PAUL: Hello, and welcome
to Regrets I've Had a Few.

I'm Paul Hunter, Artistic Director of
Told by an Idiot, and this is a podcast

where I talk to friends and colleagues
delving into what made them

the person they are today.

Hello and welcome.

My guest this month, quite
literally, ran away with the circus.

She has gone on to become a unique and
charismatic performer, who has since been

in the West End and the National Theatre,
and shows, including The Grinning Man,

Amelie The Musical, and La Strada.

Welcome, Audrey Brisson.
AUDREY: Hello.

PAUL: It's so lovely to see you.

It's been too long since we-
AUDREY: It really has.

PAUL: It has.

Probably a couple of years ago
since we were running around a field

exploring that crazy idea in Somerset,
but we won't dwell on that.

It's lovely to have you with us.

I'm conscious- my first question,
which is what I ask everybody -

I think you're going to give the most
unusual - not the response that I normally

get - but I'm going to ask this question
because I always like to take people back

to the very beginnings of their theatre
experience or show business experience.

Yes.

Obviously, and I can share this
with the listeners, you did grow

up in and around a circus.

That's because your
father was the composer.

Is that right?

AUDREY: Back in the day, he was the
band leader and music arranger.

If you're talking about when I started.

He joined the company,
Cirque de Soleil, in '87.

I was touring with them
as the daughter of, and then

in '89, I joined in on stage.

Backstage was not enough for me, Paul.

I wanted on stage.

PAUL: This is obviously, I think for a lot
of people, wow, to grow up and be around

and perform with Cirque de Soleil is
something quite extraordinary and unique.

What's your earliest memory
of being around that?

Group or troupe or whatever?

AUDREY: Quite a few.

Actually, in '87 or '88,
I must have been two or three.

The stage was in a tent, and back
in the day, the seats were benches,

especially at the far end of the tent.

Underneath that, you had a net.

If you dropped things,
things would fall in the net.

I must have dropped my dummy.

My mother, who didn't want to have to
go downstairs and try and find the dummy,

said that the clown had stolen the dummy.

But the thing is it created an anger
and a hatred of that particular clown

for me for years afterwards because
I was like, he's the dummy stealer.

I didn't think she expected
that to have such a weight, but

that's definitely one thing I remember.

I remember walking around backstage
going to the canteen or just being

thrown around in the air by some acrobats
and then being very desperate to -

sleeping in trailers, because back then,
some people slept in trailers on site.

Then really early on, just being very
excited at the prospect of taking part

in the show because it was just...

I watched the show pretty much every night
and I really wanted to take part of it.

There was a little girl who was six years
old at the time, and so I think she

had to go back to go to primary school.

They asked me to take over,
and I gladly did.

PAUL: At six years of age?
AUDREY: I was four.

She was six.
I was four, yeah.

PAUL: Wow.
What did you have to do?

AUDREY: It was the last act of the show,
we were 16, it was a bicycle act.

At the very, very end
of the act, you suddenly had...

Because it's an old-fashioned
circus thing.

You have the big red curtains, and they
would open up and then little me, with

the ponytails, would just run and the
entire audience would go, Oh, so cute.

Then I would be put on one
of the acrobat's shoulders

and we would go on the bicycle
and we would be 16 on one bicycle and we

would basically cycle around the stage.

That was it.
That was my one moment in the show.

PAUL: Wow.

I have to say, obviously, the time
of year as we get towards the Christmas

period, a lot of people, when they,
actors, talk about their first

experience, it's maybe being
the innkeeper in the nativity of school.

Whereas what you just described,
it sounds incredibly romantic

and incredibly exotic.

It also, when you talk about
how young you were, it just makes me

think of Buster Keaton, who grew up
with his parents, and then he wandered on

and everyone laughed, and then
his dad started throwing him around.

It has that-

AUDREY: It's a beautiful gift.

It means that you've
been surrounded by it all your life.

The one thing that I find it took away
from me was the choosing what to do in

your life and seeing it as a passion.
Do you see what I mean?

I'm going, I really
desperately want to do this.

It's maybe not going to be easy.

Your parents probably won't want to.

They'll say, No, be a doctor.
No, no.

My parents were pushing me to
stay in this industry when I was going,

I should go and study science.
No, no.

Go and study music.

Sometimes I go, it feels like I didn't
I get to choose what I do in life.

It chose me instead.

Now it's just like,
I don't know what else to do.

If this fails, Paul,
I don't know what else to do.

PAUL: Well, it is interesting.

That's a very different
perspective to most people.

You're right.

My parents spend all their time trying
to discourage me not to do what I do.

