Exclusive: What’s It Like Performing an Entire Show Completely Naked? GARRY STARR Explains

When audiences enter Off-Broadway’s Studio Seaview, Damien Warren-Smith is already seated with his back to the audience before Garry Starr: Classic Penguins begins. 

Once he turns around, the real fun begins. For about an hour and 10 minutes, Warren-Smith takes audiences on a literary adventure in which he performs the titles of Penguin Classic novels as, well… a penguin. And like the seabirds, Warren-Smith wears no clothes (save for his tailcoat and flippers, of course!). 

For some theatergoers, the full-frontal nudity is shocking. “People hear about it, and they decide that it’s not for me. And I think that’s a shame,” Warren-Smith exclusively tells BroadwayWorld, adding that most are normally “keeled over and hysterical” in the audience. 

And, it’s true! Crowds at Studio Seaview are in for non-stop comedy at Classic Penguins, and theatergoers are leaping to their feet to participate in the audience-driven elements of the show. 

When it comes to theater, Warren-Smith — who was born in the U.K. and grew up in Australia — says he’s “always chased what is challenging and what brings me joy,” adding: “I just want to see stuff that no one else is doing. I want to be surprised, I want to be shocked, so I want to make work that has the same effect on other people.”

Before Garry Starr: Classic Penguins concludes its Off-Broadway run on October 11, Warren-Smith exclusively sits down with BroadwayWorld to talk about baring it all. For those who haven’t seen it yet, beware of some spoilers ahead! 

We should start off with the obvious. What is it like performing completely naked on stage for over an hour?

I don’t really think about the nudity so much anymore. It’s just like any other costume, really. I am very aware of my body now. If I get a little pimple on my butt or something, it’s like, “Oh, everyone is going to see that.” But other than that, I forget really quickly. I’m not sure if you felt this way, but a lot of people say that you forget about the nudity almost immediately… until you remember again.

Yes, totally! What inspired this play, and where did you come up with the idea?

A bookshop. I was in a bookshop in Perth, in Western Australia, and I saw the orange and white spines, and I went, “There’s a show.” I think the simplest ideas are so often the best. I just went, “Yeah, I’m going to perform all of those.” But I’d been working on this formula for quite a while. My first one was performing every genre of theater in order to save the performing arts. Then it was all of Greek mythology in order to save the Greek economy. So I was on the lookout for another big topic that’s highbrow enough that I could poke fun at it. I walked straight out of the bookshop and called my manager straight away. 

How did you come up with all of these ideas for the different book titles? Who did you collaborate with?

I created the show pretty much on my own to begin with. Then I get some work-in-progress performances under my belt. I’d done a few shows in Adelaide, a few shows in Melbourne, and then I brought the show to London. I invited Cal McCrystal along, who’s the director I collaborate with. He was able to see the show that I’ve made, and then immediately after that, we spent five days working on the show together. He helps me reshape it and tells me what’s missing.

What inspired the choice to do it all completely naked? 

Well, I got naked at one point in a couple of my other shows, and I really love getting naked. I think that we need to see more non-sexual nudity because I just think it’s funny. I think it’s fun. I think it’s good for people to see one another naked. The European culture is so much healthier because we see bodies all the time, so we’d get less hung up about it. The more non-sexual nudity we can see, the better. 

With this new [show], I knew I wanted to get naked at some point because by that point people were like, “Go and see Garry Starr. It’s inevitable he’s going to get his kit off at some point.” So, in going through the books, I made a list of all the titles I thought could be funny, and then there were a few I was like, “That would be really funny if I was naked for that bit.” Then I’m like, “Wow, there’s quite a few Penguin classics which become funnier if you’re naked!” So I thought, “Okay, how can I get my costume on and off without it feeling convoluted?” And the penny just dropped, and I went, “Well, I’m a penguin…Penguins don’t wear clothes, so maybe I’m just naked.” 

SPOILER ALERT! You brought up being body positive, and at the performance I was at, the audience volunteer who you asked to bare it all on stage got so much applause. People were even coming up to her after the show! Do you always get someone who volunteers? 

