July 2023
Featuring four idiot clowns named Balloonless, Tasteless, Childless and Friendless, who attempt to put on a memorial for their dead friend – having never before performed it without him – “EVERYTHING, ALWAYS: The Memorial” promises to be quite a wild ride. This new show from the Freshly Squeezed Company is set to play at Camden’s Etcetera Theatre from 7th-8th August as part of the Camden Fringe. Here, Ethan Webb, Ben Keating, Daniel Taylor and Charles Irvine chat about clowning, top tips for improvised fun, and why they hope audiences will see a little of themselves in the absurdity before them…
Let’s start at the start: tell me a little bit about the show.
Daniel: Everything, Always: The Memorial sees 4 clowns attempting to put on a funeral for their (sadly) very very dead friend, Nameless the Clown, performing a set of mini shows in his honour. Can these clowns get through this very sad Memorial (as Nameless, is dead) without breaking down/breaking each other’s legs? Watch these four clowns battle their own grief and attempt to overcome this emotional hurdle in the dumbest way possible.
And how did EVERYTHING, ALWAYS: The Memorial come to be – tell me the who, the what, the where and the why.
Ethan: These clowns first appeared in our final year show from University of Chichester (BA Theatre and BA Acting) – from our production, Everything Always (performed at InterACT Festival and Chichester Fringe 2022.) It was a similar show with the same clowns, and followed them trying to figure out what Love is. Our 5th clown, Nameless (played by the wonderful Connor Paisley) ended up leaving the group post-university.
There were discussions on what to make outside of this academic setting, and the idea of Grief being explored kept coming up – and in our original show, Nameless the Clown technically “died” as a one-off silly joke (Nameless would die, then come back on stage with a mustache, and the Clowns treat him like a different person.) We landed on this and thought – what if we did a clown funeral? Has that been done before?
Charles: We sat down and wrote The Memorial soon after!
What’s the most important thing you want people to know about this show and its intentions?
Daniel: We want people to know that this show aims to smack you across the face in two ways – first, we hope to smack you with laughter. These Clowns and their personalities clash together and create incredibly absurd comedy that we hope will cause you to giggle with glee (and maybe wee a little.) The second way we’ll smack you is with emotion – these Clowns, as absurd as they are, were based off our worst version of ourselves; many of the ways they talk, treat others and handle emotion represent the people we narrowly avoided becoming. The stories we tell within both this and our previous works are autobiographical, platforming our own struggles and world.
Charles: We hope people look into these Clown characters and see themselves reflected back – as complex, weird, funny emotional humans.
How does this piece relate to your previous work – is this new territory or more of a natural progression?
Ethan: The dumb term we use to describe The Memorial is a “re-quel” – a story that keeps ideas, themes, characters and more from our previous shows within the “Love” era of the Clowns, but recontextualizes their characters enough so new audiences can get these odd sods as much as our lovely Clownmunity, who have been there since Chichester days. We want to expand and explore the Clowns in a new way and with new people, so this felt like the best way to go. A natural progression IN new territory!
And as EVERYTHING, ALWAYS centres on improvised fun, what would you say are the cornerstones of successful improv?
Ethan: Weirdly, the best way to improvise is to stick to the rules of your character ; the best improvised lines from our previous shows are only as funny because they’re exactly what that Clown could have said outside of the show. Another key component is knowing your cast – as us four within Freshly Squeezed (Ethan, Dan, Ben and Charles) are close friends outside of theatre with the same sense of humour, we know how to make each other break and laugh. It allows us to try out jokes on the fly during script reads, rehearsals, even during the show. We’re so confident in each other’s energy and performing style that we can easily build upon someone else’s improv into entire new scenes, new jokes.
Charles: I would stake my life on saying that 90% of the funniest moments with Freshly Squeezed have come down to playing in the space, and doing everything we can to make each other laugh.
How do you go about making sure that improvised work maintains quality and entertainment for your audiences?
Ben: It’s constantly tinkering! Freshly Squeezed as a company never stops working on a script, never stops coming up with new games to play. It’s making sure that every joke we tell, even if it’s written the same, is performed differently every time; that freshness, that changed inflection, that altered timing keeps the jokes and improvs new and constantly funny.
