James and Jamesy

Last updated

James and Jamesy are a Canadian clown duo, created by Aaron Malkin and Alastair Knowles with director David MacMurray Smith. [1] Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, they produce theatrical and other clown performances, blending theatre, physical comedy and dance, which typically include significant audience participation, [2] [3] breaking of the 4th wall [4] and improvisation on the part of the performers.

Contents

The duo also teach physical comedy, clowning and physical theatre classes and workshops in Vancouver and around the world.

Established in 2012, the duo has performed across the UK, USA and Canada, with notable highlights including sold out performances at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2017, [5] [6] and a 5 week run Off Broadway at New York's SoHo Playhouse in 2018. [6] As of 2020, their shows have sold over 60000 tickets and been performed more than 500 times globally. [1]

Origins

Aaron Malkin and Alastair Knowles met while working with a group of physical comedians and clowns in 2012 in Vancouver. [7] Alastair's character (aka. Jamesy), was improvised as part of the group work, and Malkin's character (James) was formed in reaction to, and to act as interlocutor for Jamesy. [2]

The two describe their shows as ready to perform but also "incomplete" and "works in progress", since they rely heavily on improvisation, audience participation and interaction. [2]

Shows

O Christmas Tea: A British Comedy

Performed since at least 2016, [8] [9] [10] the show mixes "Monty Python, Mr. Bean and Dr. Seuss". [11] The show has since become a christmas tradition, and the duo have toured and performed it on the west coast every December since (with the exception of 2020, due to Covid restrictions). [12]

As of 2021, the 23 city Christmas tour includes Vancouver, Seattle and Edmonton. [2]

James & Jamesy in the Dark

Debuted in May 2014, [13] [1] [14] the work starts with an unlit stage. Two strangers meet, each with a chair, and both attempting to place the chair on stage and then leave - and instead, they encounter each other and proceed from there. Trying to describe what goes on is "nearly impossible" [14] - since the performance depends deeply on audience participation, improvisation, and courageous breaking through the fourth wall.

The show was inspired by an after dark performance the two were hired to perform in 2014 at a music festival. [15]

The show has won numerous accolades and has been extremely well received by critics, with CBC reviewer Iris Yudai calling James and Jamesy "One of the most popular Fringe duos ever" [4]

High Tea

Performed since at least 2015. [16] The audience acts as a third character, Malkin describes the show as "having no fourth wall". [17]

2 for Tea

Performed in sold out performances at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2017. [5] [6]

---

The duo also perform individually under the James and Jamesy banner, and have had significant success with solo shows and performances, including Malkin's performances in Thunderfoot (nominated for Best Comedy at the Just for Laughs festival [18] [19] ) and Dandelion, and Knowles' performance in INK. [20]

Awards

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Improvisational theatre</span> Theatrical genre featuring unscripted performance

Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted, created spontaneously by the performers. In its purest form, the dialogue, action, story, and characters are created collaboratively by the players as the improvisation unfolds in present time, without use of an already prepared, written script.

Mump and Smoot are a Canadian clown duo created by Michael Kennard and John Turner, and directed by Karen Hines. Also referred to as 'clowns of horror', they've produced interactive, improvisational plays aimed squarely at adult audiences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rebecca Northan</span> Canadian actress

Rebecca Northan is a Canadian actor, improviser, theatre director, and creative artist. She is known for playing the hippie mother Diane Macleod on the CTV & The Comedy Network sitcom Alice, I Think and for her role as Jane in the independent film Adult Adoption. She is a graduate of the University of Calgary, and an alumna of the Loose Moose Theatre Company where she did her improv training with Keith Johnstone.

Becky Johnson is a Canadian comedian, writer, actress, improviser, craftsperson and organizer.

Greg Morrison is a Canadian composer and writer best known for his work on the Tony Award-winning musical The Drowsy Chaperone, written with songwriting partner, Lisa Lambert. The Drowsy Chaperone was their first collaboration. In 1999 Lambert asked Morrison to work on a musical to perform at the wedding stag party of their friends, Bob Martin and Janet Van De Graaff. Also a part of this original writing team was filmmaker, Don McKellar. That was the first incarnation of The Drowsy Chaperone. This was followed by an expanded production of the show at the Toronto Fringe festival, where Martin joined as a co-writer and performer.

