What a performance

0 Comments | Birmingham Post (England), The, Sept 8, 1998 | by Thomas Robson

What do you do when you find yourself working in the womens' wear section of Debenhams although you spent three years in art college?

Most people would mope and gripe about it but not Robin Deacon, a performance artist of great comic qualities and Debenham salesperson of enormous potential.

"I decided to make a performance out of my work," he says. "I thought it might halve the workload!"

This Friday, at The Bond Gallery, Digbeth, Robin Deacon stages the premiere of his performance piece Employee of the month, April 1998.

Subtitled "The double life of Robin Deacon", it is based on his real life experiences as a salesperson in Debenham's, which culminated with him actually winning the Employee of the Month award in April this year.

"All the hours you're working or attending training sessions, you pick up things," Deacon goes on. "A lot of it is like unconscious comedy."

Robin Deacon has been doing performances for about four years now, at venues including the Edinburgh Fringe, London, Belfast and Europe. Although he himself finds it hard to categorise his work, one suggestion could be "comic art", as a lot of people hav e described Deacon and his performances as having a great comic presence.

"I'm quite happy to have people view it that way," he says. "I think it has a wide, broad appeal. I've performed in comedy clubs and art galleries alike, without having to change the performances."

Employee of the Month is staged in the board room at the Bond Gallery, which seems an appropriate setting for a performance described as being "like a salesperson's training session or motivational meeting that degenerates into sheer chaos".

The performer undergoes change as well; starting off as something of a slick sales person, by the end of the show he is a surreal superhero.

Employee of the Month, April 1998 will have only one performance in Birmingham. Admission is free but the number of seats is limited.

Robin Deacon performs Employee of the Month, April 1998 at the Bond Gallery, 180-182 Fazeley Street, Digbeth, on Friday (7.30pm).

Thomas Robson