Charles: It’s also making sure EVERYONE is on board It’s making sure each member believes in the language or the character saying it. If everyone’s on board, then it’s funny. No question.
Obviously, a show like this one has big laughs to deliver. How would you characterise the brand or style of the comedy in EVERYTHING, ALWAYS?
Daniel: Our humour and style of performance was once described by a lecturer as “abstract post-post modern.” I think that’s spot on. Incredibly weird, off-hand humour that, on paper, looks weird as hell, but once transformed by The Clowns on stage, becomes so fantastically funny. The comedy also comes from the truth of these characters – these Clowns don’t believe what they’re saying is funny – it’s the most serious sentence they’ll ever say. The genuine delivery of the Clowns causes the most mundane of sentences to become rib-tickling.
And as your characters already seem pretty well defined through names alone, tell me a little about the dynamics at work between them – what are the driving forces?
Ethan: Friendless the Clown is the self-appointed director and wants to see the show through till the end, in the way HE wants. Tasteless is terrified of what happens to your legacy once you die, worrying he can’t fill the shoes Nameless (the dead one) left behind. Childless is stuck in the past, constantly bringing up what happened before and how The Memorial isn”t as good as “the old days”. Balloonless is stuck believing that the four clowns (five if you count Nameless’ ashes) being back together will fix every single problem they have.
Ben: The Clown characters of The Memorial all want the same thing: to be able to grieve and move on in their own, special way. Throughout the show, it’s proven that these ways of dealing with emotions heavily affect each other’s processes, leaving the Clowns at odds with each other.
Are there trigger warnings or age restrictions to be aware of?
Ben: Yes – better to be safe than sorry! Due to the subject matter of the show, the following is to be considered: depictions of mental health, depression and substance abuse; grief, death, and binge-eating.
Some quick-fire questions now. Your first experience of theatre/ live performance?
Ethan – it was a Year 5 christmas show and I played a Narrator Mouse in the Christmas story. Met Jesus, the baby. I smashed it, grey lycra and all.
Ben: I don’t know if people remember it but the harold the giraffe van really stuck with me throughout my formative years, i think i just thought the puppet and funny voice was cool.
Charles: As far back as I remember, Peter Pan was one of the first theatre experiences I had growing up; my brother and I pointing out and shouting there were wires attached to the main cast when they were flying. I haven’t heckled since.
Dan: Year 6 play. I was a shy, snotty little fella for most of my primary years. But I found my inner beast and nailed the audition for “Yeehaw”. It was all looking up but then the headmistress asked me (without warning) to sing one of the songs in front of the whole school. The inner beast fell down some stairs and I cried infront of the whole school. Nah, for real tho the experience helped me find my confidence. F*£& her though.
Dream role or venue to play?
Ethan – If we ever got the chance to perform any form of EVERYTHING, ALWAYS in the The Curve in Leicestershire (where I’m from!), I’d be complete. For roles, I’d adore to give Angelo a go, from Measure to Measure. He’s a prick.
Dan: I have always wanted to play a villain role, which I have done before, but those have all been more akin to gollum. I fancy something with a little intricacy in the performance, that would be a challenge for me. I am good at the goblin roles though.
Ben : Anywhere what’ll take us.
Charles: Dream role would be Richard III, and if I could I would want to play him at the Globe.
And finally, what’s the best advice you’ve ever been given when it comes to theatre-making?
Ben: Don’t worry about the little things until the big things are sorted, it’s quite ironic advice since I get stressed about tiny bits’n’bobs, but the best advice is the stuff you don’t follow yourself.
Ethan: Trust yourself. Don’t lock yourself because something sounds shit or is “cringe”, just go for it. You are an artist. Make ART! ART ALL OVER! YOU CAN DO IT!
Charles: Just make something you’re passionate about and don’t let others cloud your judgement.
Dan: The best advice I have ever been given was something along the lines of “know when to kill your babies”. I’m a very anxious person and early on when I was still finding my feet as a creator I compensated for that with a reckless commitment to ideas. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing in some regards but makes it hard too accept when something just isn’t working. Now I know better and I kill babies all the time.
So there you have it! You can catch the Freshly Squeezed company in EVERYTHING, ALWAYS at the Etcetera Theatre from 7th-8th August 2023 as part of the Camden Fringe. More information and tickets can be found here.
Always Time For Theatre 
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