The TigerFace Show - Q&A

The show has been described as ‘Wild. Wacky. Wonderful.’ Tell us more about it.

It has all the familiar feelings of the kids show we used to watch way back when. With anything we make we tend to approach it with a bit of chaos and an energy that can rattle the audience into a new mood. So, when we approached making our own Kids TV Show for adults, we wanted it to be as big and as strange as we remember the shows we watched. We’ve really worked to create a whole inward-logic for the world of the show, so everything makes sense, but at the same time is nonsensical. Because just think about any of the shows you used to watch; Teletubbies for example. SO WEIRD. Four sort-of-bears live in a hill, have televisions in their stomachs, eat custard and chase a sentient hoover around.

Where did the idea for The Tigerface Show come from?

The idea came from a photoshoot I did way back in 2011. I’d been paid to be dressed as a tiger and have photos taken against a jungle backdrop and shopping with kids. I knew the photographer, and he took a few photos in between the staged ones. He caught this moment, in which I was dressed ridiculously, but looked miserable. I wasn’t where I wanted to be, doing what I wanted to do, and I didn’t know how it had come to this. The show is an exaggeration and an extension of all those feelings.

You ask the audience what they want to be when they grow up. Our question to you is, what did you want to be when you became an adult?

I can’t tell you what I wanted to be when I grew up, it’d be a spoiler for the show! Truth is though I think I wanted to be many things, one specific thing was a specific man out of the Kays catalogue (remember that?) he wore a suit and carried a briefcase and was handsome. I just thought that’d be me one day… How wrong I was.

Is your favourite drink a Piña Colada?

Absooooolutely. Pina Colada is an adults drink that should be a kids drink, without the alcohol of course. For someone who doesn’t really like the flavour of booze it’s perfect for me’ sugary sweet, fruity and sometimes comes with a little umbrella in it!

Have you found childlike happiness in adulthood?

Yeah. And the show is about how I did that, and I hope it can be about how the audience might do that too.

Is there a serious underlying theme to your show?

There is. At its core the show is about mental health, my struggles with  mental health, and a general feeling I think almost all the “millennials” I know feel in some way. We were brought up in this colour filled time of prosperity and Americana, the world felt boundless, and then when adulthood hit we sort-of realised everything we were promised was a lie. You don’t always get to be what you wanted to be, you can’t always have what you want, and that’s okay. The show is about the discontentment of that, and how we might deal with it. It’s also about us, together, as a whole.

How much research have you done for The Tigerface Show?

We’ve worked extensively on the show. It’s been though R&D’s at The Bristol Old Vic and two supported by ACW. These have been amazing opportunities to explore the work in lots of different ways. We worked with children, with mental health professionals, with choreographers, designers, song writers, and now we’re finally ready to tour it!

What type of audience will enjoy your show?

I think they should be a bit adventurous, open to new experience and have a taste for a tiny bit of raucousness! There’s lots for people to enjoy, from the specifics to the overall feeling and experience. It’s a frantic show, and there’s no fourth wall, so I do talk to the audience, but not in a way that should make anyone feel nervous.

In your opinion, what’s the funniest part of the show?

I really like the character of Croc… I know I puppet him and do his voice, but sometimes the things he says catch me off guard. I particularly like how he approaches writing songs and tuning his voice for the tiny kids piano.

Do you have any future show plans and will you hit the road again with a brand new show?

I cannot wait to come to the Torch and meet the audiences you have there. It’d be amazing to make a connection with you all and then bring some future work back. All of my work looks to have a detailed conversation about mental health in an irreverent and surrealism way. I have one idea in the pipeline called Kara-okay, which is about a Karaoke Bar in which we deal with that tricky sentiment; ‘it’s okay to not be okay’.