“People Show goes where other companies fear to tread”

Forty years ago, People Show Cabaret toured the world and its four protagonists were dubbed ‘the Beatles of performance art’.

With the company now archiving and reflecting on their first 50 years, People Show surge onwards into the next half-century with their new show.

“From the troubadours of the Parisian boulevards of yesteryear to the dark global corporate domination of today, People Show 137: God Knows How Many will take you to precisely nowhere. But on the way you will laugh and feel a sense of what it is we might all be doing here.

“New and, on the other hand, old. Years of tumbling, verbal and musical gymnastics are re-visited and taken to the next dimension. A darker dimension where the black hole of life itself, after all those years, is finally challenged.”

Here are company members Emil Wolk and Mark Long to tell us more.

Tell us a little about the show and what form it takes. Does it have a linear narrative, or is it more a series of sketches / episodes?
Mark: It has a linear narrative although, as with most People Shows, that narrative may not be immediately apparent. Hopefully it emerges in different ways for different people. In the same way that all of us carry our own individual narratives. It is the moments where they touch that interest me.

People Show bring their 137th production to Tobacco Factory Theatres from March 12-14. Pics: Sheila Burnett

Emil: The show has an ‘internal narrative’ which will be recognised by some and not others: it is difficult to explain because this narrative line takes on different manifestations dependent on the person who recognises the depth of what is being presented.

What seems absurd is in fact absolutely true and has occurred in reality. Talking with audience members, we found that many have recognised that there is a thread that interlinks everything in this show. Perhaps it can be taken as ‘the absurdity of life’, or in some cases ‘the poignancy of death’ – but these are just two among many interpretations. The narrative is in the beholder.

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For curious audiences, how would you characterise the People Show style… or is it uncategorisable?
Mark: Uncategorisable is the word I would use. Unfortunately, this has been our undoing. It makes it difficult for people like yourself to write about us. Most don’t bother, and we tend to be dismissed.

Emil: People Show doesn’t have a style. Each show differs with the unique approach of those involved in its creation. There is no script and no director, only the individual strengths or indeed ‘failings’ of all those involved. For me, the main thing is collaboration.

What do you think has kept the company going so long and so fruitfully?
Mark: The fact that we are a collection of people from all the art forms – and that we are genuinely democratic. People Show is not an outlet for individual egos. And yet it is not a ‘collective’, which is generally just an excuse for lazy mediocre work.

Emil: The company recognises the importance of each individual in the creative process. It is not something ‘imposed’, as it would be with a script or director or indeed the frightful power of some producers. And in my opinion (and it is for the others to express theirs, which might be totally different!) I can express ideas, tendencies, upbringing and experiences like traumas and confusions that wouldn’t even be given the time of day in a commercial production. People Show ‘goes where other companies fear to tread’ – so People Show rarely if ever dates.

Does People Show in 2020 have broadly the same vision, style, aspirations etc as it did in 1970?
Mark: Yes. The aspirations now somewhat tempered by experience. The vision unaltered. The style more assured and practiced.

Plus any reflections from the company’s history that anyone would like to add in.
Mark: Read my book Nobody Knows but Everybody Remembers.

Emil: In my case, several productions have contained family members and those who I have worked with for so many years and have become close to and love, some of whom are no longer alive, which pushes my involvement beyond the phrase ‘working colleagues’ to something far more significant in my life. People Show has left an indelible mark on me that can never be forgotten in terms of gratitude and personal development.

People Show 137: God Knows How Many is at Tobacco Factory Theatres from March 12-14. For more info and to book tickets, visit www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com/shows/people-show-137-god-knows-how-many

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