Following total sell out seasons at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (2014 and 2015) and acclaimed seasons at London’s iconic Soho Theatre, the award-winning Gein’s Family Giftshop will perform at Cardiff's Clwb Ifor Bach next week on their debut UK tour.
The group, made up of Kath Hughes, Edward Easton, James Meehan and Kiri Pritchard-Mclean,(the silent member in name only), has been gigging for just over three years. They met whilst studying at The University of Salford, quickly bonding over a shared love of black comedies, serial killers and Walton Ford. Andy Howells recently put questions to the team..
First things first, how did Gein’s Family Giftshop come together and where did you all get the name from?
We all met in the wilderness of higher education, the University of Salford to be precise.
Our name is a combination of our favourite things-
- Murderers (Ed Gein)
- Family (never know when you might need a kidney)
- And Giftshops (We love pencil toppers).
What makes you all laugh?
Kath's impression of her Music teacher singing in French, it's a travesty we've not managed to work it into a show. Maybe that can be a special for the tour?
Who are your comedy heroes and inspirations?
We all love The League of Gentlemen, Jam, Spaced and that goat who yells like a man on YouTube.
 |
| Gein's Family Giftshop Photo: Drew Forsyth |
Nudity. For real, you should know that before you arrive. It is fleeting though, like all the best nudity/feelings of nausea. The show is a combination of our two Edinburgh shows, the best bits of course. Normally people wait a career to do this stuff so don't be surprised if we implode after this tour.
You’re coming to Cardiff and you’ve previously had work featured on BBC Radio Wales can you tell us more about that and how was that received?
We loved working with Radio Wales. We met our producers, Rubber Chicken, at the fringe as Tom Price (joint head chicken*) was performing in the same room as us. They managed to wangle us three half hours on the radio and it was so fun. Radio Wales are very supportive and by that we mean they let us swear a bit.
It's been really nice because each half hour was totally different and unrelated and everyone seems to have their favourite.
People may have also recently seen your work on Dave TV’s Crackanory and your Christmas Comedy Short for Sky TV – were they fun to do?
They were both glorious adventures and steep learning curves, like climbing Mount Everest or writing for TV. Exactly like writing for TV.
What has been your funniest or most bizarre experience as a team so far?
When we all ordered the exact same thing from KFC, sort of a melding of minds moment, you know when you're so in tune with other people and then BAM! Four Wicked Zinger Tower Burger Meals with Pepsi Max. Heart stopping stuff.
Looking ahead for 2016 – what can we expect from you all beyond the tour?
Well, hopefully Radio Wales will let us swear on the radio again. Jim and Kiri are going up the fringe with their first stand up shows. Fingers crossed they go really badly and we can all go back to flogging this ailing horse again. If they go well Kath and Ed have vowed to avenge all those that have wronged them, or inter-railing around Europe, not decided which yet.
Where can people find out more about your work?
We have a website- GeinsFamilyGiftshop.co.uk We also have a Twitter and Facebook we post on all the time. You have to find those yourself though, that's sort of the first challenge.
- Gein's Family Giftshop will play Cardiff's Clwb Ifor Bach on March 15 visit seetickets.com or clwb.net for ticket details.
- A version of this Q&A by Andy Howells appears in The South Wales Argus entertainment supplement The Guide on March 11, 2016.
- *This means he jointly owns the company. It is not a delicious dish from KFC, it should be though.
No comments:
Post a Comment