Playing the clown without barriers
Damien Warren-Smith is bringing his theatrical alter-ego Garry Starr, a disgraced actor who believes he can save theatre itself, to Spiegel Fest in November this year. Ilona Hanne caught up with Damien ahead of the festival to find out more. ■ Have you always wanted to be a performer?
Actually, growing up, I have an older brother who was into sports, so I tried to be a sportsman but I think all my family know I was destined for the stage. It just took me a while to realise. It was when I kind of fell into drama at high school that I fell in love with it.
■ What appeals to you about Clown, the type of performance you do now?
I love play. I have never been a fan of the 4th wall in theatre, that barrier between you as a performer and the audience. I think with TV and film, there are so many great things they can do with effects and things, that breaking the 4th wall is the one thing they can’t in a way, that is unique to theatre itself, TV can’t compete there, it can’t interact with the audience in the same way.
■ When it comes to Clown, you really have learned from the best haven’t you — what was that like?
I had been in the UK for some time, working as an actor, and I was in Edinburgh and happened to see a theatre group called Spymonkey. Their show was essentially clown and I loved it. I learned that most of them had trained with Philippe Gaulier in France, who is sort of the master clown, the absolute top of his craft. So I started learning from others who taught in his style until I finally had the time and money to go to France and train under him myself. That experience was hard. He is just so wonderful at pushing you and prodding you, finding your open wounds and just pushing and prodding until you become completely vulnerable, because it’s only then you become fearless, and that is what is needed on stage, that lack of fear, the willingness to be vulnerable.
■ In “Garry Starr Performs Everything”, you play a disgraced actor who attempts to save theatre from its inevitable extinction by performing every genre imaginable, what is Garry like?
Well, the first time my mum came to see the show, she immediately said — “it’s you as a child”. Apparently some of the mannerisms I gave him are ones I had when I was even too young to remember and somehow I had tapped into that in creating Garry.
■ You first launched Garry Starr some years ago now, before Covid19 etc. Has he changed over time — is 2022 Garry Starr different to how he began?
He’s a little bit chubbier, and he’s older too now. But he’s the same very earnest character who really does believe he can save theatre.
■ With the show featuring Garry Starr taking on all the different genres of theatre, do audiences need to know lots about theatre to understand it?
Not at all. There are lots of what I call Easter eggs hidden in it,
references that perhaps some theatre fans will get, but if you don’t get the reference it doesn’t matter. The comedy isn’t based on that, it’s the whole character himself and every audience laughs at different things each time I do the show.
■ In 2019 you headed to Las Vegas where you played the clown in the Atomic Saloon Show at The Venetian, what do you prefer — festival and regional theatre audiences or Las Vegas ones?
I think my least favourite would be Las vegas audiences because as a performer you are just a little part of their big night. They have been drinking and gambling over the day, they are out for fun, but they aren’t necessarily in the right head space for theatre, they miss some of the nuance. Festival audiences are there because they love theatre, and theatre is the main part of their night, their reason for being there. With regional theatre, I love that feeling of really winning an audience over, so maybe they came along because a friend took them, and they don’t know what to expect, getting them laughing and winning them over is a favourite part of it all for me.