Shay Mace
Lukas Meintjes is bringing his queer clown show B48Y Crash Lands on Earth! to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe next week as his alter ego B48Y, in the aftermath of a UFO crashing into a gay club. Can we, as an audience, teach this alien how to be human? We caught up with Lukas for a pixelated pint to find out more about the origins of his extraterrestrial persona.
Lukas is also the pioneer of A Fair Cut – a practical standard and calculator for fairer venue deals, to help artists can break even, get paid, and keep making work. Find out more on their website.
You can catch B48Y Crash Lands on Earth! at Assembly George Square Studios (Studio Four) from 22:40 (60mins) on August 5-11, 13-18, 20-24 & 26-30. Tickets are Available Through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Shay: Hi Lukas, tell us about the ideas of alienation and its relationship to clowning, and why you have decided to bring this to the stage now?
Lukas: There’s this clowning lore that a pure clown loves the audience and knows nothing. A being from somewhere else, bamboozled by humanity, inherently alien. I’ve personally felt that growing up gay AND Zimbabwean, then moving to Australia. So it was an inevitability that my first full clown show would mirror my own journey. And alien crash landing into a gay club on a new planet. Just slightly less wild than growing up gay in Zimbabwe haha. Can I write haha in a text interview? You know what? I will lol.
Shay: Tell us about your process for putting together this hour – what do you do to get yourself motivated and what challenges have you found with this material?
Lukas: The ONLY thing that can get me moving is a deadline haha. I think there’s this misconception that you get your show ready THEN do a work in progress. That’s backwards. Nothing gets ideas flowing through my cranium faster than the expectation of 10 or so friends I trust. Should I just get meds? Maybe. Will I? No.
Shay: Tell us about your comedy icons – who are they, and how have they influenced your work?
Lukas: Hannah Camilleri. What an icon. What an angel. I did a Dr Brown workshop with her 15 years ago and have been obsessed since. She’s a master of crowd work, specifically with audience-as-orchestra. You know, the classic audience as your sound effects. Oh and Elf Lyons, never have I ever seen such a master of weaving trauma into clowning and having no meaning lost. It’s profound.
Shay: Do you have any pre-show rituals?
Lukas: I wanna say it’s 10 minutes of luxurious stretching, followed by a serene 20 minute meditation, getting my head in the zone, finishing with the most Disney-like vocal warm up, birds and squirrels and mice coming out to wish me luck. But it’s just a can of Coke.
Shay: What do you do when you’re faced with writer’s block?
Lukas: Make a show where you speak gibberish and just mimic what the audience says. You can’t get writer’s block when there’s nothing to write. Highly recommend.
Shay: Has/will the show be performed anywhere ahead of EdFringe?
Lukas: I’ve played this diva in so many festivals, it’s premiere was at Melbourne Fringe where we picked up a Best Comedy nom. We’ve also crashed into Adelaide, Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Midsumma!!
Shay: With EdFringe now just around the corner, what are you most excited for?
Lukas: When I was scouting the Fringe last year I was SO ANNOYED at how much I used my phone. Like I was in this beautiful city and spending hours on INSTAGRAM and GRINDR. Not again. No. This time I’ll go see AT LEAST two shows a day and also the museums and stuff you know?
Shay: 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?
Lukas: Just like the crash site of this diva of an alien: it would be a fiery and smoky shot of mescal. Straight up neat. I mean not straight, like just neat. Gay up neat? You know what I mean.
A reminder, you can catch B48Y Crash Lands on Earth! at Assembly George Square Studios (Studio Four) from 22:40 (60mins) on August 5-11, 13-18, 20-24 & 26-30. Tickets are Available Through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Nicole Gulasekharam
