With the second Postcards Festival – short, vivid snapshots of new work from some of 'the most astonishing acts on the planet' - launching this week (7-30 June), we caught up with Artistic Director Adrian Berry - the man on the frontline of London's subversive edge! Born out of the frustration Adrian felt at not being able to showcase short, new pieces by emerging (and established) artists, Postcards gives a platform to both and new and established circus and performance artists. Here, 'The Innovator' himself, tells us what's at the heart of Postcards, what's up his strasse, and - a nod to his very own band - Alberteen! Ladies and Gentleman, here's Adrian Berry! Postcards Festival, 7-30 June 2012. jacksonslane.org.uk

RR: We can understand why Time Out have named you 'The Innovator' - but what was it specifically that prompted this accolade?
AB: Because, in the words of Adam Ant who I saw at your fine festival The Apple Cart on Sunday, we don't follow fashion. We set trends, never passively wait for work to come our way but instead go out and find it, create it, nurture it. And particularly our passion is to support new circus artists, give them a home, opportunities, space, let them experiment and take risks. I think that's innovative so we'll happily take that title.

RR: At Postcards we've been told to expect 'Circus, Cabaret & Extraordinary Performance' - are you reviving the classic Music Hall Variety Show?
AB: There's defintely more than a nod to vaudeville at times. Maybe 'Varieté' is the better comparison - this was a Berlin-set 1925 silent movie about a trapeze artist that I love; very decadent, 'noir' and dramatic. I think Postcards achieves all this in the breadth of its programme. We're challenging people's conceptions of what circus and cabaret is, but it's definitely got a broad appeal. Not quite Arthur Askey though. Maybe if he wore suspenders.

RR: What's at the heart of Postcards?
AB: Postcards is a reaction to...blandness, boredom. There's a lot of grey work around right now. It's short, punchy, vibrant, colourful, daring. Ok maybe circus has begun to cross over into the mainstream but we've been producing work like this under the radar for some time now, and Postcards this year is Jacksons Lane 'coming out'. You just have to look at something like Lab:Time - and right there you have the circus superstars of tomorrow. There'll be 10 performances of brand new short works - aerial performance on a giant shower curtain, amplified musical tight-wires - it's genre-defying stuff from some of the youngest and hottest circus artists out there. And it's totally thrilling.

RR: Is it true you have a one-off performance by a rock'n'roll-art-punk-Weimar-orchestra of misfits, broken dolls and drama queens - who ARE they?
AB: Like millions of people, I've known about the Puppini Sisters for years. They're huge. And they're cute, funny, beautiful. But when Marcella invited me to a pub in Mile End to see a low-key performance of her new 'art rock collective' - Marcella and The Forget Me Nots - I didn't know what to expect. I was blown away. We all were. This feast of Bowie-meets-Brel with a mostly female band was like seeing a young troupe of Patti Smiths in drag rubbing up against Scott Walker in the Marquis de Sade's scarlet boudoir. And that's a good thing. They're very Weimar Republic. A bit Iggy. A pinch of Liza with Lotte Lenya hanging on her shoulder. Amazing, dark tales of treachery, lust and betrayal. Right up my strasse in fact.

RR: For our darling luvvie readers who crave some theatrical interaction and that magical 'immersive' experience - what can you recommend?
AB: You used the 'I' word. I'm thinking of banning it from the building! But if you want one-on-one action, as it were, (along with a couple of hundred others) then you can come along to join the seminal and sensational Scottee with 'Party Piece' where you get to share (if you so desire) your piéce de resistance which you would normally reserve for when you're off your face at someone's wedding reception. He'll be gentle with you. Not sure about the audience. Or if you fancy being a global pop star then Boogaloo Stu will write a song with you, devise a flashmob dance routine like a subversive Pan's People, make a video, upload it and by the time you get home 160 of you will have created an internet phenomenon. Maybe even a number 1, who knows? So, immerse yourselves in that.

RR: We've heard the crowds cheering 'Burlesque is Dead! Long Live Burlesque!' How do you interpret the photography of Elsa Quarsell, whose exhibition 'The Domesticated Burlesque' is showing during festival?
AB: In the same way we are re-inventing how we portray and present circus, Elsa has done the same with burlesque. She spent years travelling the world to get these photographs, real dedication to her art. It takes the tackiness out of burlesque, not that tackiness is always a bad thing, but here she re-contextualises a host of beautiful performers, male and female, and positions them in the 'banal' - the domestic setting. Except it's anything but bland. It's exotic, sexy, mesmerising. Never dirty, always playful, and makes you want to get to know each and every subject, maybe ask them to do your ironing or even wash your smalls.