Pretty much every single time I get someone to volunteer. Early on, there were a couple of instances where people weren’t quite willing to, but the trust that the audiences have in me is greater now. And I’ve found ways of letting the audience feel more confident with me as a performer. Now, without exception, we get a naked volunteer. Every now and then someone will volunteer, and they’ll come up, and they won’t realize what they volunteered for. But then, of course, I show them a little note, and they go, “Oh, I didn’t realize.” They go and sit back down again, and I get someone else up.

But that’s actually the best-case scenario because a lot of the time, people think that I’m using an audience plant. When that happens, they know for certain that it’s not [a plant] because this person could have done it. So I quite like that. 

Is there a Plan B if someone doesn’t volunteer?

Quite often, I say, “Is anyone willing to bare just from the waist down?” And then I say, “What about the waist up?” And then you always get someone because they’re like, “Oh, I’ve just got to be topless.” In Australia, there was one time where I was like, “I didn’t want to have to resort to this, but 50 bucks!”  

Talk to me about the Grapes of Wrath scene and the one that follows, where you exchange grapes with audience members via your mouths. Is it ever completely gross for you? 

Oh, yeah. There’ve been a few times where I’ve nearly thrown up from the bird-feeding bit. And there’s a few times where people haven’t really realized what they’ve volunteered for — so you have to gauge it. Sometimes you just have to ask them, “Are you okay with this?” Sometimes we’ll get someone else or we’ll just move on. The thing is, there’s so many great bits in the show now that if one bit doesn’t work, it’s not the end of the world.

Are there any boundaries that you personally set or that the audience has set? At one point, you crowdsurf naked. 

My biggest fear is I’m going to hurt myself or I’m going to hurt someone else. Nothing else can really go wrong in the show. The lights can go out, the sound can break, my voice can go, so many things can go wrong. But if someone gets injured — myself or the audience — that worries me, and that’s something that I still have fear about. I really set it up with the crowdsurf to say, “Here are the options.” But I’ve also got to give the trust to the audience. So I really do say, “If you don’t want to be involved, you can move. If you can’t move, you can take the brace position. And if I’m going towards you, then other people need to step in and help.”

It’s putting a huge amount of trust in the audience. There were times when I can see I’ve gone straight over the top of an elderly person, so [people] step in. I’ve had people lift me, and someone formed a bridge with their back to put me over. I think the danger is what people love about it. I don’t mind the danger for myself. I do worry about the danger for other people.

We do everything we can. There’s a whole form you have to read and fill in before you come and see the show. But of course, I know that not everyone buys their own ticket, and not everyone reads that form. I just hope it’s not something that I look back on and go, “That was a mistake.” 

Getting on stage is a vulnerable thing in and of itself. To do that with no clothes on takes it to another level. Is there anything that makes you nervous? Do you welcome family and friends to come see you? 

Nothing really makes me nervous, in terms of people being there. My family come. My mom thinks it’s great. Some people are weird about it, but some people are just weird about nudity. I’ve got older aunts who are just like, “I would absolutely not come.” And it’s such a shame because they just don’t realize what it’s about. 

I’ve also seen people get worn down. I’ve got a cousin who was like, “I’m never going to see that. No way. It’s my worst nightmare. It’s a naked cousin and audience participation.” But then, more and more people came and were like, “Fine, don’t go — but you’re missing out.” So eventually she was like, “Okay, I’m going to go.” She’s now been a dozen times. She brings all of her friends.

What other shows do you have in the works?

I’ve got another show that I’ve been doing some work-in-progress performances out in Australia and then in Edinburgh. It’s called Two Clowns, and it’s very different. It’s completely silent, and I’m fully clothed the whole time. It starts off as a little bit more serious, and then it becomes outrageous. Two Clowns I’m going to be focusing on doing next year, I think. Then potentially I might do a return [of Garry Starr: Classic Penguins]. Classic Penguins has probably done its dash in Australia or in the U.K., but America’s only just discovered it, so I might come back and do some more here. We’ll see! 

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.