Interview: Nerine Skinner talks “The Rise and Fall of Nerine Skinner”

August 2023

What happens when in the space of one year, your political parody videos take you viral (including a parody Liz Truss campaign video that actually gained more views than the original), you get to the semi-final of Britain’s Got Talent as part of a trio, and then see it all disappear without onward opportunities? Well, Nerine Skinner’s work in progress show, The Rise and Fall of Nerine Skinner, is set to take audiences on this rollercoaster ride, exploring the past to figure out what the future might look like. Expect a bunch of familiar figures amidst puppetry and parody when the show takes to the stage at Aces and Eights from 9-11 August as part of the Camden Fringe. Here, Nerine chats about going viral, BGT, and bringing her characters to audiences live and in person in an extended format…

So how’s it going – feeling ready?

I’m very nervous, but excited.

And this is still work in progress at the moment?

Yes, it is. I need to cut some bits so that’s this week’s job.

This is quite an interesting shift for you isn’t it, moving from mainly online content to delivering these characters live and in person?

I’ve come from a musical theatre background so I’m used to performing and I’ve done lots of stuff with a comedy cabaret trio that I was a part of – The Dots – and also my comedy duo. We’ve taken shows to Edinburgh, but I’ve basically never focussed on my own work. So going straight to a one woman show is a bit overwhelming!

That’s pretty ambitious – good on you though – solo is scary but I hear it’s worth it!

I’ve thrown myself in the deep end, that’s for sure.

So how are you going about this shift from the snapshot nature of online content to a more extended, developed piece for a live audience?

It’s interesting actually, because I’ve always kind of wanted to do my own show and I had a concept for it, but because of everything that’s happened online with Liz Truss and all that, it pushed me – in a good way – to make it happen now. So I’ve used half of the concept I had before and mixed it.

And the musical theatre background presumably ties in nicely with this as a comedy cabaret?

It’s got parodies of songs and I wanted to fit some dance in there, but I realised there wasn’t enough space in the venue for what I wanted to do! So it’s got a narrative going through it, exploring all of the stuff that’s happened over the last year with my success with Liv Truss and Britian’s Got Talent and then it all just going away. So it’s me trying to explore why it’s happened and using my characters to explore the story as I go through it and work out what to do next.

A tall order then, intertwining lived experience and onstage personas…

Yeah! I said to myself: don’t make things too hard for yourself; don’t put too many props in there; don’t put too many wigs in there, and I’ve basically done the opposite. It’s just loads of wigs and characters and trying to make it funny. I have given myself a massive, massive task.

Now I know we’re getting Truss and Boris, but am I allowed to ask who else gets a look-in?

Expect to see Boris, Nadine Dorries, Liz Truss. She’s quite significant in it as I try to work out what to do as I’ve gained a sort of co-dependency with her basically, and the there are a few other political people but they’re very short lived. Maybe Donald Trump might make an appearance… There’s probably five or six references of political characters – I say “impressions” as a very loose word because they’re more silly parodies. And then I’ve got my characters who I’d already created before all of that stuff took off.

And how much of you, as Nerine, is in this? Are you flipping between your characters and yourself, or is it mainly your characters interacting?

I flip between the two – I’m telling this story and then inviting these guests on to highlight what happened or how I’ve dealt with my situation. I’ve even got my vampire character who comes on to tell stories for me that I don’t think I can tell myself…

There are a lot of shows claiming to be a wild ride, but this is definitely starting to sound like a wild ride – in the good way, of course.

I’d say it’s definitely eclectic. I’m aware that I’ve got this political following but equally, beforehand, I didn’t even touch politics so it’s kind of got two things going on. It’ll be interesting to see how that pans out, as to whether it needs to be one or the other, but I didn’t want to alienate one particular crowd so I’ve tried to create something that has a bit of everything in it.

So let’s pivot back to BGT for a minute as you mentioned the big reaction you got and all the attention you received and then it suddenly subsiding – can you nutshell this for me? Was it euphoria to devastation or something else?

Probably the first one. Not to be extreme, but it was a case of overnight everyone has gone crazy and everyone is messaging and it’s really exciting, but then there’s all the prep – I was doing a job at the time so it was very crazy trying to make rehearsals work. But one thing led to another, led to another – and then the semi-finals really went badly – which I knew was going to happen when I was sitting in the audience, knowing millions of people were watching,  I thought, this isn’t going to go very well. But it went from this amazing thing to nothing – and then nothing came off the back of it, which is a really strange situation because had we just done the first round and it had gone really well but we hadn’t got through, maybe things would have bubbled even more. 

