Jake Mace
Tamar Broadbent’s upcoming musical comedy hour Plus One is headed to EdFringe in August, an exploration of fertility tests, failed birth plans and the impressive feat of giving up wine for nine months (we’d agree it is impressive!). We caught up with Tamar for a pixelated pint (of wine, I guess?) to find out more about the show, motherhood, and everything in between.
You can catch Tamar Broadbent: Plus One at Laughing Horse @ The Counting House – The Ballroom, from August 7th to 24th at 13:00 (60mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Box Office.
Jake: Hi Tamar! Your upcoming musical comedy hour Plus One is about fertility tests, failed birth plans and the impressive feat of giving up wine for nine months – tell us about what inspired the show and how you found the comedy in it.
Tamar: I was pregnant and bored! And going through this massive transition from being me, to becoming me with a plus one. I wrote some material about the things I’d had no idea about before having a baby. Like how they’re very strict about you staying away from salami. After I’d had my daughter, I went through a bit of a crap time, trying and failing to breastfeed, miserable from lack of sleep, and I turned that into material too. The show is about how I was desperate not to ‘lose myself’ when I became a mother. How that went… and all the roadbumps and ridiculousness along the way. It features characters from my life like my Canadian husband super eager to be a dad, my mum who loved telling me how terrifying it was all going to be, the scary childbirth ‘guru’ who said the best method of pain reflief was ‘breathing’ and a short cameo with words of wisdom from and a slightly weird handshake with George Clooney.
I found comedy in the transition to motherhood, like I have in past phases of my life – by observing what is surprising and awkward and silly and inviting you as the audience to laugh at those things with me, through story and through song. Having a baby is just quite funny. Being pregnant is absurd (and profound and impressive etc etc etc.) As is this thing where you juggle the colossal undertaking of creating a human life with a potentially shallow yet very real devastation that your belly button may never return.
Jake: Tell us about your process of devising musical comedy.
You: I began as a songwriter. I won the Stiles & Drewe Best New Song Award for musical theatre songwriting and came into comedy from a theatre background, so my songs often have a storytelling aspect to them. I used to write funny story songs about single life in my twenties, and for this show the songs are all about what I’m experiencing now – wife life, new motherhood in my mid-thirties, my heroic quest of giving up wine (for nine months) and more.
I write the words and music at the same time, and if it makes me laugh, that’s what makes me think it’s funny. Then I’ll see if an audience thinks it’s funny too. Mostly they do, which is great! And means I’ve been able to do mega fun things like perform on BBC Radio 4’s The Now Show and tour my shows to every continent, including Perth Fringeworld where I got nominated for Best Comedy, and New York where I got nominated for ‘visiting performer who ate the most bagels in one day.’
I also perform an improvised song in Plus One, where I get two suggestions from the audience, and write the lyrics in my head as I’m singing live. I learned how to do that when I performed at Boom Chicago US comedy theatre. I like to give the audience a variety of music, which is why I play piano, guitar and have one club song in the show!
Jake: What are you hoping the audience might take away from the experience, if anything?
Tamar: I want them to laugh, to enjoy being taken on a journey, to rock out a bit and to feel something. As a writer, I want to be as real as possible – tell the truth in an amusing and entertaining way. I absolutely didn’t realise how hard becoming a mother would be until I did it. I knew it was hard… I’d read the blog posts. But I just couldn’t have fathomed it until it was happening. I don’t speak for all mums – each mum is unique! But this is my story, a funny, heartfelt and (hopefully) uplifting musical comedy about love, family and taking a leap into the unknown. About leaving behind a life that you loved, for the hope of something better. And also slightly about snacks.
Jake: Tell us about what you’re most excited about ahead of EdFringe.
Tamar: Circus! I can’t wait to see the circus! When I was touring my last show Best Life on Virgin Voyages I would watch the circus every time it was on. I love that circus tent in the Meadows. I saw this one circus performer a few EdFringes ago who had a baby, and the baby could already balance on his hand like a tightrope from ten months old. It was amazing! And also I hope that baby is okay.
Jake: Given the themes of Binge Fringe, if your show was a beverage of any kind (alcoholic, non-alcoholic – be as creative as you like!), what would it be and why?
Tamar: It’s the glass of red wine your best friend pours you when she’s climbing into bed beside you, a bed you’ve been crying in for days and can’t see yourself getting out of. The wine tastes both refreshingly new and comfortingly familiar. It isn’t so ‘fine’ that it’s pretentious, but is much yummier than the stuff you get in most pubs. Think wine bar wine! There are notes of chocolate and blueberry… notes of a song about embracing life as an ‘embarrassing’ mother… and when you wake up the next day, it has left you with a happy hangover! One where you feel joyful and good and like you can get out of bed and take on the world again.
A reminder, you can catch Tamar Broadbent: Plus One at Laughing Horse @ The Counting House – The Ballroom, from August 7th to 24th at 13:00 (60mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Box Office.
Image Credit: Steve Ullathorne
