Being from a small city in Sweden, Linus Karp knew that if he wanted to be an actor, he’d probably have to travel further afield to pursue his passion. Linus had visited London as a child and knew that when it comes to theatre and culture, the city had the best opportunities.
Linus has been in London almost six years now, the first play he was cast in allowed him to multirole, taking on characters of all genders and ages, “it is something you don’t always get to do,” says Linus, “and I really enjoyed it because I like doing weird things.”
Linus also enjoys performing comedy, as part of the improv group Geraldyne, and had performed in a lot of kid’s theatre, most recently playing the Beast in Beauty and The Beast at Edinburgh Fringe, “when I talk to the kids they think I really am the character which is fun, and often that can be their first experience of theatre which is really special.”
But it’s dark comedy that Linus enjoys the most, and a few years ago he picked up a script in a bookshop, it was Awkward Conversations With Animals I’ve F*cked by Rob Hayes, “I picked it up because the title is so weird. I read it and then re-read it straight away because I thought this is just such an amazing script, and I need to perform this, it’s perfect for my kind of humour, it is so funny, dark and twisted.”
The rights were already taken, but that didn’t deter Linus who persevered until he was finally able to perform it in 2017 at The Lion and Unicorn Theatre. You might be wondering if the title reflects the content of the play, “We’re definitely not mis-selling anything,” laughs Linus, “It’s a one-man play about a really rather tragic character called Bobby. He doesn’t have and friends or family to care about him and can’t make connections at a human level, but finds he can with animals!”
“The play is a series of conversations between Bobby and the animals he’s had sex with, so it’s very bizarre and definitely dark humour. But the way he chats to these animals is very much how you would chat to humans after a date or one-night stand, there are almost traditional romantic themes, except it’s between a man and an animal, and it goes on to deal with some serious themes in a very clever way.”
Linus knew after the Lion and Unicorn run that he wasn’t ready to part company with Awkward Conversations, so a 2018 run at Edinburgh Fringe was the next logical step. He had a director and stage manager, but when it came to marketing and promotion Linus was on his own, “to do a one man play, then have all of that on top was a lot of work, I don’t think I’ve ever been so tired as I was at the end of that run, it was really tough, but a lot of fun and it went on to lead to great things.”
The audience reaction in Edinburgh was so good that Linus was invited to do a run of Awkward Conversations at The King’s Head back in London, where he was contacted by Old Joint Stock Theatre in Birmingham about taking the show there. “That’s where the idea of a tour came from, I thought it would be great to take it to lots of different cities and share it with whole new audiences.”
Organising the tour, which Linus has done almost single handed, hasn’t been easy. “The biggest challenge has been organisation, I’m very much a performer but there’s so much more to putting on a show than that, especially when there are multiple venues.”
Linus has also turned to crowd funding to get the tour off the ground, “I’ve self-funded all the previous runs, and I just couldn’t do it again, I think crowd funding will become more common for theatre because it’s so difficult to make theatre work financially, but I’ve been so surprised by just how generous people have been.”
Following the tour, Awkward Conversations will return to London for two nights at The Bread and Roses Theatre, “I’m looking forward to bringing it back to London, a lot of people have come back to see it multiple times, and I know some of them have booked for London already which is so lovely, but I’m looking forward to reaching a new audience as well.”
Linus says that the title certainly intrigues people, and the good thing about it is you instantly know what you’re going to be getting, “you have to be open minded to enjoy this show, but people have told me afterwards that it had made them feel something they hadn’t expected, which for a theatre maker is just wonderful to hear.”
Tour dates and tickets can be found here.
Linus Karp will bring Awkward Conversations With Animals I’ve F*cked to The Bread and Roses Theatre on 3rd and 4th November 2019. Tickets are on sale now.
Main Image: Linus Karp photo by Dave Bird