But I think it's interesting as
we continue, and obviously, I'm going to

talk more about your extraordinary roles
and things you've done.

But it is interesting that point where,
I suppose, performers do reach where they

go, Well, I can't do anything else.

I remember in the pandemic,
we all remember the pandemic

and theatres closing.

I remember sitting at the dinner table
with my family and my son, Dexter,

who was about seven or eight at the time,
trying to be helpful, said, Dad,

if theatres don't start again,
maybe you can get a job at Tesco.

I thought about it for a bit
and I said, Dexter, I'm not sure

I would get a job at Tesco.
I think it would be people that-

AUDREY: Paul could work at Tesco.
He just doesn't know it yet.

PAUL: I thought, I can certainly relate to that.

How did schooling work?

Did you go to school
or were you taught at the circus?

AUDREY: For that particular stint when
I was four, I wasn't going to school.

Then eventually, when I joined back,
because that's when I left, I did that

particular show for only a few months.
Then I went back to Montreal.

Then when I was 11,
I joined the circ again.

This time, my father
was the composer, and we created.

It was the creation of Quidam.

That was in 1996.

Then I stayed for five years, which means
that it was the end of my primary school

up to my high school, secondary school.

I don't know how you guys call it here.

We had a little trailer on site
with a tutor, but it was very much

like a home school type thing.

It was great.
I loved it.

School would start at 9:00 in the morning,
and then you'd have a little dinner

break, and then you do the show.

PAUL: Wow.

Did you tour mainly North America
or were you going internationally?

AUDREY: For that big five-year one,
we did three years in America, and then

the last two years were in Europe.

Then the show carried on.

I just left.
PAUL: Wow.

What's an extraordinary beginning journey
into show business.

That's extraordinary.

Then when did you feel the interest

in something that was maybe moving away

from circus and towards theatre,
or was that a gradual journey?

AUDREY: When I came back to Montreal, I still
had two years of high school to finish.

Then we have something
in Quebec called CEGEP, which is

the equivalent of your A-Levels,
which I did in classical singing.

Then I did a BA at University
in Social Sciences.

I was really moving away from it.

It was a friend of my father, who's a...

he's British, but lives in America.
Jonathan Dean, a wonderful sound designer.

He pushed me to try out for drama schools.

He wrote a recommendation letter
for me, and I didn't think that I

would get in, but I tried.
I tried in New York and I tried in London.

They decided to give me a chance.

I came here and I thought,
I'm just going to do three years.

I'm going to do my BA in acting,
and then I'm going to go back

to Montreal and see what's worked.

No, I never left.

PAUL: Wow.
That was at Central, was it?

AUDREY: That was at Central, yes.
At Central School of Speech and Drama.

PAUL: What time period were you there?

AUDREY: I graduated in 2009,
so I did three years there.

PAUL: That was on the BA acting course?

AUDREY: In the BA acting course, yes.

With the music theatre pathway.

PAUL: Very good.
We haven't talked about your music yet.

We will get to that.
Now.

Did you know London?

Was London a new city for you?

AUDREY: My dad lived in London at the time,
which is why - because I had I'd also

been accepted to a school
in New York, and that technically

would have been closer to home.

It was only six hours drive from Montreal.

But my dad was in London, and
this Jonathan Dean fellow was really

pushing for his own country, rightly so.

I came here, and it was a good decision.

PAUL: Yeah, it's clearly worked out.
It worked out very well for you.

Am I right that your first job
after leaving Central was The Lion

the Witch and the Wardrobe?
Is that right?

AUDREY: No, it was Kneehigh, actually.
PAUL: Oh, was it?

AUDREY: Yes.
PAUL: I didn't realise that.

AUDREY: I mean, my first job was
an orange now EE, but an orange

advert, and then toilet paper.

No, it was Hereafter, like a tiny,
tiny thingy with Clint Eastwood.

But my first theatre was Kneehigh.

It was the Wild Bride
and Midnight's Pumpkin.

PAUL: Well, there we are because obviously we
have many things in common, but Kneehigh

does connect us, of course, both of us
having performed Mike and Emma.

Tell me, how did Kneehigh
find you or you find Kneehigh?

AUDREY: I had through the normal audition process with lovely Sam Jones as casting

director, and I did an audition.

My mother had travelled
all the way from Canada to help me

for my audition for Wild Bride.
I went there.

It was the Spotlight
studios in Trafalgar Square.

The person right before
me, Emma, was laughing.

I could, I could hear everything
in the room, and Emma was in bits,

and I could hear it.

Then it was my turn,
and she didn't laugh one time.

It was just very serious,
very serious Emma Rice face.