Alan Clay is a film director, writer and clown teacher. In his early career he performed and taught extensively as a clown. He wrote three novels and a clown textbook. He went on to write and direct a short film and two feature films, which are adapted from his novels.

Frisky & Mannish is a British musical comedy double act, created and performed by singer Laura Corcoran and pianist-singer Matthew Floyd Jones. Known for their pop music parodies, the duo have toured the fringe festival and comedy festival circuits in the United Kingdom and Australia, and appeared on a number of British television and radio programmes. The act's name derives from two incidental characters mentioned in one couplet of Byron's Don Juan: "Lady Fitz-Frisky, and Miss Maevia Mannish, / Both longed extremely to be sung in Spanish"

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pippa Evans</span> British comedian

Pippa Evans is a British comedian, known for her work in character and improvisational comedy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Schave & Reilly</span>

Schave & Reilly are a modern-day version of Vaudeville’s “baggypants comedians" who perform physical comedy. The duo is the husband and wife team of Ben Schave and Caitlin Reilly who have worked together over ten years. The pair collaborate to create original material, using the themes of love, relationship, sports, and the workplace to develop their shows. Schave & Reilly are based in Austin, Texas. Trained at the schools of the Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre and the University of Texas, the couple met while learning their physical comedy craft at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Clown College. Both performers were influenced by performers such as Charlie Chaplin and by Ray Bolger, the scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz. Bolger was a vaudevillian dance performer whose work in the movie was derived from his vaudeville act.”

Showstopper! The Improvised Musical is an improvised comedy, musical theatre show founded in London in 2008. It has toured the UK extensively, usually sells out at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe every year, had its own BBC Radio 4 series in 2011 and performed a 10-week run in London's West End in 2015, for which it won an Olivier Award.

Ronald Pederson is a Canadian actor, comedian and theatre director who has worked extensively throughout Canada and in the United States. He has performed at most of Canada's major theatres including The Stratford Festival, The Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, The Citadel Theatre, Alberta Theatre Projects, The Arts Club, The Vancouver Playhouse, The Young Centre, The Canadian Stage Company, The Tarragon Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille, Soulpepper and The SummerWorks Festival. Pederson is an alumni of Toronto’s The Second City and has also worked extensively in television and may be best known for his Canadian Comedy Award-nominated work and his three seasons on Fox Television's MADtv.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mischief Theatre</span> British theatre company

Mischief Theatre is a British theatre company that was founded in 2008 by a group of students from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in West London, and directed by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields. The group originally began by doing improvised comedy shows, but by 2012 they expanded into comedic theatrical performances that includes choreographed routines, jokes, and stunts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natalie Palamides</span> American actress (born 1990)

Natalie Palamides is an American actress, comedian and television writer.

Motus O dance theatre is a Canadian contemporary dance company based in Stouffville, Ontario that began performing in 1990. They draw upon dance, street theatre, mime, slapstick, spoken word and video in their mission to create diverse and accessible works for all audiences. Motus O has created 25 full-length productions. In addition to performing Motus O conducts a variety of programs and workshops in the education and health care sectors. Motus O's longevity and their large output perhaps explain both admiring and less enthusiastic critics alike describing them as "renowned", "most successful" and as having a "formidable reputation." Motus O has also been actively involved in innovation in the arts in schools and their work is referenced in Canadian school curricula.

The 17th Canadian Comedy Awards, presented by the Canadian Comedy Foundation for Excellence (CCFE), honoured the best live, television, film, and Internet comedy from 1 January 2015 to 30 June 2016.

Jamillah Ross is a Canadian comedian, actress, and singer-songwriter. She trained through Toronto's The Second City and has performed in improvisation troupes and on stage, television and film. She was in the cast of Show Stopping Number which won a Canadian Comedy Award (CCA) for best improvisational troupe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John-Luke Roberts</span> British stand-up comedian, writer, actor and performer

John-Luke Roberts is a British stand-up comedian, writer, actor and performer.

