Interview: Will Adamsdale

If you're a comedian and a friend tells you the concept of your new Fringe show is horrendous, most people would probably scrap it. For Will Adamsdale, it was just the opposite when he told his mate he was thinking of doing his new show about computers.

“It had become quite a noticeable fact about my life that I couldn't use a computer,” Adamsdale recalls. “So I was telling a friend about this idea and he said it was terrible. I thought, 'Hmm, that's a strong reaction'.”

The comedian and actor, who's preparing to perform the fruits of that 'terrible' idea in The Human Computer next week at Battersea Arts Centre, is no stranger to extreme reactions when it comes to his work. His surreal one-man shows have long trod a thin line between experimental fringe theatre and absurdist comedy. 2004's Jackson's Way, which satirised the American motivational speaking industry, caught the eye of Stewart Lee and picked Adamsdale up a Perrier award, while his collaboration with sonic artist Chris Branch, The Receipt, won a Fringe First award in 2007.

Despite this enormous critical acclaim however, reactions from friends and family haven't always been so wildly positive. “I did an early version of The Receipt that was pretty pretentious and my Dad came to it,” Adamsdale explains. “He sort of shoots from the hip with his criticism of things. Afterwards we were having a drink and he just said, 'well, that was pretty shit.'”

From that moment on, Adamsdale was always careful to make his shows both experimental and accessible to the more traditional comedy-viewing public – an idea he calls “the Dad test”. “It's important to me that my shows are accessible and not for the initiated in any way,” he says. “You want people smiling in the audience, but equally you don't want to spoonfeed everyone. It's just playing around with that balance, I suppose.”

Although his work places him squarely among the more avant-garde and radical artists of the comedy circuit, Adamsdale is far from any delusions of grandeur. He admits he initially got into theatre for two reasons – to skive off school and to meet girls. “I was at a boarding school and if you did the school play, you were able to get out of certain things,” he recalls. “Also, it was an all-boys school and some of the school plays were with girls’ schools, so that helped.”

Drama eventually developed into something of a passion, leading Adamsdale to study drama at Oxford, sign with an agent and begin to break into the professional theatre industry. “I didn't necessarily think I was going to be an actor, but eventually I had to make a decision because I'd run out of educational options,” he admits. “So I got an agent and did plays and then I started doing my own thing a bit more.”

Despite the generally fantastic reception his shows have received in the UK, Adamsdale admits that his experimental style doesn't always translate well overseas. “When we did The Receipt in Melbourne, it was a really good show, but I think it was the wrong setting for it,” he says. “People were a bit confused. They were like, 'What is this? Is this comedy or...?' You have to be careful with crossing over between comedy and theatre because if you put the wrong thing in the wrong place, it can confuse the audience.” He credits the burgeoning alternative comedy scene, particularly in London, for his success so far. “There's just so much going on here – comedy seems to be breaking down and building up at the same time. It went through that period where stand-up comedy was the new thing in the '90s, but now we have this thing of alternative comedy, which is a genre of its own.”

For now, Adamsdale is riding the wave of the alternative comedy trend quite contentedly – he's touring nationally with The Human Computer until June, working on a new play and also starring in a comedy for Channel 4, Campus, from the makers of award-winning sitcom Green Wing. “They're trying not to call it Green Wing on a campus, but I imagine that will end up being the shorthand for what it is,” he admits. And fans of the Perrier-winning Jackson's Way will be pleased to know Adamsdale is planning a final tour of the production in January next year, tentatively titled Jackson-A-Thon. “I've been trying to figure out a way to put a full stop after Jackson ever since Edinburgh 2004, and I think I've finally found it,” he says. “I find it very difficult to say goodbye to projects, especially characters.”

The Human Computer is at Battersea Arts Centre from May 12th-15th, then at Croydon Clocktower on June 3rd.

See more London stand-up
See more things to do in London

Return to London Comedy homepage