We all have our secrets, those little bits of information we bury right down deep, keeping them far away from prying eyes and nosy associates. Yet we love to know other people’s secrets, because they give us power and for a little while at least, they mean that our own secrets are not such a big deal.
Mark Fuller and Robert Eastcott are two boys with secrets and dreams. Robert has a twenty-five year career in music as both musical director and performer in various shows both here and internationally, while Mark has been entrenched in the indie Cabaret scene in both Sydney and Brisbane, also having had a helping hand from Bert Newton, one of the monarchs of Australian Television.
Mark and Robert first started working together on a small show in Sydney at the Tilbury Hotel way back in 1995 coming up with an idea for male cabaret called Songs About Adam. The show ended up being quite successful for the duo, with a return season and shows in Brisbane and Melbourne, and release as an album distributed through Festival Records Australia.
Happy dreams and scary dreams, secret crushes and secret fears. I quiz Mark Fuller about coming up with a show on the things that we don’t say.
“We didn’t start out with a message for the show, but when you are trying to give an honest performance I suppose you can’t help it. The idea is that we all have dreams and all of us have secrets and some of them we would rather not disclose. Maybe because it makes us look bad or sleazy or just plain stupid,” Mark says. “We do disclose some secrets during the show. Some of which are not shocking or surprising but hopefully entertaining… I had a quite a few I was willing to divulge but some things are best kept secret!”
When it came to choosing the songs for the show, the process was an organic one, with the two just throwing ideas around until they stuck. Mark tells me that he and Robert always seem work very well together, although the process can be a little scary.
“These songs were chosen because they worked with what we wanted to say or because they are simply gorgeous songs,” says Mark. “I am a sucker for a song with a story. I like real pathos and song I can throw my whole body into. It may be a bit old fashioned but I also love a good musical and a song with a verse. Hence, a lot of the songs I am drawn to are songs written for a female… It’s surprising how these can so readily suit a male voice.”
But how far do you take a show about your own, or other people’s secrets? Just where do you draw the line? Could you be left bare onstage to an unsympathetic audience? Maybe for the boys this show is about release and realisation, the freedom you get from letting your own secrets out.
“I am a 40-something gay man who has been involved with theatre all his life… I only give these obvious stats because they form the basis of the sort of performance I give,” Mark divulges. “I like the cabaret forum as I find it real. True cabaret is giving something of yourself, maybe something you wouldn’t normally reveal.”
I put to Mark that perhaps gay men have more secrets than other people. He laughs before answering. “Of course we do! Although, I think everyone has something they would rather keep secret.”
Nobody Needs To Know runs at Caro Mio Cafe on the 5-7 Nov and 12-14 Nov. To book call 07-3844-8306 during business hours. Songs About Adam can be purchased from the iTunes store.
Your Thoughts
To post a comment, you need to be a SameSame Member
Travis de Jonk
said on the 5th Nov, 2009