10 Minutes With Sheridan Harbridge

05.01.17

Who is Sheridan Harbridge?
I’ve been called everything in my time – from a Wise-Arse Wench, to a Gay Icon, to a Potty Mouthed Pest. I think I’m a theatremaker who loves whimsy and raucousness. 

Who inspires you and why?
I’m inspired by performers and companies who cross genres –  Alan Cummings is very fascinating to me, flipping through screen, theatre, cabaret, writing. Windmill Theatre Companies recent production of Girl Asleep,which I had the pleasure to be in, was wild and electric; the school’s show had the kids screaming, I want to make adults squeal with delight like that. 

What would you do to make a difference in the world?
I’d like to keep young people coming to the theatre. It’s an old boring sentence, but it’s a pursuit. Its a medium of magic and catharsis, and I’m a champion of its potency, and I want to grow old and develop with my audience.

Favourite holiday destination and why?
I did New Orleans for a week last year, and it blew my mind. Cultural melting pot, it’s own strange and dark culture in the middle of America. There’s no place like it in the world. Oyster Happy Hour, 80c oysters, I went twice, final one on the way to the airport, and made myself stupid-sick and happy with over 36 oysters.

When friends come to town, what attraction would you take them to?
I take them to Watsons Bay – the cliffs, the lighthouse, the seafood.

What are you currently reading?
Trainspotting. 20 years after everyone else because I’m always behind the times.

What are you currently listening to (or watching)?
Watching The Crown. It’s strangely addictive, even though you know the plot. 

Happiness is?
Whiskey in bed. 

What does the future hold for you?
Lot’s more theatre this year. Calamity Jane at the Hayes, and The Cat/The Dog at Belvoir for acting fun, and a new project that’s a sister show to Songs for the Fallen.

Why do you think a show like Nosferatutu is important?
Nosferatutu is about many things: love, desire and loneliness is a part of it, but the thing that is ringing clear in the rehearsals is the idea that a monster is made by a monster, the cycle that can’t be stopped, and monsters long for beauty and softness. These creatures were isolated, but we must wonder why they were created. It’s a question about how communities gather together and isolate. It’s a very beautiful portrait of a man who desperately wants to belong, desperately wants to not hurt and destroy, but his instincts cannot be curbed. He’s very heartbreaking. Amongst lots of hilarious blood, singing and dancing and naughtiness. 

What’s your most memorable performance/production to date?
Oooh gosh. Hard one. We did a performance of my earlier show Songs for the Fallen at Oxford Art Factory, a nightclub, with the whole audience on their feet dressed for a masquerade. It was loud, wild and electric. I was feeling it so much I jumped in the crowd and surfed the whole room, even the security guards joined in, they were having such a good time. It was a moment where the show was spilling joy from every nook and cranny and I thought THIS! This is why this art form is in our blood.

Nosferatutu runs 7 January – 21  January.