I came out thinking,
Well, that that's done.

I obviously didn't get it,
and I was so crushed.

We went to St.

James Park, we had a little glass
of champagne, and I was destroyed.

The one time, because this never happens,
one time in my life, I got the phone call

an hour after the audition,
to go, you got the job.

It was like a movie, Paul.
It was really lovely.

PAUL: It's interesting, isn't it?

As actors, we carry on and
we put ourselves up for these jobs

and we get some and we don't
get some and it's part of our life.

But it is interesting.
I can totally relate to you.

I hate that feeling of sitting outside
a room and hearing what's going

on before you go in and you're thinking-

AUDREY: It's awful.
PAUL: Exactly.

AUDREY: It's awful.
Yeah, especially now that-

PAUL: But I remember.
I do remember Wild Bride.

I I enjoyed it immensely.

I remember it was in the Grand Hall
at Battersea Arts Centre

where I saw it for Christmas.

I remember speaking to you after it.

It was a fantastic one of Kneehigh's
wonderful Christmas extravaganzas.

AUDREY: I think so, too.

I mean, was it Midnight Pumpkin
or the Wild Bride.

PAUL: Oh, I've got confused
with the two shows there.

I saw both the shows.
Sorry.

AUDREY: No, I'm thinking- No, because we were
doing them simultaneously for moments.

PAUL: Yes, of course.
AUDREY: No.

But No, God, both of them
were so fantastic.

I fell in love with the company
and the experience of creating a show

at the barns, it's just something
that you don't forget.

PAUL: No, it's true.
It's very true, isn't it?

It's unlike any other place in a way.
It's so unique.

I think that era that you're talking
about, and I was in and around a similar

time to you, was a really golden era
for the company, wasn't it?

AUDREY: It really was.

PAUL: Those extraordinary ensembles.

I suppose also you brought your musicals
as well as your extraordinary

acting and physical skills.
Your musical skills were...

Because what do you play?
What instruments do you play?

AUDREY: Well, that's the thing is I
dabble and I fake a few instruments.

That's what's beautiful about Kneehigh
is that before having worked

with Kneehigh, I would never
have dared to go, I'll have a go.

They just put an instrument
in your hands and you go,

You don't know how to play it?

Well, just go and spend the afternoon
with it and then you will.

It's just that, just phenomenal.

The accordion was what I played
in the Wild Bride.

PAUL: There's something else we share because
I totally relate to what you just said.

When I first turned up in,
oh God, twenty four years ago to do

The Red Shoes at the Barns with Emma.
AUDREY: Yes.

PAUL: One of the first things
they did was give me an accordion.

I remember saying, I think
there's been some kind of mistake.

I can't play, and they
went, No, it's fine.

You will.
I thought, This It's mad.

Of course I can't.

But of course,
they didn't give you an option.

You just had to do it.
I quite like that.

AUDREY: It really is.

It works because then
it gives you the confidence

and you fake it till you make it.

I think Mike Shepherd is
a good teacher for that.

PAUL: Exactly.

As you know, also, fortunately,
they also surround you with some

very fine musicians as well.
AUDREY: Exactly.

PAUL: It's not just me.
AUDREY: No, no, no, yes.

PAUL: Exactly.

How many shows did you go on to do
with Kneehigh?

AUDREY: With Kneehigh, I did the Wild
Bride, Midnight's Pumpkin, Dead Dog,

and then Flying Lovers, I think.

I think it's those four shows.

PAUL: I saw all those shows,
and I'm very fond of Dead Dog.

It's one of my favourite Kneehigh shows of
the political anarchy that bubbles away

in Carl and Mike's vision for that.

But I also really,
really love Flying Lovers.

I saw it at the Globe.
I saw it in the-

AUDREY: Sam Wanamaker.
PAUL: Sam Wanamaker.

I loved it.

I thought it was such
an extraordinary mix of things.

Also, it was really nice to see
that vision that Emma brilliantly has.

AUDREY: There is a link between The Wild Bride
and Flying Lovers for me.

It's two shows that Emma had done some 10,

20 years prior or done a version of.

She had done a version of the Wild Bride
and changed it completely by something

like the woman or the main role being
split into three parts, three women.

That is what she kept from the original.

Then in Flying Lovers, she and
her husband at the time did perform

in Flying Lovers in a version of…

I think so when she comes with material
that is so close to her heart

and has already so many
layers, it's I don't know.

It's rich.
It's a rich gift.

PAUL: Yes, I would agree with that.

Definitely.

Then obviously, you've worked
some extraordinary directors

and Emma being one of them.