RR: As part of the festival you've invited Crimson Skye to curate the late night cabaret 'Curiouser and Curiouser' - what can we expect?
AB: Crimson and I met on New Year's Day this year, both a little worse for wear, and hatched a plan on the South Bank. Basically, as soon as I met her I knew I could trust her artistically 100%, and also that she'd push the boundaries, take risks. Not only is she performing her own solo piece 'Death Row Diva' earlier in the festival (Patsy Cline meets Charles Manson, basically) but for Postcards Cabaret I gave her free rein to pretty much trample all over us in her 6" stilletos and put together her dream night. It's sort of Crimson's mini 'Meltdown' - the full title, if we'd had enough space, was 'Curiouser and Curiouser - Crimson's Adventures in Crazyland'. You will not find another cabaret like it in the country, ever, and it's never to be repeated. Disturbing magic, stomach-churning contortionism, truly exotic burlesque. It's a one-off, like Crimson herself.

RR: Adrian Berry, you are the Postcards Festival Ringmaster! Please could you help us by finishing this announcement introducing the circus highlights in no more than 30-seconds! 'Roll-up, roll-up! Calling all circus aficionados and novices! Brace yourselves for...
AB: …the most exciting new circus company in ages - Boom! with their new show on a gigantic steel construction 'Floors'. NoFitState German Wheel performer Simone Riccio pulling out all the cliches like 'edge of seat' and 'breathtaking' because he truly is, in a double-bill with Zu Aerial who'll create a magically surreal upside down world. Oh and a triple-bill including one of the greatest jugglers on the planet Frederike performing above you, under you and around you, leading up to our 'celebration' of the Olympics with a circus adaptation of the 1908 Games - think droopy moustaches, long shorts and pole vaulters on 40 a day. And while I'm on a 'games' theme - we've just announced a new show for Postcards with the brilliant Leela Bunce and Matthew Floyd-Jones (of Frisky and Mannish fame) '2012 - An Olympic Vaudeville' which promises to be extremely irreverent and totally hilarious.

RR: Word on the street is you're also involved in a music project that by the laws of '1-degree-of-separation' is connected to The Fall, Patti Smith, Art Brut, Cornershop, and the Libertines! Er - wow! What's this all about?
AB: Aah that will be Alberteen you speak of and yes we are directly connected to all those people through our collaborations and friends. Haven't worked how to shoehorn us into Postcards yet (although now I technically have). We formed in 2008 at a family funeral, cheerily enough. Phil, John and I are old Nottinghamshire school friends so it's all rather emotional and personal for us as well as hugely exciting. Our new album Metal Book has been top of many critics lists this year, Marc Radcliffe is a fan and our single A Girl and a Gun was one of BBC6 Music's 'tracks of the year' and we recorded a session for them also. We did, interestingly, perform with some circus artists in December - first time my two worlds have collided. We're playing some gigs again in the Autumn. www.alberteen.com has all the details.

RR: You're clearly a man about town who's generous to pass on your cultural findings when you join the presenters of the BBC London Breakfast show - what might you be recommending next time you're on air?
AB: You just missed me on Saturday. I'm part of the BBC London breakfast team alongside Simon and Jo. My brief is to go out, find and discuss alternatives to the norm within the cultural capital scene. So rather than a nice play or concert, you'll get me discussing something like Matthew Herbert's 'One Pig' where he cooks a piggy on stage and samples it to form a live electro soundtrack, or Finnish accordion wrestling at York Hall. Plus they let me talk about what we're doing at Jacksons Lane which is cool. I have to see a lot of work for the show so pop up every few weeks, I'll be on again end of the month after Postcards is finished. Plus I have to get up pretty early as I'm on at 8am and it's live so I can only manage the 6am weekend starts once in a while. Next time I'm on I'll be recommending whatever looks slightly subversive, exciting and visually stimulating in London. Turn on, tune in etc.

RR: We're ready for showtime! What's your last word for Postcards?
AB: Buy a festival pass. You won't regret it. Fifty quid gets you into every single show, and it all needs to be seen. Trust me, Jacksons Lane is the only place to be this month. I'll even buy you a drink and let you play with my diabolo.

Postcards Festival
7-30 June 2012
Jackson's Lane
jacksonslane.org.uk
 

Adrian Berry
adrianberry.co.uk
Adrian Berry is Artistic Director of Jacksons Lane, one of London's most innovative arts venues for contemporary circus and visual theatre.

Prior to this he was Creative Programmer for Stratford Circus, Artistic Director of Trinity Theatre in Kent, Head of Education and Programming and later Director at The Bull Theatre (now Arts Depot) and was Education Manager at the Albany Theatre, London.

Additionally he has programmed and produced for The National Theatre, The Albany Theatre, The New Wolsey Theatre, ARC Stockton on Tees, Under the Stars Festival, The Pigalle, West Wing Arts Centre. He is a member of the advisory panel of The Roundhouse, and has been a consultant for The Africa Centre, Africa 95 International Festival and Mosaic, also leading a ten-venue outer-London consortium for Arts Council England, curating UK and international festival programmes. He was a member of the pioneering Theatre Rites board for 5 years.

Adrian is the writer/director of the productions From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads, Jack Pleasure and Dye Young/Stay Pretty as well as six contemporary adaptations of productions for young audiences.

Adrian is also a member of the group Alberteen