Comedian Madeleine MacMahon is bringing her work-in-progress, fast-paced story-telling comedy hour about how 2019 changed her life forever to A Pinch of VAULT this week. MacMahon is a Max Turner Prize Winner, Funny Women Semi-Finalist & ‘One To Watch’, BBC New Comedy Awards regional selection.
She was also New York Times Critic’s Pick, Fringe First Winner & Offie Nominated ‘Best Solo Performance’ (Breathless, ’23) and ‘Best Supporting Actress’ for Blindfold (British Independent Film Festival, ’21). She took time out of preparations for the festival to talk with us about the new show.
Q&A with Madeleine MacMahon
What can you tell us about your new show Plane Jane?
My debut stand up hour comes off the back of a pretty mad 2019 where I fell out of a plane and starting walking again in time to try stand up just as the world went mad.
The show is currently a work-in-progress – does that give you a lot of freedom, or is it more daunting to perform work that you haven’t already tested out?
I’ve been working up to doing a full hour for a while, so bits of it are ‘tried and tested’ (as much as any comedy ever is) but there’s loads of new stuff I’m trying and I’m really excited about that! (Though I secretly kind of love flying by the seat of my pants a bit – I’ve found some of my best punch lines that way).
How do you approach developing a new show?
Because it’s my first hour it’s a mixture of material that I’ve been squeezing between older materials at gigs here and there, but I had a clear idea of what I wanted the overall arc to be, so I’m hoping that holds together!
What’s it like to be performing the show at A Pinch of VAULT?
I love VAULT festival and the Vaults themselves so am really excited they’ve found a way to put together a programme this year and am really chuffed to be a part of it, alongside acts I really admire.
What can we expect beyond the festival?
My dream is to take it to the Fringe (and beyond) though I’ve only just put the application in so…..watch this space(ment).
You can find Madeleine on social media at @madi_macmahon
