Alternative clown and comedian Camilla Borges brings her show Be Not Afraid! to the Edinburgh Fringe this summer.
“Camilla has a theory that who you played in your school Nativity shaped who you grew up to be. She played Mary, so, surely she should be a CEO by now? Not quite… Mother of God, but she was also just a girl. What if she wanted to listen to Lorde instead of give birth to one? Millennial angst meets a new form in Be Not Afraid! Part school play, part diary entry, it invites audiences to help Camilla grow up and face reality. Featuring high levels of audience interaction, silliness and unmet potential!”
Where: Nic 9 (Nicolson Square Gardens) at Hoots @ Nicolson Square
When: 7-30 Aug (not 18)
Ticket link: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/camilla-borges-be-not-afraid
What can you tell us about your show? What is it about and where did the idea come from?
The show is about Mary (of being Mother of God fame) and what things would have been like for her, being a teenager, then finding out she was going to have this baby. She was pretty young- she should have been at the club. It’s about revisiting the story of the Nativity and seeing it through her eyes.
As well as that, it’s about what the Nativity says about us – a Nativity is a core part of a lot of people’s childhoods, and I have found it so fine to get people to re-live those memories. I ultimately use those two ideas – Mary and The Nativity – to help me find my own purpose in my adult life. It is about me using my own and others’ childhood memories to help me figure out my life.
The idea started from my own starring role as Mary in my own school Nativity when I was younger, a high I have been riding for many years. I started cultivating a ‘Mary theory’ that if you played Mary when you were younger, you were bound for innate success and stardom, although that has very much not happened to me.
I started wondering if there was any other correlation between what you played in the Nativity and what you went on to become. The theory isn’t perfect, but it has reaped a lot of intriguing results. From my research, the Mary theory isn’t perfect, but when I meet a fellow Mary, I can tell.
How would you sell it to audiences in one paragraph?
There’s something about… Mary. Camilla has a theory… whoever you played in your school Nativity sets you up for who you will become later in life. She was Mary; who were you? She wants to find out! Now she is revisiting the story of the Nativity to find out where everything went wrong for her. *Cue Little Donkey*
Hopefully, using the power of the Nativity, Camilla will finally be able to grow up and stop being afraid! A show about disappointment, growing up, and myrrh. Expect fun, games, and a lot of silliness. No, like even more silliness, double it, then triple it. That’s the amount of silliness you can expect. Featuring a goat, donkey, and at least one wise man.
Do you enjoy participating in the Fringe? Do you have any particularly memorable moments?
I love taking part in the Fringe; it’s a cliché, but there is honestly nothing else like it. It has such power – it’s so intense in a very intoxicating way. Some of my favourite memories are staying up until sunrise, running around the city going anywhere that would let us in.
One year I did a show at 1am, which was pretty memorable as I would get the wildest, most unpredictable crowds. Once a few drunk girls came and sat in the front row and were incredibly supportive until one of them dozed off. She suddenly woke up and loudly turned to her friends to tell them she was going to leave, before waving me goodbye. I paused the show to tell her to get home safely.
Another time I got a guy on a first date to do a 2-minute plank to his unimpressed date – it then turned out that another girl he had gone on a date with was in the audience. She messaged me after that it was just as well he was on another date because his plank gave her the ick. I got some good gossip from those shows.
What are you most looking forward to in Edinburgh?
I am looking forward to so many things. It sounds cheesy, but I am really looking forward to performing to new audiences. I really love performing the show, and I love sharing it with people. I am also excited to see other people’s shows. Being in Edinburgh, you are constantly reminded of the sheer amount of talent around.
It’s a creative hub; there is no shortfall of talent. I really enjoy walking past semi-famous comedians and pretending to be cool about it. Gearing up for Edinburgh, I like to try and predict who I will make myself a fool in front of – Ed Gamble, I think it’s your year. But maybe the thing I am looking forward to is the food – Edinburgh has an amazing food scene, and I plan on eating my stress this year.
There’s a gelato place that flies under the radar; everyone is all about Mary’s Milk Bar when this place is better. I always get an ice cream sandwich (my favourite thing) on my final show day, and I think about it every day; I am genuinely getting riled up thinking about it right now. As I’m doing the full run, I may have to do a first day, day off, final day compromise. If you see me in person, ask about the gelato place. I will aggressively keep asking if you went and liked it, so that’s the trade-off for my knowledge.
What’s next for the show?
Depends how Edinburgh goes! Hopefully this isn’t the end of the road; I would love to tour it, take it around the country. Maybe abroad if the fates allow… If I make any money, I’d love to put that into making the show look really slick, get a backdrop or dancers or something, so it’s all the play for. Come see the show!