INTERVIEW: Tweedy on bringing his Massive Circus show to the RSC gardens, which fool he’d play on stage, and why he’s always full of beans
Tweedy’s Massive Circus romps into Stratford in May for ten madcap days; and before that you can see his Bottom onstage… in A Midsummer Night’s Dream currently on tour, while in the distance panto calls. Before his residency in the RSC theatre gardens, the legendary Giffords clown and iconic king of tomfoolery spoke to Gill Sutherland about this and that, and playing the Fool to David Tennant’s King Lear.
Book tickets at www.underbellytickets.com
You’ve got an incredibly full year coming up!
Yeah I’m a busy bee – I was meant to be taking it easy this year but I can’t help myself.
So the bad news is you aren’t with Giffords this year, but the good news you’ve got your own circus. How much of a wrench has it been not to be touring with Giffords this year?
It’s fairly strange, they are rehearsing at the moment and they are just up the road from where I live. I was up there yesterday because it was my day off. I’m about to open with A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Cheltenham [Everyman Theatre] on Thursday so I popped up there. I am still involved with the show, but it is very strange not to be touring.
Why did you decide not to do Giffords this year?
Well, I’ve done 17 tours in a row and I always said I’m going to take time out, but the time was never quite right. I was going to take time off, and then Nell [Gifford, who founded the circus and sadly died in 2019] got ill and when she passed the timing wasn’t right because we had to figure out what the show was without her; and then the pandemic happened. It’s been on my to do list for a long time. It’s an incredibly hard decision because I do love Giffords, and I am going to miss not doing it, but it’s also a very hard schedule – it’s a lot of shows a week and it keeps getting longer. This is the longest tour they’ve had. So yeah, just taking some time out from it and do some other things – Shakespeare now and then Tweedy’s Massive Circus. It’s not nearly as big a tour as Gifford’s is, so I am still taking it easier.
What can we expect from the Massive Circus?
Now the clowns are in charge! But that’s not necessarily a great thing. It’s in a tiny little tent – the tent shrunk, and I don’t quite know what happened to the cast: they’re not here, there’s only about four people I’ve managed to rally up. It’s essentially a clown show in a big top. All the performers do circus acts and it’s all about the comedy and the clowning. It’s not a blackout tent, so you can see all the audience’s faces. I sort of wanted that connection with the audience.
How many does it hold?
It’s about 300. But the circus ring is only five metres round. The whole thing is tiny. I wanted to do an intimate fun clown show. We are taking it to the fringe {Edinburgh], and I haven’t been there in a very long time. So that’s what we are doing with it at the end of the tour.
Who else is in the show?
There’s another clown, Sam Goodburn, he’s got lots of skills. There’s Loren O’Dair, who trained at Lecoq and she has circus and musical skills. There’s a guy called Reuben Greeph, who’s an actor and musician. And we will have live music as well. We are trying to put on a massive circus with limited resources and people, so that’s where the comedy is coming from. Can we pull it off?!
What elements do you have to have to devise something and make it a Tweedy show?
The element I do is ‘man in trouble’ and get this character into as much difficulty as I can. How can I solve that problem that will make an even bigger problem? The character has to come out and triumph in the end.What I love about what I do is that it appeals to all generations. Quite often you will have three generations watching and enjoying the same show. I love that – to be able to bring families together. When you devise a show you have to think about will the five-year-old understand? What’s happening here? And will the 50-year-old find it funny? You have to find ingredients that tick all these boxes, and hopefully everyone will enjoy the show.
There’s always that element of danger in your act – that an audience member could get harmed at any moment – is that something that you will build in as well?
Yes, I think that’s from my love of Buster Keaton and things like that. I like to always have that element of jeopardy in there.
Who are your other clowning and comic heroes?
There are so many and I am always finding more. There are the obvious: Laurel and Hardy and Norman Wisdom. But anyone who is physically funny and does slapstick I absolutely love. Like Eric Sykes and Lee Evans.
It may be a bit of a cliché but clowning does seem popular again – is there a renaissance of that kind of comedy?
Yeah, there is, and cabaret is back as well now – it wasn’t around in the 90s at all. There was a phase when it was looked down on. There are a lot of clowns for adults which is great, because I got a bit bored of stand-up – I mean Viggo Venn is sort of the most obvious one [2023 Britain’s Got Talent winner]. But there is this great surge at the moment, and I absolutely love it, the more the better. The interesting this is that people always ask actors ‘where did you train?’ but they don’t ask comedians that. Now there are a lot of clown schools, and you can learn physical things but to be funny you just have to be in front of an audience and see what works.
You were brilliant in Waiting For Godot [Everyman Theatre, 2019]. When you are acting is that a different approach? Are you Tweedy playing an actor or is it more complex than that?
