I treat myself to a little gift to say well done , you’ve reached the weekend
Comedian and writer Juliette Burton is having the defining word on lockdown Britain. MARION McMULLEN learns how she is finding out what the nation thinks of itself
Where did the idea for your new website Defined come from?
I STARTED the website because I’m basically a massive nerd and love piecing together information and data collected in my shows in inventive, interactive, collaborative ways.
At a time when we’re mostly less able to travel and see the world, when we’re all redefining who we are and how our world works, I wanted to find a way for us not only to explore the world together but build it together too and at the same time help people find support with their mental health during this time.
The website is fun, interactive, geeky and very glittery – just how I like my live shows to be.
You’re challenging people to define themselves in just five words. Why five words?
(LAUGHS) I’d recently ended an engagement and I joined a dating app and it asked you to describe yourself in five words... or less.
I didn’t fit into any of the boxes they were offering and all I wanted to do was correct the wording so it read five words or fewer.
How can you define yourself in such a basic way? It led to me asking people on tour to come up with five words about who they are and where they live and a lot of people came up with some fantastic answers.
When lockdown put touring on pause, I set up the website.
Have you seen any trends so far?
PEOPLE are very proud of where they are from. People from Salford were adamant that they were not from Manchester and food and curries were big in Leicester.
Cambridge had a lot of mentions about bikes.
I grew up on a farm in Cambridgeshire that was isolated, really in the middle of nowhere, with no lights and no road. Maybe that’s why I love touring. You get to see all these amazing places and people and a lot of people define their home towns as very warm and very friendly.
I can’t wait to see what people say on the website and find out details such as which is the friendliest place in Britain and I love to see how people define themselves across the whole world.
No two people defined themselves in the same way on tour.
You are an ambassador for ReThink Mental Illness and have talked openly your own experiences. How have you been coping during lockdown?
I WENT from a size four to a size 20, and everything in between in the past (she was sectioned when she was 19 weighing just 5st 5lbs) and I have certainly struggled with my own body and depression.
Then we were told stay in, avoid people, stay at home. The most out-going and extrovert people have
become introspective and anxiety is to be expected. You would think I had been training for my entire life for this and for the first three weeks of lockdown I didn’t realise it was a lockdown.
Now I’m doing Zoom clubs and virtual clubs and I’m able to see my friends again and go out running. It makes you realise what you can be really grateful for in life like my friends and my family – small things you might have taken for granted in the past.
What are you looking forward to most when all lockdown restrictions are lifted?
I WORK in the arts and the entire industry has been put on hold. The Globe and the National Theatre and other venues may need us to survive this. My friends were saying they wanted to go to various places after this and I said I wanted to go to the Globe. It is my favourite place in the world and it is one of the places that has been struggling.
The charities sector also needs our support.
How is life at the moment?
I’VE been wearing bight colours to inject a little fun and glitter into the lockdown experience. I also treat myself each week to a little inexpensive gift online to say ‘well done, you’ve reached the weekend’.
I’m wearing earrings at the moment I bought in aid of NHS charities. I’m also loving virtual gigs. I hated them at the beginning. I miss the laughing of an audience. It is vital to me and I thrive off it, but I hope the website will raise a few smiles.
We deserve it. We need to forget roles and labels and just give ourselves a break.
■ Go to defined.julietteburton. co.uk to take part in the survey. The website also recommends Mind, B-Eat, SANE, Beyond, OCD UK and Bipolar UK to anyone needing help through their mental health challenges.
I’ve struggled with my body and depression.You’d think I’d been training my entire life for lockdown