Tonight is a big night for all-female sketch group Lady Garden. They are hosting their first ever sketch night at the Wilmington Arms and the show is a complete sell-out with loads of family, friends and comedy goers packed into the pub's small performance room. There are a few famous faces in the audience as well – Lenny Henry, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders and Adrian Edmondson are all here to support Jennifer and Adrian's daughter Beattie (one sixth of the group) and their other daughter Ella who is playing some music from her new album.
2008 was a whirlwind year for the girls who are Camille Ucan, Eleanor Thom, Beattie Edmondson, Jessica Knappett, Hannah Dodd and Rose Johnson. They began with a sell-out show at the Comedy Store in Manchester which was followed by a debut at the Edinburgh Festival. They managed to wangle the 150-seat Gilded Balloon for their venue and went on to scoop up a stack of 4 star reviews. Since then they've been touring the UK with their show (reaching the finals of a couple of prestigious new comedy competitions) and are currently working on their next one. I managed to grab a quick half hour with them in between rehearsals for tonight's gig to chat about their journey so far....
EM: So.... Lady Garden - who came up with that?!
Eleanor: I did. It was my fault! We didn't have a lot of time to think about it - only a couple of days. What was the one you had (Jess) which was really funny? Granny Left The Kettle On or something?
Jess: No, it was Granny Left The Iron On!
Camille: We had to have 'lady' or something female in it didn't we?
Rose: Someone said we should be called the Twat Pack. I mean a lot of the older crowd don't know what Lady Garden is but if we're Twat Pack there's no getting away from that is there?
EM: How did you all get into performing comedy together?
Camille: We did a big student comedy night in a little venue with loads of different students using new material and then last year we did it at the Comedy Store which loads of people came to. Then we decided to form Lady Garden.
Eleanor: I'd written some stuff and wanted to see if it worked so I thought there must be other people from the 25 different acts in the first show that wanted to do this as well.
EM: For your first ever Edinburgh gig last year you got the Gilded Ballon - was that amazing?
All: Yeah!
Camille: Karen Koren (Artistic Director of Gilded Balloon) gave us a massive break.
Eleanor: She's so keen on women in comedy as well and she just wanted to give us a chance.
EM: That's brilliant. Were you a little bit terrified it would be half full though?
Rose: We were mentally prepared to play for audiences of 3 people. So we were pleasantly surprised when people did come.
EM: and you got some great reviews...
Eleanor: We were amazed - it was so enjoyable.
Camille: We didn't even know if we were going to do Lady Garden after Edinburgh.
Jess: Everyone had their own plans. Everyone else had just graduated and Hannah was getting ready to do a job in Marketing. Camille was going to RADA. We were all planning on going off in different directions and then it was like: "Right we need to take this seriously, let's give it a go."
EM: Do you think it's hard to make a name for yourself as a sketch group rather than as a stand-up?
Jess: There are definitely fewer opportunities to perform...
Beattie: I think it's hard for a stand-up because there's so many of them. You've really got to make yourself different.
Rose: We're a novelty. People have never seen so many women on stage before.
Eleanor: If nothing else gets remembered it will be that there were 6 of us! Some people say do you really need six? Do you have to have six?
EM: I was really impressed with your performance at the Hackney Empire Awards, especially with the Tescos call centre sketch and the vintage one. You could really imagine them translating well onto screen. Are you thinking about going down that road yet?
Beattie: We're not looking to do TV any time soon, we really want to get a proper backlog of material before we start.
Rose: Sometimes it feels like it's an inevitable trajectory towards TV and that's the pinnacle of your success but I think live is a concurrent thing it doesn't have to stop. We'd love to keep doing big live shows and that's as much of a goal as TV.
EM: Beattie I'll tread carefully here because....are you sick of answering questions about your parents?
Beattie: um a little bit but I don't mind!
EM: Are they pleased you've gone into comedy?
Beattie: Yeah...I think they're more excited about my sister really - they're all coming tonight to see her!
EM: What about the rest of you? Are your parents excited for you?
Hannah: Yeah they're all really supportive and will come and watch as many gigs as they can.
Jess: My parents have started writing sketches though...
Rose: So have mine! My Dad was like 'I've got a bit of an idea for you' and they're all inevitably horrendous and to do with VW buses! They all get involved though. Jess's Mum made the bunting for the show tonight.
Jess: And my boyfriend does the sound!
Eleanor: It's a family affair.....
****
The gig goes really well and it's standing room only at the back (I am stood next to a very tall Lenny Henry – if you thought he'd be the kind of man that would perversely have a quiet laugh – you'd be wrong). The girls whip thorough some very witty sketches I haven't seen before ranging from P.C. job interviews to 'healthy heart' fitness classes led by 'Bev'. All of them are accomplished actresses and the gig demonstrates some very sharp writing skills behind the silliness. Whether they stay on the live circuit or eventually go into TV, the future is certainly looking rosy.
Interested in seeing Lady Garden live? You can catch their Edinburgh previews at the Pleasance Theatre on 11th and 12th of July.
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