I personally think it’s one of the things that distinguishes us as more than just a performance group but really as a family. One of the great things about The Diet Ghosts is that we really love and trust each other, so sometimes when things go wrong on stage, we can improvise quickly and read each other and support whatever decision is being made in real time. Like YES we come on stage rehearsed with props and choreo and projections, but a lot of the character interactions we have on stage are lightly scripted and left up to us to explore in the moment. Kunterpunt: I think all drag performance has an element of improv to it, and what we do is really no different. Is there much improvisation in your performances? This includes using the entire bar as the stage (which we infamously did in our very first performance), interacting with patrons in character between sets, and creating storylines that depend on the interaction of the audience - like voting in a rigged election between Lucinda and Kunterpunt. We love making them feel like they’re active participants in this world we’ve created rather than idle spectators. Even though we’re clearly still performing in a bar, the audience (who come dressed up in theme, adding to the world-building) suspends their disbelief to join us on a ride that they feel part of. At The Beaver we would decorate the entire bar to transform it to whatever setting we were in, from a groovy spaceship to a spooky summer camp to a 1930s speakeasy. Lucinda: Immersive theatre for us means using all the tools in our toolbox to create a new world the audience can interact with from the moment they enter a space. My iTunes is filled with WIP versions of shows sometimes they’re really different from the final product too!Ĭan you tell us a little bit more about immersive theatre? Kitty is our master sound-mixer, and the audio in our shows is SO important, so often they’ll create demos for us to listen to and riff off as the show progresses too. We have a group chat that is constantly abuzz with progress updates and new ideas, so I think that supportive sharing experience kinda fuels us all to keep working too. We would often spend days in the park compiling song ideas and visual references, then divy up the work to be completed for the coming weeks. The Diet Ghosts are very referential, and between the four of us have an excellent library of pop culture to pull from.
Kunterpunt: The start of a story can be literally anything - sometime’s it’s a one-liner that makes us laugh and snowballs into a full show, or sometimes it’s a full conceptual world someone’s been dreaming up that we all agree to explore together. What is your creative process in writing a new storyline?
Wavelength’s Emma Bortolon-Vettor had a chance to ask a million questions to Lady Kunterpunt, Lucinda Miu, Aura Nova, and Kitty Creature about their work and the intersecting worlds around it. Simply put: The Diet Ghosts are fuckin’ amazing. The Diet Ghosts would regularly transport a packed audience at The Beaver (RIP) beyond that tiny space into a spaceship, a summer camp, and anywhere else of their choosing. Everything is tied neatly into the genre of horror. They are the answer to Toronto’s West End drag scene, challenging both theatre and drag performance practices. Of course, you already know this if you’ve seen them. The Diet Ghosts are a crew of superhero storytellers who shock and inspire with every performance they create. Performing/Hosting: Thursday, October 29th 2020 with Leucrocuta and Bonnie Trash for our Livescream on Youtube Live! Purveyors of: Blending punk rock, gender fuckery, drag, theatre, comedy, and gore into an entertaining and subversive show.įile Next to: The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Vincent Price, American Horror Story, and Carol J.