Rob Auton: The Water Show

Ropetackle Arts Centre, Little High Street, Shoreham, Thursday, June 25

WHEN Rob Auton wrote his first hour-long Edinburgh performance The Yellow Show the majority of previews took place in his mate’s kitchen.

But as he prepares his fourth hour – The Water Show – he admits warm-up gigs now form a major part of the final product’s creation.

“It’s writing in public,” he says. “I’m trying to figure out what the show is at the same time as the audience. At the moment it’s by no means the finished product but it’s getting there.

“It’s an interesting time of year for me, as the show is beginning to emerge. It’s only when it gets put through the mill at Edinburgh, when I’m doing 23 shows in a row, that it really becomes what it is. I’m currently trying to change it from being a lot of different ideas into a show, by adding layers to it.”

All Auton’s shows so far have dealt with universal ideas at their centre – all of which have been his own passions, be they the colour yellow, the sky, people’s faces, and now water.

The universal nature of the subject matter brings its own problems though.

“You can drive yourself insane thinking about it,” he says. “When I was doing The Yellow Show I kept seeing things like yellow lines which would remind me I needed to work on the show. When I did Faces it was every time I looked in the mirror. The sky was always hanging over me, and now when I’m in the shower I’m thinking about the show.”

Each subject has been something people have got in common, and he admits to testing himself to see if he could make it funny.

A big part of the show itself is the contribution from the audience.

“I want to be onstage having a conversation that I can’t have in everyday life,” he says. “If I went to my friends and said: ‘I want to talk to you about water for an hour’ they would be like ‘We’re not doing that’.

“I’m still learning the techniques and strategies to get an audience to open up – it’s not just asking ‘Where are you from?’. The worst thing is to treat an audience like idiots. If I go to a comedy gig I want to be respected as an audience member.”

He knows when it works as he enjoys himself as much as the audience.

“One of my favourite gigs was in Brighton with The Yellow Show,” he says. “You could almost hear the audience were up for it before the show started. It was almost like a workshop – the audience was so giving. At one point I remember sitting on the floor crossing bits of the show out, it was hilarious for me, and funny for them as well. The best gigs should be about having fun – it’s why I like doing comedy.”

At its centre he feels his show needs to have truth and honesty to it. Anyone watching The Yellow Show knew he genuinely liked the colour yellow, and he didn’t need to be slick and polished to get that across, mixing stories, poetry and observations with an array of yellow props scattered across the performance space.

“My favourite performers are people like Daniel Johnston and Tom Waits who are willing to rip their chest open and have a go,” he says. “If I’m working on something a bit more polished there are always too many things going on in the room for me to latch on to.”

Ultimately the show is about making a connection with his audience.

“I heard an interview with Patti Smith on this interview app called The Talks,” he says. “The interviewer asked her how she found it when people came up to her after a show.

“She said she liked it – it means she made a connection, and that’s the goal.

“At the moment everyone is so connected [through the internet], but pretty disconnected as well. You can know what everyone is doing, but it is always at a distance.”

*Rob Auton’s The Water Show is part of a double bill with Gareth Richards.

Starts 8pm, tickets £5. Call 01273 464440.