Naked ambition
A clip of Ursula Martinez removing her clothes was posted on YouTube without her permission. Instead of getting mad, she got even with a show about the experience,
When a clip of Ursula Martinez removing her clothes was posted on YouTube instead of getting mad, she got even with a show about the experience.
IF YOU ever wanted to know what it was like to have a YouTube video of you go viral – Ursula Martinez has a cautionary tale. The London-based actress and cabaret performer has since turned her experience into a humorous hit show, My Stories Your Emails, opening tonight at the New Zealand Festival.
‘‘At the time, to have lost control over my work, and lost control over my body in a way – I found that extremely distressing.’’
The yarn behind My Stories Your Emails begins with Martinez’s cabaret show, Hanky Panky, which was conceived after one too many drinks at home with friends, she says. ‘‘I had my things around to show off, so I thought ‘I’ll put that funny dress on, I’ll put that funny wig on. I’ll show my friends my magic trick.’
‘‘We were drunk, clothes were removed during the course of the evening. And the next day when I woke up I was thinking about the party and the act – I thought there might be a cabaret in there.’’
Martinez took Hanky Panky – where a continually disappearing red handkerchief leads her to remove items of clothing – around the world ‘‘10 times over’’.
‘‘On paper, it’s a lot more shocking than it is in fact. But there’s something about the humour and the playfulness that softens the provocative elements.’’
But the teasing, jovial act suddenly took on a different tinge when it was filmed and put up on YouTube in 2006 without Martinez’s knowledge.
‘‘I was no longer in control of the context in which it was shown . . . people are trawling the internet for porn and came across [this clip] – if they’re told it’s porn, they might believe it.’’
A flood of emails and letters from around the world to Martinez began, some insulting her, others detailing their personal fantasiesr. ‘‘I’ve had some fantastic emails . . . but there were plenty of weirdo ones.
‘‘A couple of years later, I opened up my inbox and started reading and reading and thought this is amazing material that paints a complex and curious picture of our contemporary world. It was time to do something with my experience.’’
My Stories Your Emails has been called a simple show – often playing up the comedy. Martinez reads out a selection of the emails received, in the voices she imagines for these writers.
She contacted some people about using their messages, while othershave disguised names. ‘‘I do have people who come and see the show and they send me an email after, which I find baffling but quite heartening, in a way.’’
Another odd exchange was when a man who had sent a nude, intimate photo of himself contacted her again after reading a review. ‘‘He was terribly proud to have made it into the show.’’