PLUS ONE: TALKING TO TAMAR BROADBENT
We caught up with super funny, Surrey-mummy and the award-winning musical comedian, improviser, and stand-up, Tamar Broadbent. Tamar – who grew up in Ashtead and now lives in East Molesey with her family – is returning to the Edinburgh Fringe with a new show, Plus One, a funny and honest hour about how she negotiated the challenges of motherhood, including fertility tests, failed birth plans, and the impressive feat of giving up wine for nine months!
You head up to the famed Edinburgh Fringe Festival this summer with your new show, Plus One…for those that don’t know, in your own words, what’s been baking in the oven, so to speak?
It’s a musical comedy show about going from not being a mum, or not even considering being a mum, all the way through to sort of coming to terms with that, if that’s the right term to use. It’s quite a shock to the system, you know?
I write story songs along the way. It’s a love story, in which I take the audience through the different characters. My canadian husband who was just desperate to be a dad, and my mum, who pressured me to be a mum, but also loved telling me how awful it was as well. And birth guru characters, who subtly make you believe that you’re not a mother if you don’t suffer. And even though things have modernised, there are still quite ancient things creeping back in in our modern birth groups.
And then from my perspective, what it means… There’s a word – matrescence – that I think is quite a good term that was coined back in the 60s. It descibes a woman turning into being a mother from having not been a mother. And what that is really like, like what happens to your identity, and how you keep the old parts of yourself when really, the centre of everything you care about has changed? And if it’s possible, what does that look like? Then the chaos, and some of the unfairnesses, and the intricacies that go with the whole journey.
I also find, as a woman, until I went through it, there was so much I didn’t know. It’s almost like birth, pregnancy, and anything bodily related to women has been kept behind doors for such a long time because it’s impolite to talk about it or whatever, but I never shy away from these things, and I like to explore them in a silly, funny way.
It’s safe to say, you have composed some pretty hilarious songs – have you got one big hitter that always gets the crowd going, or is it different strokes for different folks?
It completely depends on where you’re performing. The song that i would say is my biggest hitter is not the one that I would say is my best piece of art. But also I just love it.
There’s a single song about being caught not having shaved your pubic hair when you go back with a man for the first time. And honestly, without fail, it’s one of those ones that people just like. It’s very relatable and a song I’m very proud of.
On the other side of things, I have a song called ‘The Sister Song’ in my last show, Best Life. Best Life is a show that’s sort of kept on going and going. It toured to New York and it was my last Edinburgh show, and this song is the one that people always mention it to me. It’s not a funny song; it’s more of a heartfelt song about siblings growing up.
What or who inspired you to choose your comedy path? Where do you think your love of silly songs comes from?
I think that I can only say my mum really. I think it would be quite surprising if it didn’t have anything to do with upbringing or family. My mum is somebody who finds comedy in all the hard bits of life, and that’s very much how we grew up. You know if things are bad, how do you make a joke out of it? In the early stages when I was trying to be funny, i was always just trying to make my mum laugh.
I didn’t know that musical comedy really existed. When I left uni, it wasn’t really on television. Bill Bailey was really the only person doing it and I thought it still wasn’t quite what I do.
In terms of influences, I guess I started seeing musical comedy being done and thought I could give it a go. I came from a musical theatre/writing background and then moved into comedy rather than watching it when I was younger.
Babies and children can be somewhat responsive to sensory sounds and music and course, some parents like to sing soothing songs to their children – do you ever practice your material on the little one, and if so, do they make good critics?
This is such a good question, because I’ve been looking after my baby full time and also find time to write and do what I do. And one of the ways I have been doing it is by practicing in front of her. She’s obsessed with the guitar and loves the guitar songs. She likes the keyboard songs, but there’s a clear favourite when it comes to the guitar. She’s mesmerised.
She has been a tough critic, in the sense that if I start practicing my show, it’s just very clear that she doesn’t want to do this today! She’s a great inspiration and a great audience member, and she’s very clear, as they are, ‘no, I just want to go out instead,’ which I totally get!
Best advice for expectant SURREY mum’s and dad’s to be?
We bit the bullet and got a Hampton Court Palace pass. Bushy Park I love! The Pheasantry Cafe in the park is perfect for mums. It’s nice and cosy in the winter, a great place to walk around, and basically anywhere, it doesn’t matter if you make noise.
Baby Cinema Club is a lifesaver at The Everyman Cinema in Esher, and obviously Pizza Express is one of those places where you can be boisterous and noisy.
Also, anywhere to walk along the river between Walton and Richmond. I feel so lucky to live near the Thames. Really what you need is just to go out and walk with your pram.
Those are my top choices!
Tamar Broadbent: Plus One
Laughing Horse @ Counting House – Ballroom, Edinburgh | August 7th – 24th @ 1pm
FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TICKETS, VISIT https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/tamar-broadbent-plus-one
