“[The show is] pretty much anything I can get away with legally. There’s a reason it’s only once a week, because I will need healing time. I wouldn’t be able to do this show five nights a week. It would kill me.”
Internationally renowned Lutruwita/Tasmanian genuine sideshow freak Samora Squid will be doing an hour of their most full-on material for SQUID’S SUNDAY SIDESHOW, a DIY punk residency at famed Naarm/Melbourne venue The Tote, and don’t say you weren’t warned.
Sword swallowing. Live piercing. Extreme contortion. A Samora Squid show is shocking, confronting, hilarious and not for the faint of heart. “What I do, it’s not stand up, though I’m sure I’ll say some dumb shit that people will laugh at. There’ll be a lot of non-verbal storytelling, involving sharp pointy things and burny things. When I registered the show, I ticked all the trigger warnings. [Laughs] Not all of them were in the show yet, but I wanted to cover my bases.”
Having spent years performing everywhere from Europe to Dubai, SQUID’S SUNDAY SIDESHOW was born when the Melbourne Comedy Festival put out applications. “I thought, “It’s been a while since I’ve staged something I’ve made” … This is a good chance for me to make a new show, to revitalise old stuff, to try new stuff out, and do something that encompasses the range of skills that I’ve acquired over the last thirty years. This show’s got my original music in it, as abrasive, industrial and dystopian as it is. I’ll be using all my physical theatre training, and all of my knowledge of theatre to turn a dive bar into a unique experience. The Tote is one of my favourite places for live music.”
When it came to picking a venue, there was no better option than The Tote. “Grimy, honest, sweaty, DIY alternative arts community in Melbourne isn’t gone. It is still there, and there are still hubs like the Tote,” Samora explains. “The venue itself will add a lot of character to the show. You’ll be having the DIY punk experience by virtue of it being at the Tote, but you’ll also be having a theatre experience, and you’ll be having a freakshow experience as well.”
