IAS Laughter: The Rimmers

Since 2016, The Rimmers have been making short videos which satirise and queer the traditional British Jewish family. Mother Gaye (Alex Eisenberg), father Mervyn (Tom Joseph) and 12 year old daughter Becky (Candy Gigi) have staged comedic performances and audacious interventions in various public spaces, self-filming their antics using an iPhone. The short videos have been released online through social media prior to each iteration of the queer Jewish clubnight Buttmitzvah and follow a sitcom-style storyline. Most recently The Rimmers have been working on a longer-form short film.

The evening will feature screenings of The Rimmers recent video work and will be followed by a discussion with Raz Weiner (PhD Researcher at Royal Holloway, University of London). Raz studies ethnic-drag and gender-drag within power-matrixes of colonialism and populism, interrogating the meanings of intersectional queer performance vis-à-vis rising tides of racism and bigotry. His drag persona Tilda Death is a life project, research methodology and philosophy all put in one short wig.

Bios

• The Rimmers is a collaborative project by Alex Eisenberg, Candy Gigi and Tom Joseph. Performing as a fictional Jewish family they make artist videos and performances which unapologetically put their Jewishness and queerness out in the open. Their work uses public interventions, humour and drag performance to expose the complexities of our identities, whilst also expressing a queer sort of fondness for our heritage. Since 2016 they have hosted the queer Jewish club and performance night Buttmitzvah. Alongside the events, they have created over 30 short videos which we have presented online.
• Alex Eisenberg is an artist, curator and performer working with performance and video. He also works at Live Art Development Agency on curatorial and digital projects.
• Candy Gigi is a comedian and performer who won the Malcolm Hardee award (2014), has had 3 shows at Edinburgh Fringe (2015-17) and Soho Theatre (2017/18).
• Tom Joseph is a writer/performer who is currently writing SCHTUM (Channel 4), a drama set in the ultra Orthodox Jewish community.

All welcome. Please note that there may be photography and/or audio recording at some events and that admission is on a first come first served basis. Please follow this FAQ link for more information.