Circuit Training 156: Natalie Palamides is relaunching East 17

Good news. Up in North-East London the glorious old Granada Theatre - where everyone from John Coltrane to The Beatles once plied their trade - has been transformed into the Soho Theatre's big, eagerly-awaited new base. And what better way to launch it, from this Friday onwards, than the latest brilliant beast of a show from an LA-based comic, actor and animation-voiceover stalwart who Soho helped launch over here, a decade ago.

Natalie Palamides' latest show, Weer, is the now-obvious next step after her birth-based breakthrough Laid and vulnerably toxic dude Nate - an almost Shakespearean tale of doomed lovers, partly inspired by Pearl Jam, with Palamides playing both parts in a typically bold and ingenious fashion. Although that last bit took an intervention for the penny to eventually drop.

We talked Weer, Soho Walthamstow - East 17 is its postcode, btw - and lots more besides on a Thursday morning/evening over Zoom, us winding down, Nat just up and sporting a striking pair of pink heart-shaped shades and furry robe. And why not: it's ten AM, and she's worn weirder.

So, you're all set to launch the new Soho Theatre?

Yeah! I think it'll be really cool. I'm a little nervous, but I think it's gonna be fun.

Do you know much about the building itself?

It was a legendary music venue - a lot of really cool groups performed there, Beatles, Rolling Stones?

It's where my mum's from, Walthamstow, she saw The Beatles there. I didn't realise it was Hitchcock's favourite cinema too. So, no pressure!

Wow. Well, if people don't come because they want to see my show, they should just come so they could sit in a bit of history. Imagine I'm Paul McCartney or something.

Those glasses you're currently wearing really work in that respect.

Oh, thank you. I know I look so eccentric right now. I love these, I had them in my 20s and I just found them; I just moved recently. I was brushing my teeth the other day and I looked in the mirror, I'm wearing this same fuzzy robe, and I was like, 'I think I might be eccentric.'

Speaking of Hitchcock, you didn't have a director for this show?

I self-directed. I wanted to do it as a challenge to myself. I self-directed a couple of film projects, and I really love it. I didn't really realise that's what I was doing until I was working on some films, some comedies, watching back the edit, 'Oh, they should have done this shot wide, or they're missing the physical comedy here... ah, I should try doing it with my live show.' It's something I want to keep doing more of.

You did two live shows close together, Laid and Nate, then there's a long gap before Weer.

There's definitely a gap. I mean, Covid happened, and then 2021 I filmed a six episode TV show with [acclaimed US filmmakers] the Duplass brothers. Me and Courtney Pauroso, we have this two-hander called The Broadcast that's never been released, so we're looking for a home for that. I think it's really funny, but I guess the streamers think it's definitely weird. It's like a slapstick, scrappy DIY kind of thing.

Mark Duplass saw my special and said, 'If you can think of an idea that only has one to two actors in one location, I'll make it.' And so I was like, 'Oh, me and Courtney should make something.' And we got together and thought of this idea, we wrote and acted and directed everything ourselves. And it's a really special show. I hope it sees the light of day.

You voiced lots of high-profile stuff too though - Family Guy, American Dad, Bob's Burgers, [Amy Poehler's] Duncanville - any other highlights?

2022 I filmed an indie movie in Ireland called Apocalypse Clown that's out on Netflix there. It's a really fun movie, and fun to make; David Earl's in it. My favourite part of working on that was just all the people I got to meet, and me and David became really close. I just have so many good friends from that.

Then 2023 was the year that stirred up some inspiration and I was like, 'You know what? I want to get back on the horse.' And so I did just a couple really scrappy work in progress shows at Edinburgh that year.

Your shows often spring from improv - where did Weer begin?

It was May 13th, I was doing a set on my friend Michael Brian's show, and he said 'do whatever you want.' I was just bored with everything that I had been doing, and I had this idea: 'oh, I should do a scene where these star-crossed lovers are arguing, right before his girlfriend gets into this violent car crash and he has to watch her die on the side of the road!'

I was inspired by this Pearl Jam song, that's a cover of a 50s/60s doo-wop song [Last Kiss], which I found out later wasn't really a hit in the UK. So I kind of have to introduce the song to the audience in the show, which I don't so much at home.

At least you bother to do that. We'd often get acts coming over and not checking whether half the references actually worked.

Gotta check the references. I mean, it's crazy, because Pearl Jam, I just assumed they're international superstars. And then when I got over there, the Soho Theatre people were like, 'No, we don't know that song.'

I think it was back in the 90s, our music press decided that Nirvana were cool, Pearl Jam weren't, and that was that.

Another band I bumped up against was Third Eye Blind, which was huge over here during the 90s - there's one small part with a Third Eye Blind song in it - and I was just surprised, talking to my friends over there [bluntly] 'We don't know any of these songs.' Things are culturally different from continent to continent, I'm sure there's stuff over there too that hasn't crossed. Probably some epic bops.

Well, Robbie Williams, who had a biopic out recently, but he's a CGI monkey...

No! Genius - I have to see this movie.

It's supposed to be really good - but he's not famous in the States, so no-one there saw. They spent millions on it too.

Wait, what's it called? I'll just look it up, monkey movie... Bobby Williams? Robbie Williams, yeah, I don't even know this person.

