There is no other event quite like Woodford Folk Festival. Held annually, the six-day festival is a veritable feast for an estimated 132,000 people with a palate for inclusive artistry, culture, music – you name it!
Clarke McFarlane throws his crown into the Woodfordia ring as 'Mario Queen Of The Circus'; a character that sparkles with merriment and shameless promiscuity while performing circus artistry in an adoration-based homage to his idol and his muse, the great Freddie Mercury.
Clarke talks about the origins of his alter-ego Mario and where the idea came from in 2005.
“I was in an old double act called Planet Banana and we had this show that we were going to do in New York but we didn’t have a full-length show, so in order to pad out the material we made up the story that we were in a bar and so Mario was the bartender,” Clarke explains. “I left the stage and then came up from behind the bar with ‘Another One Bites The Dust’ playing – I just thought it was a fun bass lick to play and that was all it was at first.
“Later I was working on bar flair, like the tricks where you juggle bottles and stuff, and I had ‘Another One Bites The Dust’ playing again and I thought I could do a little act if I just repeat the bass line over and over. I picked up three balls and I started lip syncing and juggling. It took me about a half hour to choreograph, every move needed to be where it was with the music and it just worked so well.
“It was a bit embarrassing, I thought 'Oh man, is this going to be terrible?', I felt like a girl singing into her hairbrush – I didn’t know whether it was going to be really embarrassing or really good.”
Clarke explains how apprehension could have easily dissuaded him early on.
“I thought if I did another Queen song it would be a ‘bad sequel’ and a very, very smart friend of mine, a musician, said 'it’s not a sequel, it’s a theme'!”
The simple concept of this “comedy juggling act to the music of Queen” has not only endured but has grown in fervour over the past 15 years.
“I think it’s really funny, a dorky kind of guy who juggles, postures as this sex god. Exalting Queen as the ultimate – because it is so larger-than-life and the Freddie Mercury image is so iconic for people it’s a very believable story that this guy is obsessed with this band and so I think that is very funny also.
“People can really relate to fan worship and there’s a lot of mileage in that story of being totally subservient, just completely in awe of this other thing. It’s a very human kind of story.”
Clarke has an earnest respect for the Woodford Folk Festival community, and goes on to explain.
“I’m an old hippy from way back; I think there’s something in my sensibility with everything I’ve created that really speaks the language of that kind – you know, Woodford is a place of like-minded people – it’s like coming home.
“Woodford is a place that gets Mario in a very deep way and so it’s probably the kind of audience that I can do the most faithful version of Mario to what I set out to do.”
'Mario Queen Of The Circus' plays Woodford Folk Festival 30 December-1 January.
