Sam Hickman: This woman brings a harp! How far is too far with props?
Image: Rhian Dixon
Harp-playing comedian Sam Hickman has everybody beat when it comes to unwieldy props. Here, she talks about why she’ll never ditch it in favour of a flute.
It wasn’t until a couple of years ago, after years of doing cabaret and theatre work, that I did my first “straight” comedy gig; one of the producers pointed out that, technically, anything on stage in comedy is a prop.
But where do we draw the line? When does it become less of a feature and more a necessity; an emotional support blanket in lieu of any substantial talent? When does it become too much of a gimmick? How far is too far? And why the harp, lady?
It’s big, it’s expensive and it’s incredibly hard to get around. It’s a struggle to get up stairs. In many ways, playing the harp is a lot like having to bring a very large, very old dog to every gig, but with slightly less mess and much worse behaved. Sure, yes, I do have a smaller one. But where’s the spectacle of that? A rabbit is cute, but showing up with a giraffe is a real conversation starter.
I’ve been a professional harpist for over ten years now and I’ve heard it all. ‘Do you wish you played flute?’ ‘Is that a tanning bed?’ ‘Madam, this is the Ministry of Defence, you can’t just walk in here?’ My only real issue is stairs. Stairs and Transphobia.
Any wanker could come onstage with a guitar, but it takes a posh wanker to come on stage with a harp.
For so many people, my shows, concerts, charity work (they’re all the same thing really) are the first, and sometimes last, time they will hear a harp played live. Everyone’s got a gimmick these days but I’m glad mine is a signature; it’s fancy enough that you can almost convince yourself you’re making real art. And I get to sit down.
When starting to pursue more conventional comedy, having the harp was always a nice fall back. Sure, you might absolutely bomb, but no one can say you’re not talented in other ways.
As I’ve progressed in my work, I find I always want to bring the harp because it’s just more fun, it’s more absurd, it’s more impractical. Also, I never have time for nerves or stage fright because I’m too busy worrying about logistics and if it’s going to hold pitch. For Valentine’s Day this year I did my show in front of a giant wall of real candles and simply knowing that at any moment a string could snap or my rhinestoned cape could catch on fire was enough to completely distract me from the crushing seasonal depression I was battling my way through. Fun!
Every now and then I do a more “stripped down” gig (and by that, I mean the opposite of my show Sexy Rude Harp Concert, which involves literal stripping) and I just feel naked without the harp, the gowns, the glamour, the impractical nonsense. The security blanket? Or the thing that truly makes me unique?
As writers and performers, we spend a lot of time developing and finding our voices. For me, the idea of a straight stand-up show or using a piano or backing track doesn’t feel like who I am right now. After training as a classical mezzo soprano and teaching myself harp, then doing it professionally for years, it is such an intrinsic and natural extension of my life and my stage persona.
In my experience in comedy, theatre and cabaret, audiences value honesty and originality. We are all striving to make good, or at least mediocre, work or at least have people watch us slowly get undressed and maybe cheer (that’d be a nice change).
There’s no such thing as “too far” with prop work, unless you don’t drive, in which case, just ignore this whole thing and just figure out what’s going to be easiest on the train. Just have fun, even if it means bringing a 6ft, 32kg, 46 string, 7 pedal, 2000 moving parts HARP with you.
I have come to terms with the idea that I could never leave such a large part of myself at home just because it’s difficult to get through the door… have you ever tried to be a woman in comedy?
Sam Hickman’s Sexy Rude Harp Concert is at the Brighton Fringe, running at the Rotunda Theatre (Bubble) from May 3-5th. Tickets here
