Ursula Martinez, Performer, My Stories, Your Emails
Being happy and at peace with myself ...
Anyone who has toddled along to La Soiree during Brisbane Festival will understand that London-based writer, performer and cult cabaret diva Ursula Martinez has skills. Following on from her La Soiree showing comes My Stories, Your Emails – a biopic in theatre form showing what happened when her five-minute, choreographed striptease Hanky Panky went viral. When a stranger filmed and posted the Hanky Panky performance online, Ursula received a swathe of emails – some funny and complimentary, some insulting and some including sexual offers. Taking back control of the situation, Ursula created My Stories, Your Emails, which dives into a selection of the correspondence and the juxtaposition between the character Ursula that went viral and her real-life personality. Combining spoken word, live art, character comedy and stand-up, My Stories, Your Emails is an expose of self-identity, the internet, fame, obsession, censorship, loneliness and human failure. The Weekend Edition caught up with Ursula to discover her perfect weekend.
How do you like to start your weekend?
It depends where I am and what I’m doing. In my line of business there is very little opportunity for routine, as I spend eight months of the year touring. If I’m at home in London I like to go to my local Hackney markets – Broadway Market on Saturday morning and the fantastic Columbia Road flower market on Sunday.
What’s your favourite thing to do on a Saturday morning?
Head to the markets.
How do you like to unwind?
At the bottom of my road are the Hackney marshes and the Lea River. I love to go there for a walk with my wife and our neighbour, Toby. In late spring we pick elderflowers and, in autumn, black berries. We make elderflower cordial and blackberry desserts. We’ve even made our own elderberry wine! It’s all terribly middle class.
What are your essentials for a well-spent weekend?
In my line of business, weekends are often weekdays, as I tend to work on a Friday or Saturday night. So sometimes a well-spent weekend might mean a great gig. If I’m not working then it could mean a great homemade paella with friends.
What’s something you’ve been meaning to do on the weekend but haven’t got around to yet?
Whilst here in Brisbane, I’ve been meaning to go to Stradbroke Island, but I haven’t managed to get my act together, and now we’ve run out of weekends. Next time.
What’s your favourite thing to do on a Sunday evening?
I don’t have a particular favourite thing to do on a Sunday evening. Just having a night off at home is good enough.
What are you looking forward to next weekend?
Barefoot lawn bowls at Merthyr Bowls Club for my wife’s 30th birthday party.
What are you reading at the moment?
I recently went to Cambodia and am halfway through Brother Number One: A Political Biography of Pol Pot. It was a nice idea at the time, but too ambitious for my little brain.
What inspires you?
Theatre and food.
What was your childhood dream?
To show off. Tick!
What has been your greatest achievement?
My first theatre show that I made with my parents, which we toured around the world for two years, and meeting the love of my life.
What is success to you?
Being happy and at peace with myself.
What are your words of wisdom?
Success, in the conventional Western sense, is often overrated.
FAVOURITE WEEKEND SPOT TO:
Perk up … Yoga followed by a coffee in the trendy coffee shop next door
Relax … My sofa
Dine … The Creperie for buckwheat crepes
Shop … Broadway Market
Be inspired … Our very small but perfectly formed holiday house in Almeria, Southern Spain
Catch-up … At a friend’s house
Indulge… The Moroccan bath house in Almeria