So rarely do you come across a performer so enthusiastic and productive, who has utilised their skills to permeate and perfect their craft at every level of a production.
Trevor Ashley has directed, written, and acted in over 20 different shows all over the world and was listed in Mate Magazine’s 500 Most Powerful Gay Men Of All Time. Unsurprisingly he’s just as lively when he’s being himself as he is when he’s performing. With fellow stage veteran Rhonda Burchmore by his side, his new show ‘Twins’ is sure to be a doubly hilarious romp.
“Rhonda and I did a show called ‘Little Orphan TrAshley’ that was on at the Opera House and then toured Brisbane and Melbourne. That was the only thing we’d done together, but we’d always been desperate to work together for years and years and years. So we were lucky, being able to put ‘Twins’ together, that we could really have fun together and do lots together.
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“It’s been a joy. We just came up with a whole lot of ideas together and threw it all together. It’s kind of like a big vaudeville sketch comedy show I guess is how you’d explain the concept. So it was us getting to do parodies of our favourite/ most hated artists. Sort of silly little sketches based on movies and Disney and all sorts of different bits and pieces and some great numbers together.”
Straight to the wardrobe department: “we did this show already as part of the Melbourne Comedy Festival so we’ve worn it all and it’s so gorgeous and lovely. We have a great Costume Designer, Angie White, who is so great and so clever and she just puts these stunning costumes together. We’ve got these fantastic showgirl finale ones that we are in love with and so lots of legs. Rhonda always likes lots of leggy costumes.”
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Trevor is renowned, among many things, for his wit, which frequently leans towards the dark-side. “I think it’s just my personality is such a black comedy fan and I love satire and parody. I think it keeps everybody away from being so politically correct. We’re strangled often by political correctness in this day and age so I love throwing that all out the window or in people’s faces. To me, ‘just a bit wrong’ is always appreciated.
“I’m always quite up on what’s going on politically but Rhonda is a bit less political than I am, she doesn’t like doing politics too much so we keep to entertainment and gossip. I always look to what’s happening politically in the country; we have a great ‘Little Mermaid’ sketch that’s quite political.”
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Sharing the stage with Conchita Wurst at Mardi Gras was pretty wild, but how that came about was even more so. “That was such a thrill! Conchita is just divine. She is just amazing; I love her. We met in Vienna, when I performed my Liza show, at this time she hadn’t yet done Eurovison so I didn’t know who she was and she just came up and gushed at me after the show. And then of course six months later there she is winning Eurovison and I was like, ‘oh my god, that’s that queen!’ And then she wrote to me out of the blue on Facebook and said, ‘oh I’ve just been watching all your videos on YouTube and I just wanted to tell you how much I love you’ and she was just heaven. She said, ‘I’m doing this concert in Sydney would you come and sing with me?’ So it was very special to have that happen. That night was a really magical night and sometimes you have to just pinch yourself.”
And finally, looking forward. “I’ve done seven different shows this year already and it’s only May so I need a little break so I can work out what’s next and then I’m sure there’ll be something fabulous.”
