VOILA! 2024
Interview
LORRAINE
SMITH
YOU CAN TAKE
ME HOME TONI
Lorraine has a secret, an embarrassing obsession. And she is ready to out herself to you!
Lorraine is a massive Toni Basil fan and LOVES the Word of Mouth video album! Come pinball through cheesy pop songs, cracked memories, and outrageously honest and comedic stories of trauma and ecstasy. It’s clear this fandom is more than crimped hair and glitter spray!
Get ready for Avant Garde costumes, eclectic movement, lip synching and celebration, as we plunge down the spiral slide of tangled memories and 80s nostalgia. Yes, pop icons can really change lives!
Hello Lorraine, thank you for taking the time to talk with TNC, are you looking forward to bringing You can Take Me Home Toni to Voila! 2024?
I have to ask, will there be any nerves ahead of the show or are you raring to go?
Oh, I definitely have nerves! I’m nervous about performing in London after almost 10yrs. I’m nervous that I might have a brain fart and forget my lines, or that I might trip over one of the costumes, or that no audience will show up! But once I’m in the wing waiting for the show to start, I’ll be focused on engaging with the audience in the live moment.
Do you have any rituals or superstitions before heading out on stage?
No. But I do get a strange energy beforehand. A kind of silly, jokey vibe, perhaps to calm my nerves. And maybe the need to fidget and rearrange my underwear multiple times!
You’ve already had an amazing reaction to YCTMHT with Adam Potrykus (Stockholm Fringe) saying your “ability to demand attention and get the audience onboard their beautifully crafted story goes hand in hand with carefully executed storytelling that touches on hard-to-digest topics of a dark nature.” What has it meant to you to get this type of reaction for your show?
It has been amazing to get such positive feedback from both the industry and audience members alike. I wasn’t prepared for how relatable the content would be and that the audience would feel a shared experience with my personal stories. A young woman, who I flyered outside a café in Durham, attended the show with a friend and sat in the front row smiling throughout the whole performance. She then hunted down my YouTube show trailer so she could leave a comment to say ‘“This was such a great performance, changed my perspective. Thank you!”. It means a great deal as an artist to know your work is having a positive impact on others.
How did You can Take Me Home Toni, what was the inspiration behind this show?
I had originally been exploring an idea around Dusty Springfield, but quickly realised I didn’t have a strong enough connection to her music. But I did have a strong childhood connection to Toni Basil. And once I started revisiting her music videos, it brought back a wealth of memories and sparked some interesting initial ideas for an autobiographical work.
What was it about Toni Basil’s Word of Mouth that connected with you so much? And if you was to make me a mixtape what three Toni Basil songs would you put on it?
I watched the family VHS of that Word of Mouth video album a lot! I was always drawn to Basil’s unique movement vocabulary and her strong persona. She was such a confident, sexy, but also masculine character. This spoke to my own (slightly aggressive) personality as a child. I wanted to both beat up and kiss the boys haha! On reflection I would say she was neither feminine or masculine, just someone comfortable in their own skin and identity, and used that power to totally own the screen. Her music videos were also visually vibrant, interesting and well produced / choreographed, even for cover songs.
Did you have any apprehensions about creating a show that comes from such a personal place?
Not really. I am a bit of an introvert, but once I get comfortable with someone, I am crude and an over-sharer. Particularly about personal/taboo stuff. Combine that with being past a certain age, and quite frankly I don’t really give a f*ck. If people want to judge, that’s on them.
Has the process been cathartic in a way for you?
Definitely. Sharing this kind of content with strangers is very liberating. Exploring memories, which become fragmented and unreliable over time, can also help you see things from a different perspective, and help you let go of past baggage.
Has this allowed you to be more freer with the salient themes that You can Take Me Home Toni explores?
Yes, mostly due to the acknowledgement that my memories are unreliable and that I am creating a new narrative out of these personal experiences. Working with my collaborators has also helped me to approach my experiences and the themes with creativity and flexibility.
What was the experience been working with Daphne Karstens and how close did you work together realising the costumes you use in your show?
Daphne and I first met in 2014 when I worked as a performer for her final project on the MA Costume Design for Performance (LCF). We reconnected in 2019 and have been collaborating on performances and research projects ever since. I adore working with Daphne! She has such innovative way of working with materials and we both believe in the importance of the body and costume combining to become one assemblage. Developing YCTMHT we would discuss my initial ideas and experiences, and she would always create something much more interesting. The costumes have had a massive impact on the dramaturgy of the work and are so Avant Garde and unexpected. Certain costumes get quite a reaction, such as shrieks of surprise and laughter, from the audience.
When creating a show like You can Take Me Home Toni how essential is the creative collaboration between creators?
For me it is essential to have collaborators who are 100% on board with a project and happy to contribute to its creative development. And even more so when you are performing in your own work. For example, our sound designer Peter Heselton is a huge fan of Toni Basil and completely understood what I was trying to achieve overall with the work. He attended all development rehearsals and shared his observations and ideas with me. Patricia Suarez, initially hired to be the interactive stage manager, also massively helped the final formation of the show via her professional experience as a dramaturg.
Do you have any other aspects of the 80s cultural experience that you’ve loved looking back at, exploring, and including in your show?
Not necessarily 80s specific, but the inclusion of the red leotard strongly connected with my childhood experience of dance and gymnastics, and the vulnerability and sexual objectification that comes with that item of clothing. It is amazing how many women have had similar lived experiences related to this clothing staple.
"That music icons can help us get through the bad times, regardless of how cheesy their music might be."
Since first staging You can Take Me Home Toni what would you say have been the most valuable lessons you’ve taken from this whole experience?
That I can write scripts and deliver it in an authentic way that connects with audiences (I am from a dance background). And that you become much more interesting and engaging to an audience as an older performer – it doesn’t have to be big leaps and splits. Patricia also made me aware of the importance of ethical audience interaction. Before each show, Patricia asks audience members if they would like to interact, talks them through what the agreed interaction will entail, and then supports them to take part during the performance. This is a much more audience friendly approach than my previous interactive work and creates an enjoyable experience for everyone involved.
Looking back at the 80s, what piece of advice would you give your younger self?
Don’t be so worried about what others think. And stop overthinking every interaction. Everyone’s too busy with their own stuff to notice.
Finally, what message would you want your audience take away from You can Take Me Home Toni?
Not to feel ashamed about the past and not to feel that trauma has to define you. That music icons can help us get through the bad times, regardless of how cheesy their music might be. That our identities aren’t fixed, and we are always in flux. That boobies, vaginas and merkins are fun. And that there is strength and togetherness in shared experiences. We just need to say it out loud.