The art world could soon have its own comedy star. Canadian-born Judy Batalion - who by day researches, writes and curates for the Tate, the Design Museum, the Science Museum, the Wellcome Trust and the Geffrye Museum - has been busy playing the London comedy circuit by night.
Currently wowing critics and audiences at the Edinburgh fringe festival with her stand-up performances (Oliver Wilson, who writes for The Stage commented: 'Judy Batalion was excellent. Her routine about her mother and technology was particularly outstanding. She has great stage presence as well as a winning smile'). She will soon be accessible to all of us who own mobile phones. From September, you could catch Batalion working her audience thanks to telecommunications company Mobix, who have been scouring the fringe, looking for acts that will translate to the smallest screen. Companies such as O2 and T Mobile want to offer their customers a two-hour comedy reel from which they can download two minutes of comedy action. Matt Ward from Mobix said of Batalion: 'She was performing down at the festival and we thought the quality of her act would work well for mobile.'
Despite the promise of glory, Batalion hasn't forsaken her academic pursuits - she's currently compiling and editing an anthology on comedy audiences for Parlor Press (USA) that will include contributions from scholars and comedians in the UK, the USA and Canada. Batalion's ability to reach both British and North American audiences through her comedy recently prompted Harvardwood (a Harvard alumni entertainment organization which hosts events aiming to strengthen ties between the US and UK in arts, media, entertainment and education) to invite her to take up the co-chair of their new UK chapter.
Besides coordinating events for Harvardwood, fulfilling her curatorial and academic responsibilities and performing her stand-up routines, Batalion also writes and directs comedy. Her play, 'Cycloanalysis' was staged at Edinburgh 2004 and was described by The Scotsman as: 'Glorious Madness'. 'Actually', says Batalion, 'the real madness was in managing a cast of seven comedians, especially as this was my first-ever directing gig.'
This autumn she will direct a major project for The Women's Art Library/Make (now based at Goldsmiths), a performance of the V-Girls script, 'Daughters of the ReVolution'. Originally staged in New York in 1993, it's a humorous take on a new generation of feminists - the daughters of the 1970s feminist revolution. Talking about her involvement, Batalion comments: 'An ironic spoof of New York 1980s academic feminism isn't something you'd expect to find on the London comedy circuit. In the same way, humorous parodies of lectures aren't typical of academic symposia. It's great to be working on a performance project that really has so few outlets for execution. The Make event will take place in a unique venue with a unique audience. Also, recreating a comedy performance that's originally from another era and country means that there's much possibility for adaptation. I'm hoping these shifts and translations will leave gaps and cause gapes, and open up questions about the natures of academia, scholarship, feminism, and humour itself.'
The original V-Girls script was written and performed by a collective of artists, including Andrea Fraser. For the new version, Batalion is after fresh, young talent which she hopes to find at the Fringe: 'And of course it's a great excuse for spending entire days and nights watching comedy shows...'
Jane Neal |
