Interview: Fred Deakin talks Club Life, In The Box, and what an 'Interactive Joyride' is
Fred Deakin in Club Life. Photo by Kat Gollock.
This July, we will be hosting Club Life - an exciting new event that’s taking place In The Box.
As we gear up for this, we caught up with the show’s creator, Lemon Jelly’s Fred Deakin, to talk all things club, all things life, and all things in between…
How did the idea for Club Life first come about, and what was the inspiration behind it?
I got the idea for Club Life during the pandemic. Clubs got the worst time during COVID and were the last sector of the creative industries to recover; you could argue they have yet to fully do so. I was thinking a lot about back then in my late teens and 20s when I was going out clubbing all the time and then running clubs, and all the people that I met, and all the fun that we had. I thought it would last forever, that I would know those people all my life. And then we moved on, we all grew up. I decided that I wanted to pay tribute to that magical time. I could have put another club night on, but I’d done a lot of that already; I could have just stood on stage and told a lot of stories about back then, but that didn't feel true to the spirit I was trying to capture. So then I had this brainwave that I would get a cast of actors involved and the show would alternate between my story and recreating the clubs of back then, using the cast to bring back various fashion tribes through not just acting but dance and costumes. So the show is a tribute to those times and that special period of life that I think is so crucial for every generation of young people to find themselves; remembering my youth, but also talking about how that process of discovering who you truly are in the world is so important for everybody.
The show is described as 'an interactive joyride' - what does that mean to you, and how is that feeling created live?
The show does evoke a lot of joy, and we frequently see people very ecstatic when they leave. I've described it as a 'drug-free love bomb', and it's hard to define exactly how we do this. The cast interact with the audience, but only if audiences are open to that; it's not compulsory, but we do encourage people to get involved, and it can be quite scary, at first, to step out onto the stage and join in. So there's something about stepping through that threshold that I think is very empowering to people: it breaks down barriers. Experiencing this along with the rest of the audience and feeling part of that is also very joyful. So it's a real coming together; me and the cast work very hard to make sure that everyone is getting what they need, whether it’s a full-on moment or a bit of space to observe.
You'll be performing In The Box - what opportunities does the 360º event format present?
The box format is very exciting; the show alternates between a storytelling mode and a club mode, and in the club mode, we're recreating those clubs of the past, not just with the music and the cast and the costumes but with the visuals. Previously, the shows have only had one video wall to do that with, but now we're going to be completely immersed in the visuals and the aesthetic of each of those 80s and 90s club nights, which will be so much more powerful. We’re also going to introduce an interactive element to the visuals so that we can improvise with them on the night, and of course, every night is different visually because we have a live VJ performing alongside the rest of the cast and the team. So it will definitely take the show to the next level.
Without giving anything away(!), is there a moment in the show you're particularly excited for our crowds to experience?
Personally, the moment in the show I'm most fond of is in the last club section when I partially hand over the reins of the night to the audience and involve them in how the music is selected. I’d better not go into any more detail than that, but there's a moment when the audience go, ooh, we can have a go, and I love seeing that realisation dawn on them.
Where do you see the show going next? What does the future of Club Life look like?
We've got big plans for the show; after this run, we're looking to tour it both nationally and internationally. Having these 360 ‘In The Box' shows in The Old Market is such a great opportunity for us to explore how that immersive functionality will help us evolve an even more unique and innovative show. So these shows are very much the beginning of the next phase of Club Life, and I'm very grateful to the Old Market and Brighton’s punters for partnering with us to create a whole new mode of celebratory entertainment.
Club Life comes to TOM from Thursday 17 to Sunday 20 July - click here for tickets and more info