Diana Frances is a Canadian comedian, writer, and business manager. She has written and performed comedy for stage, television and radio for three decades, and served as the managing director of the Vancouver-based Rock Paper Scissors comedy collective. She has been nominated for a Gemini Award and nine Canadian Comedy Awards.

<i>Austentatious</i> Long-form improvised comedy show

Austentatious (An Improvised Jane Austen Novel) is a long-form improvised comedy show, in the style of a Jane Austen novel, where each show is improvised by a six-strong cast, based on a title suggested by a member of the audience. Beginning in 2011 in London, the original cast members took the show to the Edinburgh Festival Free Fringe in the summer of 2012. Following their initial success, they began performing a monthly show in London, transferring to the West End in 2017, and have since performed on BBC Radio 4, on tour, and at the Edinburgh Fringe.

<i>Nate – A One Man Show</i> Performance by Natalie Palamides

Nate – A One Man Show is a performance by American comedian Natalie Palamides, which explores consent through the male character Nate. Through audience participation, Nate challenges his ex-girlfriend's new partner to wrestling, and goes on a date with his art teacher Miss Jackson. Initially touring to small audiences around the U.S., Ireland and the U.K., Nate drew attention at the 2018 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it won the Total Theatre Award. It was adapted into a Netflix special that was released on December 1, 2020.

References

  1. 1 2 3 ""James & Jamesy like 'Pixar meets Waiting for Godot' in critically-acclaimed international touring spectacle"". Campbell River Mirror. Campbell River Mirror. March 6, 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Nick Rapp (November 19, 2021). "O Christmas Tea sparks childlike joy in Northwest holiday tour". Seattle Gay News.
  3. ↑ Logan Lockhart (November 10, 2021). "VIDEO: James and Jamesy can't wait to return to Penticton and share some Christmas-themed laughs".
  4. 1 2 Iris Yudai (July 16, 2015). ""James and Jamesy in the Dark"". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
  5. 1 2 Brian Donaldson (31 August 2017). "James & Jamesy: 2 for Tea".
  6. 1 2 3 4 Chloe Rabinowitz (November 11, 2021). "British Comedy Duo James and Jamesy Present O CHRISTMAS TEA On Tour".
  7. ↑ Denise Richard (December 4, 2019). "James & Jamesy cultivating a spirit of play through theatre" (Podcast). Five Blossom Radio.
  8. ↑ BWW News Desk. "British Comedy Duo James & Jamesy to Bring Holiday Cheer to Maple Ridge with O CHRISTMAS TEA". Broadway World Vancouver.
  9. ↑ ""Acclaimed James and Jamesy pour on comic absurdity to rave reviews"".
  10. ↑ "Have a quirky cup of Christmas Tea with James and Jamesy". The Progress.
  11. ↑ "Oh Christmas Tea – Fans of "Money Python" Will Love This". "Fraser Valley News".
  12. ↑ Stuart Derdeyn (November 28, 2018). ""James and Jamesy pour over O Christmas Tea: A British Comedy"".
  13. ↑ James & Jamesy 'In The Dark' Interview. ShawTVKootenays. 13 October 2015.
  14. 1 2 Joe Belanger (June 5, 2015). ""Hilarious theatre with fearless players"". London Free Press. The London Free Press.
  15. ↑ "Beckon Audiences Away from the Light with – James & Jamesy in the Dark". August 26, 2016.
  16. ↑ Mark Robins (May 19, 2015). ""Theatre review: James & Jamesy in High Tea takes it time to fully steep"". Vancouver Presents.
  17. ↑ Maike Evers (15 May 2015). James & Jamesy on Novus TV. NovusTV.
  18. ↑ David C Jones (with Mark Robins) (April 19, 2018). "Aaron Malkin goes solo in Thunderfoot".
  19. ↑ "Thunderfoot". May 15, 2018.
  20. ↑ Jim Burke. "What to See at Montreal Fringe: Eye Candy and INK".
  21. ↑ "Nomination & Awards Archives, 2016". Canadian Comedy Awards. 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.