What are you supposed to do when your friends, family and the general population all seem to like your british shorthair cat more than you? Well if you're Clara Cupcakes, you make a show about it. The multi-disciplined, multi-award nominated comedian is taking audiences on an absurdly surreal trip with her new Melbourne International Comedy Festival show, Gretchen.
Considering how much of a fun loving bubble of energy and positivity Clara is, it's surprising to hear that her cat receives more attention than her. So, who exactly is Gretchen? "Gretchen is my horrible, no good, grumpy and adorable cat whom I adore despite her being utterly awful," she admits. "I’m making a show about her because she is infinitely more popular than I am so I’m giving the people what they want. It’s honestly ridiculous. Both my housemate and I get more engagement on photos and videos when we post content of Gretchen than any of our own work. I was in Perth recently and I had a drag queen that I don’t even know rush up to me and ask “WHO IS LOOKING AFTER GRETCHEN?!”."
Clara Cupcakes has two faces: her comedy face and her burlesque face. During her many years as a performer, she's noticed there is a dichotomy between the two. To put it simply, she is too sexual for comedy and too funny for burlesque. In her new Melbourne International Comedy Festival show, Whom, Clara takes us on a journey inside her head as she tried to reconcile the two art forms.
Known for her whimsical nature, Clara seems more erratic and anxious in this show than previous ones which is fitting within the context of Whom. We are delving into the mind and psyche of a performer that doesn't quite fit in to the existing moulds and it should be nerve-wracking. She still finds a good balance of confidence and vulnerability in exploring this and in remaining true to her character, Clara chooses to host a karaoke party as the backdrop for Whom.
She was The Worst at last year 's Melbourne International Comedy Festival, but this year Clara Cupcakes is finding out who she is. Is she a comedian? A burlesque performer? An improviser? Or just some weird kid? In Whom, Clara hopes to figure it all out through her unique brand of whimsical humour that has seen her nominated for the Golden Gibbo twice.
"Whom
is my brain. It's a party about how I'm bad at being a regular human.
But it's also a bit about how I'm not a comedian by a lot of people's
standards. I'm a burlesque performer and you can't be a comedian and a
burlesque performer at the same time. One excludes the other
apparently," she says. "I've spent years pushing back against burlesque to be
taken more seriously in the comedy world and now I'm like fuck it. I'm a
burlesque performer. I get my tits out and they are fucking funny so
deal with it. It's the same as physical comedy. It's been very
refreshing. I recently did a burlesque routine at a comedy night and it
felt so good. It feels like the right thing."
When The Little Mermaid's Sebastian sang 'darling it's better, down where it's wetter', he probably didn't take into consideration the plight of Octoqueen Clara Cupcakes. Performed as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Elly Squire's The Worst places Clara Cupcakes (as an octopus) in an 8-bit computer game with a mission to win back all three hearts of her Octoking and reclaim her throne of Seaburbia after being banished from the kingdom.
The character of Clara has always been whimsical and joyful but in this outing Squire has focused on a personal narrative, and as such has created an opportunity for a stronger emotional connection between Clara and the audience.
Watching as the facade slowly begins to crack with
desperation, heartbreak and anger all beginning to rear their ugly heads, you
have to fight the urge to reach out and give her the biggest hug possible. This is perfectly encapsulated in a hilarious song where we witness Clara's protestations of being way too busy to be thinking about the Octoking.
Have you heard the legend of The Worst? A game so terrible, that time itself has tried to wipe it from the memory of all living beings? But its creator, Clara Cupcakes, is not so willing to have the game disappear and never see the light of day again, so she's bringing The Worst to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival where everything will finally be exposed. While this appears to literally be a show about Clara inventing a video game staring herself as an octopus, there is a lot more going on than first meets the eye.
"The Worst started as a show about my terrible ex-boyfriend. Doing a show about your ex is a bit of a comedy cliché and I wanted in," she tells me. "But as I started writing it I realised I actually didn't care about him at all anymore, so while it's still about that time in my life but the part I still have feelings about, which is how I was the worst. WOAH THAT'S THE NAME OF THE SHOW! WOAH IT ALL TIES IN!"
