Eddie Izzard, action transvestite
by Steven Mikulan | LA Weekly | June 8
Izzardian bent Photo by Larry Hirshowitz |
At first glance, Eddie Izzard would seem an impossibly hard sell in this country, yet his maiden tour here, 1998s Dress To Kill, was a coast-to-coast smash, leading to an HBO special that spread his name even wider paving the way for his new performance, Circle, opening June 13 at the Henry Fonda Theater.
On one particular afternoon Izzard sits puffing on a cigarette in the Living Room, as the Chateau Marmonts lounge is known. Hes staying here to get a little R and R though hes been lined up for a full press of interviews before appearances in Vancouver and Seattle. You couldnt possibly, he almost whispers into a cell phone, get me some American Spirit cigarettes, could you? The yellow ones. Hes made Californias anti-smoking obsession a keystone of his act, predicting a day when well be forced to socialize in libraries. No smoking in clubs where bands are playing is insane. You cant smoke in the Viper Room what self-respecting viper would go there?
Trim if not sleek, the 38-year-old resembles a wayward son of Oliver Reed or Ozzy Osbourne, his eyes poised to go into their trademark pop at any moment. Hes sporting only a little liner around them today and wears a black long-sleeved T-shirt, old black 501s (cuffed), a Guess? womans watch, a small earring and striped high-heeled sandals. He looks, in the subdued light of the Living Room, ready to take on the press.
I am an action transvestite, he says. I always wanted to be Emma Peel just one way Izzard defines himself onstage. A silkier persona, the executive transvestite, is another. I feel that Im a cross between a butch and a femme lesbian, he says, explaining his conflicted personality. Of course, such contrasts may be lost on his audiences, even in the relatively enlightened U.K.
Everyone assumes Im gay, he says. Before, I said I was heterosexual because Ive always fancied women. And then journalists wrote it up as He insists he is heterosexual implying the opposite. So I said forget the heterosexual bit, Ill just say Im a male lesbian. Oh, it gets confusing, but I think sexuality is confusing.
Izzard worked his way up from street performances in the 1980s, to the club circuit, to Edinburgh. My mum died when I was 6, and I think my childhood got knocked off and emotionally crashed there, he says, trying to explain his drive to perform. Later I came back and reclaimed that kid who was preserved as a 6-year-old. And adults seem to really like an adult behaving as a child. But if something works I tend not to analyze it too much.
In Dress To Kill, American audiences got to see Izzards full range of weirdness in a show that ran two and a half hours unheard of, for standup and during half of which he gave the appearance of a slightly drunken man talking to himself. Which was part of the shows genius: What often seemed like abrupt self-realizations or free-associative ad libs were actually pre-planned moments so convincingly delivered that Izzard often gave the impression of a comedian suddenly confronted by a career crisis. The show wheeled from a Cockney-voice version of Star Wars, to an overview of Britains impoverished manned space program (astronauts climbing up very long ladders to see over rooftops), to loony impersonations of entire religions and nation states.
Circle promises to cover similar ground, although Izzards appearance has somewhat changed. He took to Dress To Kills stage with frosted hair and blue eyeliner, worn along with a womans Chinese silk tunic and black PVC pants. Totally femme, if not flaming. Advance word, however, has it that for Circle, Izzards look has butched up a bit by including a pair of trousers under a minidress, high-heeled boots and, sometimes, a goatee.
While the American and Canadian press has unequivocally embraced Circle as a tour de force, British reviewers earlier complained that he sometimes lacked his mischievous stage energy and that the show consisted of too much recycled material, as well as awkwardly passé political statements. (Hes not a polemicist, but a one-man wardrobe to Narnia, sniffed the London Times reviewer.) The British press is notorious for turning against those its used to praising, and perhaps these reviews were the measure of an opinion tide turning or they may have been legitimate criticisms about a new show that was just finding its voice.
I didnt used to talk about political stuff in my work, which was observational and surreal, he says. In Britain they act surprised if I do anything political. But Im quite positive about what you can do with politics. I dont believe all politicians are bullshit. I believe there are some out there who want to set up better systems and better ideas.
Such as the current Labor Party prime minister, whom Izzard wholeheartedly supports. My politics are generally Tony Blairs end of town, he explains. People say hes dictatorial, but I think hes got a heart and he cares. Izzard also sees the new Europe as the best way of ending nationalisms and political superstition. Which may explain his appearances in French nightclubs. I havent really taken off there yet about 70 percent of the audiences are bilingual Anglo-Saxon, and the rest French. But its just a joy to do, getting laughs in a foreign language comedy is human, not national.
Beyond his concerts and occasional forays into live theater (including a critically acclaimed portrayal of Lenny Bruce in a Peter Hallstaged London revival of Julian Barrys play Lenny), Izzard continues to appear in films (Velvet Goldmine, Mystery Men), though these cinema works have not fared as well as his theater projects. Hes hopeful about the upcoming Shadow of the Vampire, the movie about the filming of F.W. Murnaus Nosferatu (starring Willem Dafoe). He has a secondary part in it, as the actor portraying estate agent Jonathan Harker, whom he imbues with typical Izzardian ambiguity. There was one dangerous scene in the opening, where I come down a 50-foot ladder, he recalls. I told the director, Ill do it, but if I die, then I want you to know Im not happy.