.
What was it that made you want to be part of the production? When the team were casting and I saw that they were looking for actor/singer/musicians with comedy experience and an aptitude for recreating sound effects with their voice (to play the role of Foley Artist), it was one of those extremely rare moments of seeing my exact skillset on a page. It was one of the most joyful audition experiences of my career, purely because of how silly it was – doing the foley for the show in front of an audition panel without any other actors in the room is like something from a fever dream. I have a comedy background that I haven’t connected with as deeply since the pandemic, so I was overjoyed to join the team, and that joy has been building ever since.
Can you remember the first time you watched Jurassic Park? I have a confession to make. Before preparing for rehearsals I thought it would be a grand idea to refresh my memory of the classic film and enjoy it objectively one last time before starting to analyse every moment (and sound effect). After enjoying the opening scenes and chuckling with recognition at all the famous bits I quickly realised I’d only seen parts of it and had never actually seen the film the whole way through. Embarrassing. Thankfully, I loved every second. I’ve enjoyed it many times more since. I even read the book. And The Lost World. Now I like dinosaurs, a lot.
How has it been working on the production so far?It’s been so exciting joining a show that’s already had success in the USA and at the Edinburgh Fringe. The nuts and bolts of the production have been tried and tested on both sides of the pond now, but we’ve had so much room to play around within that structure and make it our own. Every day has been collaborative, hilarious, and completely ridiculous. If audiences have half as much fun watching it as we’ve had rehearsing it, we’re all in for the best time.
What are you most looking forward to about taking the show out on tour? I look forward to bringing accessible comedy to audiences outside of London. I’m very intrigued to see how different parts of the show land with different audiences across the country in theatres with different auditorium sizes and configurations. I also love being a tourist in UK cities and seeing all the sights! Some of the theatres on the tour schedule are absolute bucket list venues for me, including ones I regularly attended growing up that made me fall head over heels in love with theatre in the first place. I can’t wait to bring new audiences into our world of joy and nonsense.
By Emma Clarendon
Hold On To Your Butts runs at the Arcola Theatre from the 10th December until 11 January before heading out on a UK Tour. www.holdontoyourbutts.com