Living the dream.
Bearded Kitten are in the business of “co-ordinating chaos”. Depending on who they're talking to (they've done events for Google, Cadbury's and Jim Beam) they might call it “entertainment design”, or “mass participation spectacles” or “interactive entertainment”. But whichever way you spin it, it's inciting fun on a large scale – an interesting day job one might say.
Founders Timmy Sampson, Barney Sutton, Jona Ahearne and Dickie Cohen began their riotous journey on the UK festival circuit by “scrawling moustaches on girls faces”. They quickly realised that people wanted a bit more than just music out of their festival experiences.
“Festivals used to be a lot more one dimensional,” says Timmy Sampson. “You'd go and watch a headline band, stay up all night and that would be that. More and more are realising that diverse content is really important, and even though headliners sell tickets, what makes people go back is all the extra stuff – all the interactive stuff. At the end of the day a festival is an experience and if you see a spectacle – get involved in a paint fight, play a silly game – if you’re on-stage being cheered at by hundreds of people, then that's more memorable then the reason you bought the ticket – seeing a headline band.”
Their festival venues are legendary. Their Colli-silly-um at Secret Garden Party (which began life as a mudpit) sees baying crowds lining a Roman-style amphitheatre while largely unsuspecting volunteers embark on some of the most ridiculous games the Kittens can imagine. At Glastonbury their Campo Pequeno arena hosted a 1,000-strong tomato fight.
At one of their events you might find yourself embroiled in a game of 'Eat Yourself to Death.' Or being power-hosed off a bit of timber balanced precariously over a mud-pit while eating dry Weetabix – a game they dub 'Wet or Dry'. Or doing aerobics in a fat-suit. “There is an element of dark-side voyeurism,” says Timmy, “ but mainly it's about everyone getting involved, no one really caring that much and doing something memorable and different.”
“As a promoter, as an independent, we are seriously silly. We are serious about doing things that are completely different and off the hook. We revel in experimenting with the different ways people like to to have fun - be it mud fights, hanging people upside down on bungee cords, or really unusual, unexpected surprise spectacles, theatre, games, all of that sort of interlaced into into a really complete experience.”
Bearded Kitten have also branched out from their festival roots to host bespoke club nights in Brighton and London. Their next party – Around The World at Arcadia on March 16th – is their most ambitious yet. “It's themed around an airport. When you arrive you've got different lines: first class, fast-tracked tickets. There'll be a lot of air hostesses outside. Then you'll get funnelled through all the things you normally hate: customs, passport control, but we've turned it on its head and made it really theatrical. You'll go through 'Customs and Exercise' and into the departure lounge where there'll be waitresses and a jazz band, and then you'll hear an announcement to board the plane. And this is when the party starts.”
The plane, hosted by a compère/pilot, will then make six stops at different countries and the party will be themed according to where you land – be it America, France, The Balkans – with DJs and bands who characterise the culture.
They've obviously got plenty of what they dub 'Bearded ideas' – “baggage reclaim gone mad, duty free, orange air hostesses, a 'sniffer dog', an airport buggy (which is actually a milk float) taking you on a tour of the hanger...”
“It's somewhere between a show and a party. It's an experiment in doing something completely different. It's the most ambitious party we've done yet, and it needs to run like clockwork. But we're quite comfortable with that. We've done a lot of show choreography in the past year or so. We've got a show at Wembley tomorrow for the Olympics – making 12,000 people sing karaoke. All the volunteers – we're doing the half-time energiser.”
Bearded Kitten are all about participation and interaction, and they are the first to admit without the heroes who get involved – you guys – it wouldn't work. “All the best games are the ones where anybody who steps up to play them automatically gets the respect of the crowd because you’re sat there thinking 'I wouldn’t bloody do that'. But they step up and do it and get automatic respect for it. And the shit that they do is absolutely insane and massively liberating – you know, being made to eat dry Weetabix or sprayed in the face with a power hose – and because everyone’s massively up for it they're heroes. They are the stars of the show.”
Around the World is at Arcadia on 16th March.
For tickets click here.
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