Fools Moon Cabaret - An interview with Paulina Lenoir
Having fallen in love with the genre-bending mixed-bill comedy night Fools Moon Cabaret around this time last year, Nathan had a little chat with its founder Paulina Lenoir ahead of their show at Soho Theatre.
Paulina, tell us about Fools Moon Cabaret!
Fool’s Moon cabaret is a place where fools and magical beings come out to play under the moonlit sky. Its a seasonal show with different themes featuring performers across clowning, alternative comedy, music, dance, drag and live art.
What made you start Fools Moon as a mixed-bill night?
During lockdown when I (like everyone else) was starved of human interaction, I began dreaming of creating a space like the cabarets in the 1920s where artists of all different backgrounds would come together to play and experiment. Also like many people, as we had more time to connect with the abstract, I dove harder into the esoteric. These two things created the seed for Fool’s Moon and once I got the chance to start making it happen I asked all the artists I found inspiring at the time to join me. My desire for Fool’s Moon was to create a space where people could come together to cross pollinate and feel like anything and everything was possible. A space for magic and connection.
I feel very lucky that across the last few years of Fool’s Moon a strong collective of artists and community grew around the night and a lot of new and exciting collaborations were born from it. I’m curious to see how it continues to evolve and expand.
You’ve had a wide array of the creme de le creme of alternative comedy, music, dance, drag and live art performers, what do you look for in an act when programming?
In flamenco there is a term called ‘duende’ which is sometimes translated as ‘goblin’ but from my limited understanding duende is like a spirit beyond your spirit that runs through you. You would say someone ‘has duende’ when you feel transported by their performance. So I guess I look for goblins but also on a more practical level I am always attracted to very visual and surreal acts.
Out of that starry selection, whose set stands out in your mind as the wildest or most anarchic?
I love everyone who’s performed at Fool’s Moon so much and in terms of anarchy there are many who stand out but the first to come to my mind was Julia Masli. I really admire Julia’s spirit. I think what she is doing now with ‘Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha’ is raw, wild and anarchic and at the same time so full of heart and love for humanity. Its unlike anything I have seen before. After I saw it in Edinburgh I cried for an hour (good cry). Luckily she is performing at Fool’s Moon this Saturday so you can see her there! If not you can also catch her show at Soho Theatre in Jan/Feb.
How did you become a performer?
In a way I owe a big part of it to Firdaws Saksena, another brave and anarchic soul I am really happy to have crossed paths with. Before performing we were studying Product Design and found designing industrial objects so boring and unnecessary that we started making bizarre things that made us laugh and would parade them around uni. One night she took me to The Others in Stoke Newington where we saw Carlo Jacucci perform and that is where we both discovered clown. We followed Carlo to Italy to take his workshop on clowning and then found out he taught at Gaulier. As soon as we graduated from Product Design we ran away to Ecole Philippe Gaulier in France and started a company called ‘Lobster Quadrille’ with another wonderful performer (& Firdaws’ now husband) Alasdair Saksena.
You’ve run Fools Moon in a wide array of different venues, what difference does the choice of venue make to the atmosphere and running of the night?
The night started at The Others which is where I first performed in London years ago with absolutely no experience but a lot of enthusiasm haha! The Others is a venue open to all kinds of experimental performance and you see a lot of strange and wonderful things there. Starting Fool’s Moon at The Others was incredible because it was a great place for taking risks and building community. At the time it was a monthly night and we would have a full Friday evening for hours of performances and dancing afterwards. It felt like a big party every time. Now at Soho Theatre its more of theatrical because we get to play with fancy lights and sounds and its only 1 hour 15min so its feels more like a show. It has a different yet equally exciting energy. No matter where we are though we are very lucky to always have wonderful audiences and performers and that is what makes the atmosphere, the people.
What artists would you point to, as people (or companies), that have had a lasting impact on the work you make?
There are so many but my first biggest inspiration was Pina Bausch & her company Tanztheater Wuppertal. I used to spend hours watching footage of her directing. I’ve never smoked but she was an avid smoker and whilst I watched videos of her I would roll receipts or small pieces of paper and pretend to smoke because she made it look so beautiful (don’t smoke kids). And then Carlo Jacucci who introduced me to the world of clowning and is still one of my favourite clowns of all time.
I also feel very lucky to have many talented and generous friends who consistently influence my work starting with Lachlan Werner who has helped me enormously with Fool’s Moon and all my other work in so many ways and to name a few more Laurie Luxe, Ella The Great, Lucy Hopkins, Julia Masli, Frankie Thompson & Liv Ello, Chewy She, Grace Church, Nancy Trotter Landry, Ella Evans, Charlie Wood, Hazel Townsend and Patricia Langa. And of course Annika Thiems who is an incredible designer and maker has made all the recent Fool’s Moon costumes with me.
Lastly, we’ve long been fans of Fools Moon, but why would you say our readers should book a ticket?
The tarot cards are saying its good for you to come. But your destiny is in your own hands. Or is it?
You can catch the last few remaining tickets to Fools Moon Cabaret over at sohotheatre.com/events/fools-moon-4/. You’d be a fool not to go.