How did you meet or
connect with Sally Cookson?

AUDREY: I auditioned for Romeo and Juliet, and
Benji Bower was the composer, and Benji

being linked with Ian Ross from Kneehigh.

I think he, I think,
recommended me to audition.

Thank you, Benji, because that was a...

Oh, yeah, that was really tough
because it was a Shakespeare role,

and English is not my first
language, as you probably guess by now.

I was so scared, and it was, again, she's
another phenomenal lady to work with.

I love Sally.
PAUL: Yeah.

No, I'm very fond of…
I've never worked with directly.

We've talked about various things.

It's just never happened,
but I really like what she does.

When I talk to friends like yourself
who've worked with her on shows,

her approach and a sense of
genuine collaboration with the company,

I think is a really great thing.

Everyone talks about that.
AUDREY: Yeah, absolutely.

There's a big respect from her
to the people she works with.

PAUL: Before I go to my next question,
and just because our podcast

is called Regrets, I've had
a Few, I don't always ask for regrets.

But as someone who grew up
in the circus and developed all these,

I'm sure, extraordinary skills
and lived that life, do you ever

regret not staying more in that world?

Or is there enough of it that still
fills you from that world as well?

AUDREY: I mean, the cirque world?

PAUL: Yes, the circus world.

AUDREY: The Circus World?

No, I don't regret it.

No, because it gave me what
it needed to give me at the time.

It gave me confidence on stage.

It gave me a certain
work etiquette and work stamina.

That is very useful to me now.

But then all the companies and the people
I've worked with since and drama school

has given me more layers.

When now I go and see a cirque show,
I can imagine what it would be like if

those layers were added on.
You see what I mean?

PAUL: Yes, I can.

That's a very interesting
way of putting it.

Now, I wanted to talk about
something in your work, which

I'm very interested in, is I'm sure
I can say this because I've seen it

in print, so I know it's happening.

You will have played three
very iconic roles in a way.

For me, that have also been played
by iconic performers on film.

I'm talking about -

AUDREY: La Strada, Amélie and Piaf.

PAUL: La Strada, Amelie, and next year
you are brilliantly going to play Piaf.

I have to say a part that I
think you are born to play.

I'm so excited to see you play Piaf,
and I'll leave that there because I can

see your slightly daunted face there.

But I'm intrigued because, of course, in
the La Strada, it's played by Fellini's

Wife, the extraordinary Giulietta Masina,
and then Amélie, Audrey Tautou, and then,

of course, Marion Cotillard.

When you know you're going
to play - in a very different medium,

it's totally different, I get that, and
a very different take on it and all of

those things - but there's an awareness
that these roles have been played.

Do you completely ignore the films?

Do you go nowhere near them?

How do you approach it?

AUDREY: For La Strada, bizarrely, it didn't even
occur to me to worry about that because

I was so curious about how we were going
to translate a film that is so...

The magic of the film is
the landscape of Italy.

How do you translate that?

Because otherwise, the story
is very, very minimal.

And it's not much-

PAUL: And to a certain extent the circus
of it in the world of La Strada?

AUDREY: Yes, you're absolutely right.

And how to touch the
abuse, but in a modern way.

I think we were so focused on how
to make sure that the story would land.

We had the Fellini's granddaughter who was
very present and came to see the show.

That was a great gift, and she was
very supportive and very lovely.

With Amelie, yes, a little bit more.

I was aware that there was quite a big-

PAUL: I suppose it's a very big- It's a popular,
contemporary film, isn't it?

Whereas La Strada is a classic film.
Exactly.

AUDREY: I know it's weird, but because we
have the same first name, suddenly people

were making loads of reference about
how I was going to take that on board.

I think that Michael Fentiman
was just very brilliant at getting me

to find my own version of it.

We played slightly more
into the spectrum of Amelie.

The, the loneliness of each character.

I don't know.
Yes, it didn't bother me.

It made me nervous for a second, and then
I got caught in the work, I guess,

since I just decided to put that aside.

With Piaf, interesting that you talk
about the film because I didn't even

think about the film.
I was thinking about the woman herself.

PAUL: Yes, of course.

AUDREY: It worries me.
It does.

I think that as soon as you
try to imitate, you fail.

I think it's about finding
the essence of what you want.

I don't have Piaf's voice.

My voice is very different from hers.

If I tried to sound like her,
then it's going to sound like Audrey

is trying to sound like Piaf.

PAUL: No, I totally-

AUDREY: Hopefully, I'll be able to
find her essence.

She was such a strong, fiery,

beast of a moman, who experienced

all of her emotions, the emotions of the
intensity of her life through her songs.