He's probably used to it.

So I was thinking about that Pearl Jam song, and it's just so funny, because the lyrics are about this guy watching his girlfriend die on the side of the road: it'd be fun to, like, bring that image to life! I was looking around my living room, 'oh, what could they crash into?' And I had this wooden deer head hanging on my wall.

Now I have a much better prop for that, but I just used this wooden deer head, which is like 20 something pounds - I don't know how many stones that is - but it's quite heavy. And so it's swinging, kind of dangerous...

Did you ever get injured?

Not yet, not yet, a few injuries here and there but, knock on wood, nothing that serious. We shall see.

When did the person-switching become part of it?

So I had this idea to play out this tragic scene as this couple, and I knew I wanted to play both characters, and I was like: 'oh, it'd be so fun and stupid if I change as quick as I can, from one character to the next, bring a jacket and a wig to put on real quick, or I'll run on and off stage to change characters.'

I was running the bit past my friend Chad [Damiani], who's a good friend of mine, a big clown fixture here in the Los Angeles scene. And he went, 'why don't you just split yourself down the middle?' 'Oh my god, duh, dude! I'm so stupid, how did I not think of that?'

He says, 'You would have thought of it, instantly, the first time you ran on and off.' And I'm like, 'You're giving me too much credit'.

Speaking of stupid, I caused a big laugh during your Edinburgh run, at the Traverse - I ended up doing one of the interactive bits, stood up and just read out the stage directions. God that was embarrassing.

I think it's funny when somebody starts reading out the paper. But now - I don't know if this descriptor was on there when you got it - but now I have written at the top, 'DO NOT READ THIS ALOUD.'

Oh, really - I wasn't sure if that was part of the gag?

You know what? The entire time I was workshopping it, that had never happened. And then for some reason, I don't know if it's the pressure of all those eyes in the Traverse or something, it became pretty consistent.

I found there was so much happening on stage, I didn't get a chance to read it - but I stepped in late because the guy in front was struggling. How do you choose who to pick?

You know, I want the audience to feel as comfortable as possible. I don't want anyone to feel put on the spot. I'm not trying to make anybody look stupid or anything, that's not the joke.

Does it ever go wrong? Who's the ideal person?

I try to look for somebody who's kind of smiling and having a good time - if somebody's avoiding eye contact I definitely go on to the next. But then you'll get somebody who hams it up too much or doesn't want to do it. And, you know, there's always just a way to adjust. It's a live show, and I think people have fun also watching you get out of a problematic situation. If it does go wrong, it's kind of a gift anyway.

So you're doing a short run of it over there at the moment?

Just because I needed to practice. I hadn't done it in such a long time, since November, so I just did four days here in Los Angeles.

I imagine the actual logistics of switching between characters must take work?

It kind of comes naturally to me, I imagine the other person there. I'm more imagining my body memory, the position my body was in when I'm looking at the empty space, just using, like, the physical memory in my body to physicalize or to create an eyeline for myself.

I suppose it's like in many movies these days, CGI characters, there's a lot of people staring at nothing, or tennis balls on sticks.

Exactly, it's a kind of a skill you need to have, especially if you're doing film acting. A lot of the time they get you looking at the corner of a camera or something like that. And you still have to act like you're talking to somebody. It's a good skill to have, to be able to act at thin air.

I suppose you get it a lot with your voice work - I wondered if you'd asked Zach Cherry about Severance while doing Duncanville, but you probably weren't together?

No, that was prior, I would see him at table reads back then. But after Covid happened, we started doing the table reads on Zoom. Prior to Covid, a lot of shows did group records. Bob's Burgers in particular, they would record their cast all in a room so they could improvise and stuff. It was always really cool to get to do that show, because you got to be in the room with the whole cast.

But, yeah, ever since Covid, [the shows] just stuck with separating everybody. It's a shame, because the magic that happens when everybody's in the room together, I hope they get back to doing it that way eventually. I'm sure they will, some director will want to try it.

I was also going to ask if coming to the UK would be a break from the dramas back home - but it's pretty heavy here too now.

I mean, you can't really escape politics, no matter where you go. But you know, my job as a comedian or as a clown, I think, is to give people a little bit of a break from the stark reality. So I try not to focus too much on that in my work.

The trans debate must come up in interviews, given your gender switching on stage? Although I imagine most people get asked, as you never know who'll have surprising views on it.

How crazy would that be if I wasn't an ally? Insane. I'm like, doing this show, flipping between genders.

It's really intense over here right now, after a big High Court ruling - so your show feels very timely, if indirectly.

I've had a couple of people who are transgender approach me after the show saying that they had a takeaway like that, that I hadn't intended, they said it helps affirm something deeper inside of them when it came to gender identification. And that's great. You know that my intent with this show is only to play with this love story and be stupid and silly, I have fun flipping back and forth between genders. But I just said to them 'that's the beauty of art, each audience member takes away something different, depending on how it relates to their personal experience'. That's what's awesome about art and theatre and getting to share it with people.

Good luck with the rest of your prep then - this does feel the perfect show for the occasion.

Well it's an honour to be opening the venue. I'm super excited.

Natalie Palamides: Weer is at Soho Theatre Walthamstow from May 2-10. Tickets