About
Beside Ourselves are physical theatre clowns Eleanor Young and Kate Mounce.
More about Beside Ourselves
We are on a mission to make ‘deep art’*. Using our stories, our bodies and voices, as well as our secret weapon of being able to agree on almost nothing, we make theatre that is bonkers, homemade and heartfelt.
Our mission includes getting others to make art with the stories that their bodies carry because everyone is infinitely interesting. We run different workshops for adults and young people to explore this.
In 2017, we decided to make our first clown show together called Just Don’t Do It, based on our experiences growing up. It was about abstinence teaching in The Anglican Church and what girls especially get taught about sex and purity. The project took us to Edinburgh, Camden, Reading, Brighton and Bellingham in Washington State, USA. It introduced us to our Producer Spun Glass Theatre and began a life-long love affair with our director/mentor Deanna Fleysher (aka Butt Kapinski). It won us our first Arts Council England funded tour and lead Kate to create the first ever** vulva puppet made out of spanks.
We aim to use the healing power of laughter to create memorable experiences with our audiences/participants, encouraging faith in the possibility for change and empowering people - womxn especially - to embrace their silly, savage, sexy selves.
* copyright Deanna Fleysher
** probably
Who is Eleanor Young?
Eleanor is an all-singing, all-dancing physical theatre performer, first training in musical theatre (Urdang 2007-’10), then with Fourth Monkey theatre (Two Year Rep, 2013-‘15) and at Ecole Philippe Gaulier (Bouffons, class of 2018).
Eleanor is a physical comedy performer with companies including Wet Picnic and The Bicycle Ballet. As a company member she devised Wet Picnic’s latest productions The Ball and The Aperitif which continue to tour Outdoor Arts festivals.
She has trained with clowns Peta Lily, Deanna Fleysher (Butt Kapinski) and Toby Park (Spymonkey) and companies including New International Encounter, Highly Sprung, Theatre ad Infinitum, Told By An Idiot, Gecko, Theatre Re and Maison Foo.
Who is Kate Mounce?
Kate is a graduate of the London International School for Performing Arts (LISPA) and is completing an MA at the Thomas Prattki Centre, Berlin, in Integral Movement and Performance Practice. She is still trying to figure out what Integral Movement and Performance Practice is.
She is an experienced theatre deviser and physical improviser with a penchant for clowning in performance and daily life. She also writes, directs and produces. Previous theatre companies she has worked with include YouNeedMe, Slingshot Theatre, Glass-Eye Theatre, Secret Cinema and Wet Picnic. She performs regularly with mental health champions and burlesque troupe, Invisible Cabaret, and also acts on screen whenever ‘they’ let her (Baby is a vamp, Lux Lyall; Constance, Kevin Snyman productions; The Gaggle Show, Gaggle).
Who we work with
