EDINBURGH 2017: BWW Q&A- Camille O'Sullivan

Tell us a bit about Where Are We Now?

Where Are We Now? is a celebration of my love for musicians that I was obsessed by when I was younger, like David Bowie and Leonard Cohen. Their passing had a massive effect on me and I'm looking at their work now, with a fresh perspective. At the same time, I'm looking at the world we live in right now. It's turbulent and terrifying place to live thanks to Trump and Brexit. The world seems to have changed - it's upside down. I came up with the name of the show by using the song title from David Bowie, Where Are We Now.

Why bring it to Edinburgh?

Coming back for my 14th year at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is amazing and I push myself each year to create a brand new show, so that audiences can come back each August and see something different but with my own personal style and craziness being mixed in with the music that I love and songs that I want to share with people. The fact that I've still got audiences coming back each year is amazing. That gives me confidence in myself and in the fact that they have confidence in me too. It's hard to pinpoint what it is, but for some reason, they're still coming so it must be working.

What sets your shows apart from other performance/circus shows at the Fringe?

My shows are about being human and kind and crazy, while finding ways to express yourself to the people you love and also to people you meet along the way. I hope people go away moved and feeling joyful after watching my performance, but hopefully not feeling it was too dark. When you think about Bob Dylan and Nick Cave and those types of artists, people feel like we're sharing the journey of the performance with them. The world isn't perfect and neither is our lives so there's a crack in everything but the light gets in, which is where the best things come from. That's what my show will be about.

Who would you recommend comes to see you?

Lovers of music of music like Pink Floyd, Radiohead, Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave. I'm quite rocky and love ballads and story telling. I do like to go a bit crazy. What's interesting about audiences is that they're from 12 to 90 and they love different things. If you're into thought provoking stuff and good music then that's me. If you're in to a night of jazz then don't come. Check me out on YouTube to see what I mean. They're all so different. Dark and then upbeat and sexy and innocent. I've heard that people go down into the rabbit hole because of all the personalities in each song.

What do you hope audiences will take away from your performance?

I hope that the audience will get some kind of catharsis from this show and it will make them stop and think. People who are quite shy come to the shows and I'm aware of that when you're a singer who wants to connect with the audience and be a strong presence on stage. I meet them afterwards and they've dance or sung out - I like to unleash the child in you and that's important. I love the audience as I'm thankful to anyone who comes to the gig. Every audience is different and you have to take that on board and have an affection. Sometimes you can go to a gig and the singer will sing the song and that's it, but I want to connect to them.

Timings and ticket information for Camille O'Sullivan: Where Are We Now are available on the edfringe website.

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