Let the Red Lady take you on a journey through relatable, darkly comic and stylised stories about human survival through the eyes of a Bouffon clown
Meet Isabella Broccolini, aka Isabella Tannock, the founder and creator of Broccolini Productions and the person behind Get Her Outta Here. Isabella was born in Brisbane and has worked extensively in the performing arts for over ten years.
Tell us about the show in 100 words or less
Get Her Outta Here is a look at today’s society through the eyes of a Bouffon clown; Red Lady. It is a show made up of relatable, darkly comic and stylised stories about human survival. My Red Lady makes an unflinching, and richly poetic stand against being objectified and owned by the male gaze. This work debuted in Sydney (2018) and toured to Edinburgh Festival Fringe (2019), it’s a real pleasure to be performing it in my hometown Brisbane in Anywhere Festival 2021.
Anywhere Festival takes place anywhere but a theatre. Tell us about your venue. What is it about your space that adds to your audience experience?
The Sideshow is an intimate café and bar, and a theatre! It makes for a more informal theatre setting and allows the viewers the chance to grab a refreshment easily.
What is your creative process like?
Long and intense, with the consistent need of scheduling the team (myself), drawing, writing, scribbling, listening to albums (everything Nick Cave) and taking walks where there are trees, lots of trees. I had Get Her Outta Here boiling away in my back pocket for a number of years, probably since I was a teenager. I had accumulated many encounters (with men) and had written them down. Now they are of good use.
Image: Phil Erbacker.
Tell us your origin story. How did your company/show/collaboration start?
Back in 2017 I was living in Sydney and took part in a large group show with many different performance artists, as part of the Fringe Festival. I started showing my writing to director Claudia Osbourne. She laughed at it and encouraged me to continue and to perform what I wrote. I kept going and eventually threw all my money into debuting Get Her Outta Here at 107 Projects (2018). It was successful also thanks to meeting Grace Huie Robbins who created amazing sounds, that made the entire show click into place. It projected me forward into a career of making rather than purely acting, and with my aspirations of always wanting to be in charge… I created Broccolini Productions, so I could have the final say over my own image as an artist and performer.
Who is your perfect audience member? Who is going to LOVE this event?
Gosh, someone who finds dark and ridiculous things funny. Someone who isn’t afraid of my depiction of female sexuality when it’s not packaged the way we are used to seeing it packaged. Someone who enjoys the beautiful, strange, and poetic nature of the theatre.
Is there anything else we simply MUST know about the show?
This show has been an entirely solo mission, and whilst that is extremely fulfilling, it is often a lonely experience. It brings everything to life when audiences have a good time, connect with me as a performer and leave reflective on what they saw, what this world is and who they are in it. I intend to hopefully work alongside others who share similar thought, desires and dreams of creating theatre and art that reflects us and is accessible.
‘Get Her Outta Here’ plays the 2021 Anywhere Festival on 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, 23 May at The Sideshow, West End.