So hopefully, it will pass on that.
PAUL: I'm sure I'm fascinated.

Also, is it the Pam Gem script?

AUDREY: It's the Yes.

PAUL: Which is a fantastic script.

AUDREY: Yes, which has been slightly
tweaked and played with to keep it fresh.

PAUL: Yeah, no, of course.

I totally relate to what you're saying
about when you're working on something

where it's an iconic figure
like Piaf, of course.

I was very clumsily
linking the three things together.

AUDREY: No, but you're right.

PAUL: I think Maria Cotillard
is brilliant in it, her performance,

but it's very different.

But the figure of Piaf is so
iconic, and I totally get what you mean.

When we made our show, Charlie and Stan,
about Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel,

their early life, and we were looking for
the original cast of that, which turned

out to be Amalia Vitale playing Chaplin
and Jerone Marsh-Reid playing Stan.

Very consciously, our decision
was to go nowhere near something

that felt like Chaplin, because it's an
impossible job for someone to be Chaplin.

You can't be Chaplin.

By working with the brilliant
Amalia, we were able to find the spirit

of Chaplin through Amalia.

The fact that it was a woman, there was
a slightly remove and all of that stuff.

I totally get where you're coming
at in relation to Piaf.

AUDREY: What's the name of the film about
Bob Dylan?

You have all these different versions
of Bob Dylan.

For me, Kate Blanchet is the one
that represents Bob Dylan even the most.

PAUL: I totally agree.

I think even more, that's
a very good reference there.

I think also that's what theatre
does better than anything else.

It allows people to be something
that might appear to be a million miles

from them, but in their spirit.

You go into rehearsal
early next year, is that right?

AUDREY: Yes, early March.

It's exactly the same time slot
at the Watermill than Amalie was.

It's a-

PAUL: Is it the same team of people?

AUDREY: No, new team.

We don't know yet who else is going to
be in the show, but different creatives.

Yes, Kimberly Sykes,
who I've worked with before.

PAUL: It's such a great space.

I've never worked there,
but I enjoy seeing stuff there.

It's so intimate.
AUDREY: Oh, it's lovely.

Creating a show there
is absolutely fabulous

because you live there, you live on site.
PAUL: Yes, you do, don't you?

Yes.

AUDREY: It's like in the countryside
and it's just beautiful.

You forget.

Especially with Amelie,
I didn't go back to London at all.

I stayed there for the entire
rehearsal/run process.

The shock of going back to London
at the end was- This is woah.

PAUL: Well, I have to say my mother-in-law has
a theatre group, a lot of older people,

and they book to go and see plays.

They're regular attendees at
the Watermill and she said, we've already

booked for 50 of us to go and see
this new production of Piaf.

I didn't know.

I said, Oh, it sounds very interesting.

Then I went, I know, Audrey.

You will have a very keen,
I can guarantee you, a very keen 50

- I don't know when they're coming - but
they will be very supportive and keen.

Audrey, I'm very conscious of
your lunch break on your mystery project.

I say no more.

Before you go, it's been
such a lovely time chatting with you.

I always end by asking
seven rapid fire questions.

AUDREY: Okay, go.

PAUL: You just say the first response
that comes into your head.

AUDREY: Okay.

PAUL: Trapeze or tightrope?
AUDREY: Trapeze.

PAUL: Nina Simone or Ella Fitzgerald?
AUDREY: Ella Fitzgerald.

PAUL: Ice skating or skiing?

AUDREY: Ice skating.

PAUL: Mulled wine or mulled Cider?

AUDREY: Mulled Cider.

PAUL: Cinderella or Snow White?

AUDREY: Oh, tough.
Cinderella.

PAUL: Singing or acting?

AUDREY: Acting.

PAUL: This last one, this is directly
in relation to which of these people

would you like to play on stage,
Joan of Arc or Eva Peron?

AUDREY: Joan of Arc,
because I don't know who Eva Peron is.

Is that awful?
PAUL: She was the Evita.

She was the wife of the...
Yes.

Everyone, sorry, I should have said Evita.

AUDREY: No, no, no, no, no.

PAUL: Now you're going to change your mind.

AUDREY: I went with Joan of Arc, so I went with...

God, I went French again.

PAUL: All right.

Anyone's listening, I'm sure
they could move on that.

Audrey, lovely chatting to you.

Have a lovely Christmas wherever you are,
and I look forward to seeing you.

I will definitely be in touch,
and I look forward to seeing you as Piaf.

AUDREY: Thank you.
Lovely talking to you, Paul.

PAUL: Take care, Audrey.
Bye-bye.

AUDREY: Bye.

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