I do sort of see it as an extension of clowning – with Godot I do see the characters as clowns and similarly with Bottom. And because clowning is what I know, and what I do, I see it as an extension, but with more lines. Bottom feels like another clown, which he is of course. Certainly with the roles I’ve played it feels like a different version of clowning which is why I like doing it. I like to explore whole aspects of clowning.
On stage you give a show-stealing performance – I guess the rest of the cast have to be willing to participate in that and take a step back – does that ever cause issues?
I don’t do it deliberately! I am always conscious in the rehearsals that everyone is getting gags and things like that, especially when I am involved in the writing of it. I’d like to think I am a generous performer. I’ve not had anyone pull me up on it.
Did you see A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the RSC with Mathew Baynton?
No. I had quite a few people say – including Mat Baynton – I don’t think you should because it might influence you. I don’t know if it would have or not. I think what would have been frustrating is if I had an idea, and then gone and seen it and he was already doing it, and then I would have thought ‘oh I can’t do that anymore’. It might have restricted me creatively. I hope there will be a film of it.
Tell me about your Bottom!
It’s really fun. I’m the only cast member that’s not tripling. It’s amazing that they can all have three distinct characters, which I have admiration for because I come from clowning and I don’t know that I could do that. I think I’d still be Tweedy. Director Paul Milton has taken a bit of out and rejigged things about a bit, and in a way it’s following Bottom’s journey, which is very nice. We open with a Mechanicals’ scene and we’ve sneaked in a few extra scenes of Bottom rehearsing. And that’s not good because if I’m not on stage I’m in the wings causing mischief. It’s really fun, and I’m really enjoying it and I can’t wait to get it up on its feet.
Growing up, how did you discover your funny bone? Were your folks funny?
I was tiny as a kid and a lot of people said you are only funny because you are small, so I had this fear of growing big. I was taken to hospital for a month to have tests to work out why I was so small, and it turns out I was a late developer and just didn’t want to grow up. When I grew I was still funny, luckily. My dad was quite funny, he did a lot of amateur shows and things like that. I’ve always just been the way I am really. A few years ago I did a show back in Aberdeen, which is where I am from, and it was really nice because every show felt like a reunion – there would be old school mates. So many of them said you are just exactly the same except you’re on stage. There is not much of a line between me in real life and me on the stage.
I was going to ask that – is it a very thin line between Tweedy and you?
Yeah, basically my persona is me excited.
Does ‘Alan Digweed’ [Tweedy’s real name] have his more serious moments – can he ever be found reading a book with his feet up and going to bed early?
Occasionally. I can’t really stay still for very long. The only people that call me Alan are my mum or dad. I always feel like I am trouble or back at school.
Have you ever been diagnosed with ADHD?
Yeah, for a long time my daughter said ‘dad you are ADHD’, ever since she was quite young. And I thought ‘no I’m no listening, I’m not being diagnosed by a child’. But loads of people have said I must be and I do have a lot of the symptoms. But I don’t need to get diagnosed because it works for me anyway.Fixating on something has worked really well for me because I’ve learnt loads of musical instruments – not very well – but well enough to clown with them. I think that’s partly to do with that: you hyper fixate on one thing for a bit and then forget all about it.
You got a British Empire Medal in the New Year Honours, have you picked up your medal yet?
Yes Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire presented it to me at the circus actually, and I went to a garden party at the Palace.
Lots of people are avid fans of Giffords – have you ever been starstruck by celebrity fans coming along?
There are loads of celebs that come to Giffords. When I first met Ade Edmondson and Jennifer Saunders it was a bit like that, but now I am quite comfortable messaging them. But it’s surreal that I can now go have a pint with people I’ve looked up to since I was a kid. It’s a great privilege.Lee Evans is another one. He didn’t come to circus but I’ve met him. It’s quite weird sometimes when you put people up on a pedestal and then you meet them and you don’t really know what to say to them.
What’s next after the summer?
I have pantomime lined up at the Everyman. I don’t have anything lined up for September or October but perhaps that’s a good thing and I should take some time out! I would imagine I would be back at Giffords next year.
What have been some of your highlights of Giffords and how much of an influence has it been on you?
It’s been a huge influence. It’s been a huge part of my life for a very long time. Being fired out of the canon is kind of the big trick that everyone remembers. That was a mad idea.
Is Nell’s spirit still burning bright through the circus?
Yeah definitely. We have the same director who was there for a long time and it does feel like she’s there still.
Is Keith [Tweedy’s pet iron] going to be making an appearance at the Massive Circus?
I suspect he will be making an appearance. He appears at the pantomime as well. I think there would be an uproar if he wasn’t there.
Finally, if you were on the RSC stage, what clown would you like to play?
Oh I don’t know. I’d also like to play Puck as well. I suppose the Fool in King Lear would be amazing. It would be nice to have David Tennant as King Lear. He came to Giffords as well!n Tweedy’s Massive Circus is in Stratford 24th May to 2nd June, then touring until mid-July. Book tickets at www.underbellytickets.com.
