{"id":16871,"date":"2018-12-05T11:34:21","date_gmt":"2018-12-05T19:34:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=16871"},"modified":"2019-11-05T13:03:42","modified_gmt":"2019-11-05T21:03:42","slug":"fresh-from-off-broadway-james-and-jamesy-set-to-deliver-laughs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2018\/12\/05\/fresh-from-off-broadway-james-and-jamesy-set-to-deliver-laughs\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresh from Off-Broadway, James and Jamesy set to deliver laughs"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

If you thought Vancouver performers Aaron Malkin and Alastair Knowles were British after leaving last year\u2019s performance of\u00a0O Christmas Tea<\/em>, you\u2019re not alone. The stage actors\u2014who go by the names James and Jamesy\u2014grew up watching\u00a0Monty Python<\/em>,\u00a0Mr. Bean<\/em>, and other English shows that set the tone for their careers.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Having just come from shows Off-Broadway, the duo has new additions to\u00a0O Christmas Tea<\/em> this year. The story is the same as any other year, but the stage effects are what the pair is particularly excited about this year, having learned some new tricks in The Big Apple.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\r\n
\"\"<\/a>\r\n
James and Jamesy are bringing the holiday laughs back to town (photo provided).<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cIn the epicentre of theatre, we get exposed to a lot of high-calibre shows that we get to pick and choose elements from,\u201d says Knowles\u2014who plays Jamesy\u2014of his experience in Manhattan. \u201cWe really got to add confetti cannonsin our show.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Growing up in West Africa didn\u2019t stop Knowles from consuming English television, which is where he was introduced to this type of absurd physical comedy.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cThere\u2019s something that I love about the British sense of propriety and the love of the absurdity,\u201d he says. \u201cIn\u00a0Monty Python<\/em>[and]\u00a0Mr. Bean<\/em>, it\u2019s these characters that are trying to be proper; they\u2019re trying to do things the right way. It\u2019s that, even though life is kind of crazy, you can still kind of hold on to this sense of \u2018everything\u2019s under control.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Knowles and Malkin have got it under control; the art lies in making it look like they don\u2019t. The show deals mainly with a disruption of the normal, a technique used widely in theatre. Two friends get together for a nice cup of Christmas tea: what could go wrong?\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Malkin says that although the show is scripted, improvisation plays a huge role in the development process.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cSo much that\u2019s in the show are events that happened at one point, accidentally,\u201d he says, \u201cor events that surprised us and worked so well that we thought, \u2018We have to put this in the show.’\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

A big part of the two performers\u2019 craft is making is making it seem like something is happening accidentally for the first time.\u00a0\u201cThat\u2019s a really fun art, I would say,\u201d says Malkin. \u201cI remember early on I thought, \u2018Let\u2019s just have the show be a wild improvisation; wouldn\u2019t that be so fun? [Our director] said, \u2018That\u2019s great, but there\u2019s a real magic in being able to play a script like it\u2019s your first time going through it.\u2019\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

O Christmas Tea\u00a0<\/em>
7:30 pm Thursday, December 13 and Friday, December 14
$24.25 to $34.75, Royal Theatre\u00a0
rmts.bc.ca<\/a><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you thought Vancouver performers Aaron Malkin and Alastair Knowles were British after leaving last year\u2019s performance of\u00a0O Christmas Tea, you\u2019re not alone. The stage actors\u2014who go by the names James and Jamesy\u2014grew up watching\u00a0Monty Python,\u00a0Mr. Bean, and other English shows that set the tone for their careers. Having just come from shows Off-Broadway, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-webexclusive"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16871"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18575,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16871\/revisions\/18575"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}