The Fabulous Josh from Downtown Pompey discusses their new and upcoming immersive show Sticky Floors and Palm Trees held at New Theatre Royal from 30th January – 1st February.
Question: When was the company Downtown Pompey founded and how did it come about?
Josh’s Answer: It all began in 2017. I had been doing cabaret and running nightclubs for years and we were thinking how we can bring that type of collectivism from our evening shows and night-time work in clubs to a wider audience. I hosted a series of breakfasts in my garden called Hey Babe Café. The idea was to keep this away from alcohol spaces, during the day, we made free breakfasts and invited people to have a bit of a performance. We realised that people were after events that are queer focused but not exclusively for queer people. They wanted events outside of nightclubs, in safe spaces, and they wanted a variety of entertainment. This led to our first project as a company called Wearing Mum’s Makeup where we involved mums from the local community and did a Cabaret show with them. Everything we make has always started with a conversation; the organisation itself has always just been part of the journey. We started out as a community group and now we’re an official incorporative company.
Question: What are the aims of the company?
Josh’s Answer: The most important things about the company are its integrity, focus and organisational aims. We have a community board that helps us address our values, for example creativity, courage, community, and our biggest one, choice. We do a lot of autobiographical work therefore choice is always at the forefront of our work for our participants from the very first conversation all the way up until the moment they go on stage. Mainly the company is about taking local working-class stories and giving them a platform. We want to take our community work and turn it into a professional facing, highly creative and integral project.
Question: What has the company accomplished so far?
Josh’s answer: We’ve done lots of different work – we have three branches. The first one is our community branch where we do drop-ins and mini workshops. We recently ran a campaign locally called Queer Joy, where we put posters up around the city of Portsmouth with QR codes on them for people to engage and interact with, and tell us their own stories about what brings them queer joy. Secondly, we have our education branch, where we go into schools and youth groups involving them in projects. Lastly, we have our show branch. We’ve done many different sold-out shows where people of all ages and backgrounds come and tell their stories on stage as well as creating and performing cabaret shows. I think we’ve achieved good community engagement with a high-quality product while working towards a highly ambitious end goal.
Question: Where did the idea for the show Sticky Floors and Palm Trees come from?
Josh’s Answer: The work that we make at Downtown Pompey is based mainly on conversations. This particular show came from a conversation I had with my mum. My mum and I were on holiday having a conversation about clubbing when a lady questioned if we were talking about Portsmouth. She spoke of her own experiences clubbing in Portsmouth back in the 80s and there was a moment of connection between them when they both said “Sticky Floors and Palm Trees!”. I realised then that there’s something about nostalgia and memories that brings people together in a very unique way and I wanted to recreate moments like this. There’s an idea that in a nightclub you can be anyone you want to be and that was very poignant in the 80s. How can we hold on to the heritage of what nightclubbing used to be? It’s people’s memories that should be kept alive.
Question: Do you have any clubbing memories you would like to share?
Josh’s Answer: I remember going out for the first time when I was 18 and being quite disappointed. I had high expectations after hearing all of my mum’s stories from the 80s. Part of the experience in the 80s was the aesthetic, talking and chilling, but now it just seems to be about getting as drunk as you can and going home. In my opinion we lack understanding of what clubbing really is all about.
Question: What is the show Sticky Floors and Palm Trees about?
Josh’s Answer: The story is quite abstract. It’s about 4 archetypes of the people we spoke to – the characters are a version of these types of people. We’ve got the cheeky chappy strutting about thinking he owns the place, the good time gal that loves to get drunk with her friends, a woman of colour that leads us on the story of a parallel clubbing experience, then lastly we have Rob who is our gay sailor speaking about his own experience in this period.
Question: How is this show different to any the company has done before?
Josh’s Answer: This show is a lot more creatively ambitious. In this show we are working with professional performers so the level of creative ambition for this show is higher. It uses immersive performance to create the experience which takes a lot more creative integrity to deliver. We also have a lot more moving parts in this show. We have a creative director, movement artists, drag queens and cabaret artists. We have many people coming together to create what will be a cabaret/theatre hybrid event which I believe will be something Portsmouth has never seen before.
Question: When can people watch the show?
Josh’s Answer: Tickets are available on the New Theatre Royal website although there aren’t many left! The show is on from the 30th of January until the 1st February.
Question: What inspired you to get students involved?
Josh’s Answer: Students play a massive part in the culture of Portsmouth, with a mixture of Pompey people, queers and students all coming together to speak about clubbing, there is an interesting dynamic there. Older locals have some resentment around the student culture unintentionally. When all the older people’s night clubs have been knocked down and the students seem to be taking over it is understandable that it feels as if someone’s taking that away. The communities become fractious and this show is about saying “let’s all speak about something fun and use it as a bridge builder to have a more harmonious relationship.”
Question: Were you a student yourself?
Josh’s Answer: I attended Goldsmiths College in London which is an arts college. I loved the experience however it didn’t feel very grounded, so what I love about making work in my hometown is that I can take that abstract experience of university and turn it into a grounded piece of work.
Question: What can students get involved with in the show and how can they get involved?
Josh’s Answer: There are a multitude of ways students can get involved with the show. We’re looking for stage managers, performers, dancers, movement artists, to help us create this immersive experience. After the show we will hold legacy meetings to catch up with everyone that was involved and ask what they want to do next and how we can help them achieve this. This part of the company is extremely important: to have a legacy with people by asking them how we can support them and develop their career post University. We have many valuable people to help signpost younger people and kick start their careers.
Question: Where can people sign up to get involved?
Josh’s answer: Students can sign up through our Instagram page @downtownpompey. There is a link to a student participation google form that students can click on then fill out and get involved.
Interview by Emily Illsley, UoP