STAND-UP, character comedian, scriptwriter, actor and musician Kieran Hodgson combines all his skills in his hit show Maestro. The English comedian, who last year brought his comedy show Lance, a biographical storytelling piece about his childhood hero, the cyclist Lance Armstrong, to Belfast's Cathedral Quarter Festival, returns to the Black Box tonight.
Maestro, which was nominated for best comedy show at the Edinburgh Fringe, tells Hodgson's life story through a mixture of narration, impersonation, anecdote, one-liners and violin playing.
How do you summarise Maestro?
I play all the characters in a comic story about how I've been trying to write a symphony since I was 11 and also trying to find love at the same time.
Is the show largely autobiographical?
I started putting myself and my life story into my shows a few years ago, but initially I related everything pretty much exactly as it was, even keeping original names unchanged. When those people started turning up to the show I thought it might be a good idea to be more flexible with the truth to avoid upsetting anyone. Now I stretch the facts and change names for the sake of the comedy, but the core of the show is completely true.
Is comic timing taken to a new level in this show?
I certainly have to be very careful when I'm integrating me playing the violin, the recorded orchestra playing my symphony and me speaking over the top of all that.
What is it you enjoy about the music of Gustav Mahler, which you play in Maestro?
He's a composer who appeals equally to the heart and the head. He knew how to feel terrible pain and how to celebrate life's joys. His music is a galaxy of emotions for you to explore as a listener.
Has Maestro introduced a whole new audience to classical music?
That's maybe a little bit grand, but I do know of a few people who've left the show and gone home and looked up some Mahler on Spotify. One of the reviewers in Edinburgh even went to see a Mahler concert.
Was it always your goal to pursue comedy as a career?
I studied History and French at Oxford University and thoroughly enjoyed it, whilst knowing all along that I wanted to give comedy a go. It was the fact that doing comedy there was so accessible that led me to think I could maybe try my luck.
When did music and comedy merge for you?
The first comic song I remember hearing was Flanders and Swann's The Gnu Song, which I heard when I was about six. It was so funny it made stuff come out of my nose. From then on I've always thought they make a great partnership, though classical music tends to get a bit bent out of shape when its dignity is called into question by comedians.
Is it true you play violin in an orchestra?
Yes, every Monday night I sit proudly in the second violin section of the North London Sinfonia, trying not to make too many mistakes and looking forward to the tea break.
You have appeared recently in a broad range of television shows including Alan Partridge, Jonathan Creek, Downton Abbey and Siblings. Do you see your future in television?
I love acting and if I can get good enough at it I hope one day to play The Doctor. My agent is aware of this lifelong dream of mine and promises that it will definitely, definitely happen.
Have you ever filled in as a body double for David Tennant?
Ah, you'll be referring to the old lookalike situation. I've not quite been a body double, but I recently recorded a Doctor Who audio drama for Big Finish Productions where I was asked to play David Tennant's doctor, alongside my own character. I hope I did him justice, as I was very much considering it an audition piece for the day when they do a moving BBC4 bio-drama about David Tennant and they need someone who looks a bit like him but is maybe, say, 17 years younger.
:: Kieran Hodgson's Maestro is at Belfast's Black Box tonight at 8pm as part of the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival. Cqaf.com
