“It feels really nice to be kicking off in Oxford because it was somewhere that I used to call home,” comedian Rachel Parris tell us as she settles in for a chat about her new show Poise.
After all, this is where it all started, joining Oxford Imps after she left St Hilda‘s. “I didn’t even know what improv was until then, apart from watching Whose Line Is It Anyway, but a friend put my name down for the Oxford Imps auditions without telling me.
“I went along and noticed that everyone else was really nervous and tense but for once I found it really fun and I knew I’d found my thing and my tribe because we had an instant connection. Until then I didn’t know I could be funny,” she remembers.
And the rest is history, The BAFTA-nominated comedian best known for The Mash Report and Late Night Mash (over 100 million views), is also one of the founding cast members of the award-winning improv group Austentatious.
So what is it she loves so much about improv? “I found it really freeing, and still do today, because nothing can go wrong – you can do anything – so I knew it was for me, but when I was still in Oxford I didn’t know I could make a career out of it. I was living in Headington on the shark road and trying to make a go of my music career. I was a cocktail waitress and worked in Blackwells Music…..”
But then in 2011 Rachel and three others from Oxford Imps formed Austentatious, grew in size, and began performing a monthly show in London which transferred to the West End, performed on BBC Radio 4, on tour, and at the Edinburgh Fringe.
“I still think improv is one of the best forms of performing there is,” Rachel says, “but my solo show Poise is much more satirical stand up as well as featuring the songs I’ve carefully crafted. Because I need different voices in the show, which is why I mix the songs up with stand-up and some politics.”
Her biggest tour ever, Racehl took a break over the summer but kicks Poise off again at Oxford Playhouse on Wednesday September 11.
So what can we expect? “its pretty much half and half. I’m still much more comfortable at the piano than doing stand up, and I love writing songs. Singing with comedy is very intrinsic.”
“Some songs will just come to you, like the one about not knowing how to greet someone – one kiss or two, hug or handshake – I wrote that one in two hours flat. But others take longer.
“For example I knew I wanted to write a song about womanhood and being 40, and seven drafts went in the bin before I got it right. So it’s like an angry folksong with just me standing on stage singing,” Rachel laughs, “but that took months.”
“But actually it’s the politics that’s been more problematic because the general election happened during the tour’s break, so I’m having to rewrite a lot of the material which is a bit unnerving, because you don’t know how it will go down.”
Married to fellow comedian Marcus Brigstocke with whom she conducts the hilarious husband-and-wife podcast #HowWasItForYou, the couple take it in turns to go on tour and make sure one is always at home with their son.
So does it get competitive in terms of their comedy? “No, but we know when something will work for one of us and often talk abut it on our podcast. Other than that our household is pretty chaotic and lacking in routine, so when I go on tour it’s actually about as organised as we will ever be,” Rachel explains.
As for the title Poise, Rachel says: “People always come up to me and say I don’t look like a comedian, as if I’m not acting the part, like I should be more clownish or chaotic and it made me think about whether you could still be a stand-up and be poised. Apart from that I just like the word……”
Rachel Parris’ Poise comes to Oxford Playhouse on September 11. Book here: https://www.oxfordplayhouse.com/events/rachel-parris-poise