Sarah Liane Foster, creator and writer of “The Last Show You’ll Ever See” from Portland, Oregon’s Nomadic Theatre Company, brings a unique look at the end of the world to this year’s Fringe. The show about finality is presented with an interesting mix of pantomime, trombone, and clown.
Martlet: How would you sum up your show in a sentence or phrase?
Sarah Liane Foster: “The Last Show You’ll Ever See” is a fast-paced, clown-esque trombone concert, interrupted by the end of the world.
Martlet: Where did you get the idea or inspiration for your show?
S.F.: As a trained theatrical clown and long-time trombone player, I set out to make a clown show with my trombone, and decided on the end of the world as a theme, because I was struck by the quantity of fascinating possibilities and predictions out there about how the world could end. And I’ve found that sometimes, strangely, the most horrible, sad, or terrifying things provide the best material for comedy – what’s terrible on the one hand is deeply comic on the other.
Martlet: What is the most interesting experience you’ve had while performing?
S.F.: For me, the most interesting moments on stage are when something unexpected happens – when something falls, or the audience reacts in an unusual way, or someone’s phone starts playing the ‘Mission Impossible’ theme in the middle of the show (that happened in Saskatoon!), and then I have to deal with it in character, in the moment, in the context of the show.
But the most interesting, intense, challenging, and inspiring performing experiences I’ve had have been while performing with Clowns Without Borders (CWB). CWB partners with humanitarian organizations to relieve trauma through laughter in areas of crisis. When I went with them to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, we found ourselves playing to huge audiences in tent camps, surrounded by destruction. People often came to the shows looking sad, or angry, or kind of blank. Our job was to find a way, through the show, to laugh with them. That was some of the deepest laughter I’ve ever heard.
Martlet: Is there a message or a moral you’d like audiences to take away from your show?
S.F.: Come see it. Listen and laugh and decide for yourself!
Martlet: If your characters could live in any era other than their own, what would it be and why?
S.F.: The Jurassic era! The goofy intellectual trombone diva heroine of this show has an incredible fondness for dinosaurs, and thrives in extreme situations full of danger
and excitement.
“The Last Show You’ll Ever See” at Victoria Fringe
St. Ann’s Academy, 835 Humboldt St
Friday, Aug. 30@ 6:45 p.m.
Saturday, Aug. 31@ 5 p.m.
$11 Regular, $9 Student/Senior (plus $6 Fringe Visa Button)