You’ve really been through the mill with this, haven’t you? To say this show is a comedy, it sounds potentially a bit sad as well!

As I say it, it probably sounds worse than it was at the time, but I think that’s why I’m doing the show – I always try and find the lightness and the positivity – or the ridiculousness of it, that’s probably a better word. Which is why I’ve got my vampire character that explains stuff. He says the things that are awkward for me to say, so he can be the honest vampire, which I basically just did as a way of not making it awkward for the audience; I don’t want people to feel sad, they’re meant to find it ridiculous. So it’s definitely got a lot of truth in it – and honesty, but mixed in with the characters, I’m trying to keep it light and fun so that it’s enjoyable and silly.

Enjoyable, silly, with some dark honesty – sounds promising to me! And how would you describe the brand of comedy here? We’ve got characters and parody songs with a little real life – are we talking along the lines of outlandish comedy here?

I would say silly and outlandish is probably quite fitting. And then at the same time, there’s an element of a comedy theatre show in the sense that I end up working out where it all started and I use my characters to tell that story. So it’s narrative, silly and outlandish with a touch of truth. I want people to go away feeling a sense of having watched a process, rather than just a sketch show.

You’ve already talked about your split audience, so what are you hoping your audience will look like for this show?

Good question. If I’m totally honest, I don’t know. I imagine it will be a mixed bag of people who’ve been following me for the political stuff that maybe come with an expectation of more of that satire, but then I’ve also got another section of people who were following me before that all happened, so it’ll be really interesting to see what that does look like. It’s almost like just going out into the darkness and seeing who lands there – but I also hope that I’ll be able to connect with new people that are maybe just taking a punt on something.

Possibly the most obvious question I’ve ever allowed myself to ask, but what on earth drew you to Liz Truss as a figure for parody? Can you name the moment?

My friend sent me a link to her and said she’s really funny – and I genuinely got really jealous because I thought, she’s doing a better job at doing comedy than I am, and she looks a bit like me. I realised she was actually a politician; I didn’t realise who she was beforehand, so I just thought I’ll do a parody on her because this is ridiculous. All my friends were like, you’ve got to do it and I just did it as a joke – and overnight, it went viral.

And just like that, you’re tied together forever now – are you braced for that?

Yeah, I know – I try to explain it like it’s a relationship that I can’t get out of, but she isn’t aware that we’re in it…

A careful question now: is there an element of admiration here?

Ooh. I think admiration is a strong word! The thing is, I have to say – maybe it’s not admiration, but I can’t believe I’m saying this – I’m grateful to her because I probably wouldn’t be doing this show, so there’s that. And I do admire the sense of comedy – I mean, I thought she was a comedian in the first place. And her sense of “I don’t care”, her nonchalance, whereas I just worry about everything.

And if you were to cross paths with her someday, what would you say?

Worryingly, I think I’d be quite star-struck because I’d be like “oh my God! It’s you, after all this time!” No, but really, I’d immediately want to know if she’d seen the videos and get a picture with her, and then maybe give her a lettuce and see how she reacts!

In terms of looking to the future then, what are your hopes for this show, once it’s past the work in progress stage?

Ideally, I’d like to go to Edinburgh next year, but I’m not sure if this is the right show for that because of the Liz Truss stuff – unless I take it out. I suppose this is me exploring what kind of style of show I’d like to take there. I’m doing it again in October at the Women in Comedy Festival in Manchester – I’d like to have a better sense of the style of performance by then in terms of what works and what doesn’t.

And finally, any top advice for anyone on the cusp of these huge experiences you’ve had, whether it’s going viral or heading for the spotlight on BGT?

I’d say you just have to do these things – a bit like doing this show. You just have to go for it and see what happens, just do your best at all times and what will be will be, because you can’t control anything but you can definitely keep doing what you do because it will eventually work itself out. That’s what I keep telling myself!

So there you have it! The Rise and Fall of Nerine Skinner will be at Aces and Eights as part of the Camden Fringe from 9-11 August 2023 – more information and tickets can be found here.