A Performance Artist met a Playwright & Researcher in Theatre

Interdisciplinary conversations between artists and academics

Performance artist Jake Boston wrote this piece in response to his conversation with Genna Gardini

This is how he got there...

Jake Boston
Genna Gardini

Jake Boston is an actor and writer. After a successful run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2018 and at the world’s largest Solo Theatre Festival (United Solo) in New York City, in 2020 Jake Boston’s Bare Knuckle made its London debut. Very touching, at times hilarious and deeply personal, Bare Knuckle sheds light on the brutal (and often hidden) male world of bare-knuckle fighting. This autobiographical show reveals the emotional battles between father and son.

"Jake Boston’s brutal yet bouncy solo performance pays respect to his hero" Flora Gosling - The Wee Review

“Boston himself is a joyful stage presence with a talent for characterful storytelling Flora Gosling - The Wee Review

“His charismatic performance is a warm tribute to his father’s legacy” Dana Zhang - All About Solo

https://www.jakeboston.com/

 

Genna Gardini is a South African writer, theatre-maker, and educator. She has an MA in Theatre-Making from the University of Cape Town (UCT) and is currently a PhD candidate at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). Genna won the 2020 CASA award to complete her latest play, Many Scars. Her poetry collection Matric Rage received a commendation for the Ingrid Jonker Prize and she was a 2016 National Fellow at the Institute for Creative Arts. Genna has taught at UCT, CityVarsity Cape Town, and QMUL.

Before meeting, Jake and Genna shared these materials from their previous work...
Before meeting, Jake and Genna shared these materials from their previous work...
'Laying it All Bare: An Interview with Jake Boston'
'Performance Scale' by Genna Gardini
On 21 August 2020, Jake and Genna held their conversation
On 21 August 2020, Jake and Genna held their conversation

on elements that link our performance practices

In the work that we both shared, we are dealing with the physical body, as well as different ways of talking about grief; and I saw a link of collaboration between our work.

Genna Gardini

the beauty of collaboration (and cheese boards)

I really liked your description of going to the house of your collaborator, asked to tell your life story, and being presented with a cheese board!

Genna Gardini

the creative stimulus behind nipple hair

What was going through your head when you wrote the poem you shared, Nipple Hair?

Jake Boston

on the importance of live audience

how does the form of bare knuckle fighting shape your solo performance?

Even though we think about "masculinity" as about power, there's something really vulberable and intimate about this kind of fighting...

Genna Gardini

Genna Gardini wrote this piece in response to her conversation with Jake Boston