Sandra Bernhard Brings One-Woman Show to PSU

Long known for her scathing and in your face live performances, comedian/actress Sandra Bernhard has set her sights on Plymouth State University for the tour of her live show "Sandyland".  We recently got the chance to talk with Bernhard to discuss where her unique style comes from, the process of political humor, and what PSU audiences can expect from her when she takes the stage Friday, April 25^th at the Silver Center.

The Clock: You started doing stand-up in the seventies, you've been on Broadway, and Plymouth New Hampshire is a little different than Broadway, I would presume.  What is it about these smaller venues that you enjoy compared to the bigger ones you have performed in?

Sandra Bernhard: I always like the sense of intimacy.  It's nice to feel the energy of the crowd.  It just flows better when you're closer to people and sometimes there's that big gap from the stage to the audience.  It's like swimming over a big open ocean to get to the island and sometimes it's a hard swim.  It's nice to have the intimacy.

"Sandyland" has been described as stand-up, theatre, rock 'n' roll, burlesque and cabaret.  Where would you say you get all of these influences?

It's very eclectic, the things that have always influenced my work are my own personal life, what's happening right now in the world close to me and the world far away, my travels, my relationships, performances and performers that have inspired me.  I draw stylistically from all of these different things and mix them into the big soup that is my own performance.

How would you say "Sandyland" is unique from the other shows and tours that you have done?

My work keeps evolving year to year and there's new experiences that I think make me a better performer and able to access different parts of my talent and of course I write my own material so it's always sort of an experiment from writing monologues to writing one-liners.  It taps into all the stuff that makes you want to be a performer to begin with and you continue to do you it and write and create, it's just very exciting and inspiring.

You've started to get back into acting, specifically on television with the shows Switched at Birth and a guest appearance on The Neighbors, and you also played the first openly gay character on a sitcom on Roseanne.

Yeah, people always talk about that in a funny way but for me, it was just something that happened organically working on that show, because it was very collaborative and Roseanne always wanted to push the envelope so we thought it would be funny for my character, who originally is married to Tom Arnold, to respond to him being so hideous by going off with women. That was the whole impetus for the character to begin with.  It was never meant to be a big huge political statement it was just meant to be something that was funny, and then of course because it was natural and happened in a very organic way it became an important milestone in television and in culture.

That seems like something that is a trend for you in your career, of things just being revolutionary by happenstance.

Exactly.  I think that when you're honest about your life and you live it fully and your work reflects it I think it just happens.  So often I see so many performers and artists trying to beat you over the head with their message, and it's like, just let me see the work and the message should come through conceivably.  If you have to grab somebody by the neck and practically strangle them to make them see what you're doing it just takes the fun out of it and it also some of the responsibility of the audience is to weigh out what they want from your performance so I think you've got to let them have that opportunity.

What would you say to people who are possibly going to see your show?  What should people in Plymouth come to expect from your show?

The great thing about my work is that I think it's always been ahead of the curve and dealt in and dabbled in topics and issues that other people weren't even thinking about and were afraid of.  I've always prided myself as one of those people that takes it to the next level and as kind of a timeless performer.  Now more than ever that there's so much emphasis placed on youth and who's hip and who's cool and what's cool and what's hip and there are certain performers and I've mentioned myself as one of them who kind of transcends time and age.  I've always been the person who says, "if you're not hip at 18 you won't be hip at 80."  You can't suddenly become hip.  You can become more aware and more in touch with yourself, but I think hipness is a state of mind that you are kind of born with and it evolves and flows throughout your life.  Especially for a university setting, I think I have a connection to the timelessness of what makes being a performer interesting and compelling, and it's just a fun show.  It's smart and fun and crazy and a little off the wall and musically it's groovy and takes you on a journey that you won't get to have with the average stand-up performer.  I really take people places with me and I think that's why people enjoy my work year after year.

In previous interviews you've made some political statements, for lack of a better term, how much of that do you think is engrained in your performances?  Is it something that you feel you need to talk to the audience about or does it come naturally?

Being a woman and being a feminist, there are certain issues that you know you've got to address.  They affect me and they affect the people around who I care about so as long as there's a way to make them funny and interesting and not just beat you over the head with it. I will approach certain subjects.  I wouldn't call it political in the sense of Bill Maher because that's his life, he's consumed by it, and I am too in many ways but I find a lot of other things equally as entertaining and I like to take people as I said on a whole different journey.  To just do the whole political thing I think people are burned out on it...  So if I can't bring something fun and fresh to it, I won't.

You've said yourself that it's not just a stand-up routine.  You've been described as a comedian, an actress, an author, and a musician.  Out of all these things what do you most enjoy and what do you think defines you most?

I think that one thing wouldn't work without the other.  Obviously if I wasn't a writer my stand-up and my live performing wouldn't have the depth that it has.  As an actor I put that into my performances as well so I feel like everything sort of comes together whether I am doing my acting or I'm doing my live performing, I like to bring all of the elements together so I think that I love doing all of them and keep my life and my career interesting for me so certainly I hope that for the audience as well.

Sandra Bernhard will be performing her live show"Sandyland" at the Silver Center for the Arts Hannaway Theatre Friday, April 25^th at 8pm. And contains adult language and themes.  For tickets and further information visit Plymouth.edu/silver-center or call 603-535-2787