We sat down with Sean Kempton and Michaela O’Connor, co-founders of Kook Ensemble. A newly formed company whose founders bring decades of international circus experience, including with Cirque du Soleil who Sean still collaborates with.
What inspired you to start Kook Ensemble?
Sean: Michaela and I have been creating work for over 20 years in many types of settings. Both as creative directors, choreographers and comedic designers. We have built work in spiegeltents, outdoors, traditional theatres and any other setting you can imagine. All this time we had been developing our own creative process and understanding the type of contemporary circus we would like to create. It has taken a while for us to fully develop how we work with artists to draw out the emotional response and fully integrate a story world into the physicality of circus. It felt like now was the time that we should lump all our work under one banner and present the work and stories we wished to tell. Whilst we still work for others at times, Kook Ensemble allows us to keep the control of our creative vison and an opportunity for us to get back home to North Devon and find a place to create work.
Filibuster is inspired by silent movie legends like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. How did the idea come about, and what do you love most about silent movie comedy?
Sean: Filibuster has been mulling in Tom and my head for a while. Tom Gaskin (who is the co-creator and performer of the show) approached me a few years ago to build a solo show for himself. He wanted to create about a person who has isolated himself and to conquer his boredom creates joyful diversions.
It was clear from early on that we both had similar reference points for the show from Buster Keaton to P.G.Woodhouse. This combined with Toms extraordinary period look and amazing physicality led us to the romantic poets and the early 20th century. We investigated why he isolated himself and began looking at the build-up to the first world war, it seemed to us there were many similarities to today’s world and the pressures that young people are facing. This seemed the perfect tapestry to land our world.
When I was growing up, I would race home as BBC two would show Harold Lloyd and Laurel and Hardy movies. This led me to Buster Keaton who I think is an acrobatic clown master. The fact that the world around him is constantly trying to defeat him is a fun set up. His dead pan reactions and strong physical approach was a great template for Filibuster. Comedy was also filmed differently, much less cut aways and just letting the action play out. The games were often very clear and simple, you see the set up ,the development (the make it worse make it worse) and some sort of conclusion. Beautifully clean simple and clear
Your second show, Sand, deals with themes like dementia and coastal erosion. Why did you choose these subjects for a circus show?
Sean: Over the past few years I’ve been working a lot with people living with dementia. Mostly through performing with the brilliant Vamos Theatre company, where they were going into care homes. Then during covid for the London Mime Festival I co devised Love Through Double Glazing with Rachel Savage, Vamos artistic director. It was performed outside care home windows. It was a challenge of keeping the audience fully engaged and playful even through a physical barrier. The experience was both profoundly moving and completely joyful in equal parts. There was something so immediate in what they were doing and a beautiful connection to the people to whom they were playing. There is also a book called “Creating Moments of Joy” by Jolene Blakley which sat with us. It is a tough world to dig into but the moments and pockets of clarity and joy that people have seemed like it would sit perfectly into our circus world.
Michaela: As we are in beautiful North Devon and very much a coastal environment, dementia and coastal erosion seem perfect partners for an emotional and physical exploration. We are interested in taking physical and emotional references to weave our images and stories into an acrobatic world. It is important to us to have a strong starting point in which to explore the circus form. Our research from this informed our creative practice and has begun to build some new and exciting ways to look at manipulation and acrobatic storytelling.
How do you balance humour and serious themes in your performances?
Michaela: We believe that they are very similar dance partners and sit comfortably side by side. Often the humour will come out of an honest situation and the audience recognise the fragility of the moment or the human failing. All we have to do is make sure it is believable, play with the rhythm and musicality of the moment. The humour in “Filibuster” and “Sand” are quite different in tone but the approach is the same. We don’t pull the punches on where the character is emotionally going and the humour pops out. Having worked as clowns for many years we can dance that fine line and trust to find the right balance.
You’ve worked internationally with Cirque du Soleil and many others. How do those experiences influence the work you do with Kook Ensemble?
Michaela: One thing that sticks with us is a comment Franco Dragone said to us when working on a big budget show. We would present something and he would wait in silence and then through a microphone in the dark ask, “Was that worth $180 (the cost of a ticket). No? Come back again then.” So we aim to make every aspect of what we do be worth at least $180 to the audience from every aspect of a show no matter what the budget.
The repetition of doing so many shows allowed us to understand who we were as makers and performers and how to joyfully fail and rebuild work. It also gave us the privilege to work with some extraordinary artists and creators from whom we could watch learn and develop.
Kook Ensemble opens rehearsals to the local community. Can you tell us more about that and why it’s important to you?
Sean: This initially came from us discovering the viewing area at the National theatre. There is a windowed area and gantry around the side where you can view the workshop and sets being built. It seemed such a clear way to demystify the secret rehearsal world.
Where we rehearse in Ilfracombe it has wrap around windows and doors. So last summer we opened up everything and put posters up describing what we were doing. It was such a positive experience. We had people sitting in all day, kids coming in, chatting and giving some of the best feedback we could have imagined. It was a direct connection to the local community who would normally never engage with performance.
What do you hope people will take away from watching a Kook Ensemble show?
Sean: That they felt ‘held’. By this we mean the wonderful magic where the audience can fully immerse into a theatrical experience. We want the audience to come away smiling with tears in their eyes and excited about going to watch another live performance.