Performer, songwriter, producer, playwright, and set, costume and projection designer, Toronto’s Kelly Clipperton wears many hats at completely different moments, because the saying goes. Kelly each writes and performs in a brand new present Let’s Assume I Know Nothing And Transfer Ahead From There, A One Man Girl Cabaret Present.
Naomi Campbell directs the present which opens on the Manufacturing unit Theatre from March 4 to 16.
We spoke to Kelly and Naomi in regards to the present.
Let’s Assume I Know Nothing And Transfer Ahead From There, A One Man Girl Cabaret Present: The Interview
Lively in each the performing and visible arts fields, Kelly has been a Toronto fixture for 4 a long time. With a BFA from York College’s theatre program, he’s branched into manufacturing, songwriting, playwriting, designing, pictures, filmmaking, and extra. His work as a dressing up designer netted a Dora nomination in 2013.
“I used to be within the theatre program,” Clipperton says. “I initially confirmed up there considering I needed to be an actor.” For the previous couple of years, he’s been centered on manufacturing, costume design, and different issues which have saved him off stage.
Music could be a detour out and in of theatre. “I grew up in a musical household,” he recollects. “My dad was an unbelievable musician.” At prolonged household gatherings, Completely happy Birthday could be sung in four-part concord. It despatched a message. “Music was one thing you probably did since you loved it.”
In college, he wrote, produced and acted in 3 performs: Trash, Brotherhood, and Cruelty. Writing and manufacturing carried him by way of a number of years. “However, I took a stab at writing one thing a lot shorter — a pop music,” he says. “It rolled from there.”
His band Kelly & The Kellygirls toured North America and the UK, and had singles from their seven recordings on the indie charts between 2004 and 2014. In complete, he devoted about 20 years to music, with ten albums to indicate for it.
“It’s nonetheless a part of my world.” He says he’s engaged on his first album in about ten years. “I didn’t see myself doing theatre anymore, both,” he provides wryly.
The brand new present goals to hit each humorous and poignant notes, with reflections on grief and growing older alongside an entertaining efficiency and a excessive octane 5-piece band for reside accompaniment. The present is offered cabaret type, and initially offered in workshop type final Could. The 2 workshops have been bought out successes.
Kelly is accountable for every little thing from costume design to the projections that may show in the course of the efficiency. “Naomi and I’ve designed every little thing collectively,” he says. “I actually like doing issues with my fingers.” That extends to duties like video enhancing and post-production work.
Working each on and off stage creates an acute consciousness of the assorted facets of your individual character. “There’s a push and pull,” he says.
“I actually love creating.”
The Present
“If you stroll into the room, it is going to really feel like a cabaret,” explains director Naomi Campbell. She describes it as a cabaret with classic type.
Campbell is a performing arts skilled with a specialty in new Canadian theatre. She served as Creative Director of Luminato Competition Toronto from 2018 to 2023.
“It’s a one man present, however it’s not a one man present.” The five-piece band provides to the atmosphere, and interplay is a part of the present. “They’ve little bits, props,” Naomi says. “They’re very a lot part of the present. It’s an actual mixture of music and story.”
The present begins with an old-fashioned welcome message to the viewers. It later incorporates centered monologues and music, delivered in Clipperton’s trademark excessive power type. He’ll be singing a mix of his personal songs and related covers, and even seems as his personal father in a unique period in a second of theatre magic.
“It’s humorous, and it’s excessive power, however it additionally tells a narrative of grief and loss,” she says. Clipperton’s father handled vascular dementia, and it’s a part of his story. “It’s related, it’s not simply pure leisure. It tells a wonderful story.”
All through, he goes again to his household’s music. “The music of the household is basically clear all through the entire piece. It’s additionally simply purely entertaining.”
She describes the workshops final Could at Monarch Tavern as having a shoulder to shoulder viewers.
“Sort of scary, really,” provides Kelly.
The present has since been developed with extra refined manufacturing, and choreography by Shane McKinnon. Clipperton made not solely his personal costumes, however these for the band as effectively.
“It’s an excellent time of the yr for an actual shot within the arm present,” Naomi says.
What does Kelly hope individuals will get from Let’s Assume I Know Nothing…?
“We’ve had a number of conversations about that,” Clipperton says. “Attain out and contact somebody.” The previous Bell business adage was his first thought. “The best way the know-how has shifted during the last 20 years has been a battle for me,” he provides. It’s modified the best way individuals work together, as he factors out.
“I feel that our fixed barrage of knowledge […] doesn’t maintain the sincerity that I feel we used to speak with.”
His message, ultimately, is sort of easy.
“Be kinder to one another, and all that.”
- Discover present particulars and tickets [HERE].
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Anya Wassenberg is a Toronto Metropolis Editor at Ludwig Van. She is an skilled freelance author, blogger and writing teacher.