A regular at comedy clubs all over the country, Alexandra expertly walks the fine line between cheeky and outright smut. She has performed at Reading and Leeds festival, Victorious Festival, has supported comedy icons Frankie Boyle, Bill Bailey and Tommy Tiernan, and hosts Dulwich Hamlet Comedy every month.
Now she arrives at Glastonbury Festival for a performance in the Theatre and Circus’s Cabaret Tent this evening. We caught up with her to find out what it’s like to be making her Glastonbury debut.
Q&A with Alexandra Haddow
Can you tell us a little about yourself and how you got into live performance?
I got tricked into it! By my friend who was a comedian. He booked me on a gig and didn’t tell me until the day before. The first gig went well but I didn’t have the courage to go back again until about two years later when I was really bored of my day job. I decided to get him back for tricking me by working hard for seven years and accidentally making a career out of it. Before that I didn’t really have any experience in live performance aside from a few desperate years trying to learn how to sing and dance in AmDram when I was a kid. In fact, I’m still trying to make it as a dancer.
What’s it like to be performing at this year’s Glastonbury Festival?
Without sounding like an American winning an Oscar, a dream come true. I was there working for a website in 2016 (the wettest year ever) and didn’t get to experience it properly, then last year I went for the first time as a muggle and I completely got why everyone loves it so much. It’s what life could be like if we didn’t have utility bills and daytime TV. The whole thing was just incredible. My boyfriend is a DJ and does the 1-3am spot at Strummerville every Thursday at the festival (Joei Supernova) and it was amazing to be able to kick it off watching everyone flock to that, so it’s cool that this year we’ll both get to perform!
What can you tell us about your plans for the show?
I have huge, complex plans for it to be as funny as possible. Even for sober people watching. I think there’s also something to be said for a balance between giving people some light relief from everything else that’s going on in the world, and making jokes about current affairs at a place like Glastonbury, where a lot of the crowd are quite involved in political issues of the day.
How do you approach performing at a festival like this?
By being very restrained and sensible before it and not very restrained from the second I leave the stage! Essentially staying hydrated, thinking about what other performances I saw in the cabaret tent last year and how those comedians adapted to the festival environment, and trying to play it cool in front of other big acts I might meet backstage.
Will you be checking out any other acts across the weekend?
Oh as many as I can! I always cram in as much as possible, you have to! Plus a lot of the cabaret acts are my friends so I’ll go and watch them and see how restrained they’ve been before their sets….
Alexandra Haddow performs at Glastonbury Festival 2024, running from 26 to 30 June
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