It's tiny! It's red! Yes- I play it in the nude!
I am nearing the end of what has been a one month fling with hundreds of different people who have payed money to come and see me perform my comedy show, SKITCH TEASE, each night at the Adelaide Fringe Festival wearing nothing but a tiny red piano accordion.
And tiny is the operative word- just before flying down, my old piano accordion busted so I took it to Primo Pinn (Brisbane’s one stop Accordion Shop…well to put it more accurately, Brisbane’s one stop Accordion Shed… located out the back of Primo’s house in Macgregor). He frowned, pulled it apart and after much prodding and more frowning he announced (in an accent which is disappointing neither Italian nor German but broad Australian) “I can’t fix this in time love-”. You can probably imagine that at this point I was feeling pretty nervous. Then he disappeared into his shed and emerged with a TINY red accordion and said, “But you can have this one”. (Please note, it looked even tinier when held by Primo who is a 6ft 4, broad shouldered, giant of a man). I hesitated, wondering if it would cover my privates, he warned, “Take it sweetheart or I’ll change my mind”. “I suppose I can perform the act sitting down”, I squeaked, giggled and the rest is history.
Primo had no idea what I was planning to do with his tiny red piano accordion but since borrowing it I have been sending him various press clippings and photos of his squeezebox and its adventures… I haven’t had this much fun since stealing my neighbour’s garden gnome!
I think local street mag “Rip It Up” summed up my reasons for doing this better than I could myself:
“Any smart performer knows that as soon as you stick the words “nude”, “sex” or “Twilight” in the description for your Fringe show, you’ll instantly prick interest (or is that interest pricks?)”
But marketing is not my only motivation for taking it all off (and then strapping it on). When it comes to art making, I have always dared to be different and at age 33, what can I say? I have tried pretty much everything; from throwing myself on a bed of goon bladders as a form of circus stunt to developing a strange addiction to wearing Mumus. It is hard to be original- particularly at the second largest Fringe in the world with over 700 acts- but here I am, the only nude accordionist at the festival. And it is not as though I went straight to nudity, I had dabbled in nude suits for a number of years and it was time to take off the training wheels.
This concept made perfect sense to me, however, was a bit much for poor old Mum and Dad, who expressed their concern by sitting me down and announcing, “Lizzie, we are worried that you are going to ruin your reputation”. To which I responded, “What reputation?! That is the whole point of the exercise- I am trying to GET ONE!!!”.
And in the end, there was no need to be worried about hordes of dodgy men in overcoats showing up for the wrong reasons…although there was that one show attended by a bunch of boys on a bucks night…but they were sufficiently titillated and thankfully pretty well behaved. Turns out that the show mostly attracted middle aged to elderly couples… not unlike my Mum and Dad!
So how was the show received? I liked the Adelaide Advertiser reviewer’s balanced opinion of the show:
“While her skills on the accordion are unlikely to blow you away, Skitch’s effervescent persona, clever blend of humour and nice touch or crowd interaction are likely to bring smiles and laughter.”
What next? I will be performing a season of SKITCH TEASE at The Brisbane Powerhouse from 20th- 22nd May, until then, I think I will be heading to Primo’s for some weekly accordion lessons!
