Interview: Bisexual Intellectuals

The idea of Bisexual Intellectuals began as a joke as the three best friends and professional performers Jemma Allen, Rosie Russell and Millicent Sarre shared their experiences of living as bisexual women.

“It definitely started as a joke," says Russell. "A lot of the ideas as seeds that are now songs in the show came from jokes that we just kind of exacerbated until we had full blown musical numbers on them."

When they first pitched the show, they hoped that others would see the potential they saw in the idea. “At that point most of what we had was conceptual things based on jokes and we had to kind of polish them and present them and be like we think it’s funny and we promise we will take it somewhere if you trust us. Check in in three to four months and it will be funny.”

Once they received a Fringe Festival grant, their silly bond, jokes between friends, and artistic talent led to writing a show covering a broad spectrum from EDM, rap, German, harmonies, choreography and comedy to so much more. 

Representation of the LGBTQIA+ community in the media and the arts often focuses on difficulty surrounding a lack of acceptance from others, loss or personal struggles. Sarre, Allen and Russell wanted to create a show that was relatable but represented the pride and joy of being bisexual. They wanted a show where the audience would leave feeling joyful.

“The show is really about queer joy and its place in the canon, representing the fact that there is levity and enjoyment and pride without focusing on queer trauma or historic tragedy within the gay community. It is pretty much all levity… there is a very, very comedic line throughout – even though we do discuss a range of adversities and issues, it’s all done through a very light-hearted tone,” Russell says. 

Sarre says the audience should expect chaos, silliness and absurdity along with lots of artistic merit. All three women laugh as they try to explain what to expect from the performance but they all agree that you should prepare yourself to giggle until you cry. They also hope that you'll leave humming a new favourite song, namely 'Lesbian Boyfriend', which the trio hope enters the “cultural lexicon” to describe bisexual women dating effeminate men. 

The three all share an important and similar sense of humour but each individually brings their own skills and quirks to the show. Allen laughs as she states she “derails the most things” and describes Sarre as “the leader that holds the group together” while her and Russell “run around creating extra chaos”.

Sarre, Allen and Russell hope to see more of this sort of bisexual representation in the media and arts. “I wish there was so much more bisexual representation everywhere like this show. We’re three women who are really happy to be bi, really proud to be bi, living good lives and exploring these subjects without any shame,” Russell notes. 

This is unlikely to be the last the audience sees of these silly and energetic performers as Sarre teases potential future collaborations and a possible tour of Bisexual Intellectuals. “The three of us just work so well together that I have no doubt that this is definitely the first of many future collaborations."

Bisexual Intellectuals, Gluttony, until 25 Feb