Interview: Jonny Hawkins, ‘Dancefloor Conversion Therapy’

Ahead of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024, we’re chatting with a range of creatives who will be heading to the city over August to find out more about their shows. Today we’re chatting with Jonny Hawkins about Dancefloor Conversion Therapy.

Can you tell us a bit about you and your career so far?

I got to tell you, it’s not been a clear cut, focused career, but to those who’ve been on the journey, it all makes sense. But I’ll try. 

I’m a DJ, I’ve played at music festivals and clubs all over Australia and a few gigs internationally. I’m known for flouting the rules of genre, I don’t tend to stay in one lane or genre, I like it all. Deep disco culture, Detroit techno, acid, Chicago house. It’s a complicated mix of influences but I try to tell a story through song choices. Both pushing the crowd to go deeper into uncharted territory, but also inviting them into something engaging and joyful connected to my heart. I want people to feel good about themselves. 

I got into DJing initially after I finished studying acting at one of Australia’s best drama schools, WAAPA. A friend and I took it on as a side hustle playing bar gigs, but for me it blossomed into something much bigger. 

I’ve had a few successes in my acting career in theatre and television, I’ve worked with Melissa McCarthy and Sarah Snook, I’ve gotten to do some beautiful theatre shows, and I love it. But waiting for the phone to ring for the next adventure got boring so I started developing as a writer and making my own work. 

The shows I make are almost always about a deep and beautiful humanity, joy and enjoying the world around you just as it is. Chaotic and perfect. 

My show Maureen, Harbinger of Death was my debut in Edinburgh last year, it’s the tale of an elderly lady who wrote down a list of her friends and the order they’d die in. 

What is your show about?

It’s a show about my own bunk philosophy of community, dance music, participation in ritual madness and joy. It’s both anthropological and biographical, it’s about giving people the chance to be their nighttime selves and how that affects our day time self. It’s about partying and love. 

It’s a show that fits into a few in-between spaces. It’s not quite a comedy, not quite theatre, but you’ll be immersed, I promise :)

What was the inspiration for Dancefloor Conversion Therapy and what’s the development process been to get to this stage?

My friends really. I have a party crew that taught me how to do it. It’s partly tacit knowledge, but I think it’s a sharable wisdom. How to venture into the night, get sweaty dancing, making choices you’d hesitate to tell mum and come home when the bird of regret start singing, full of love and more ready to return to the day. 

The development process has been story gathering and musing how it all makes sense together. Reflecting on the best dance floor moments of my life and figuring out how to recreate them in an exciting way. 

What made you want to take Dancefloor Conversion Therapy to the Fringe?

I was offered the incredible opportunity by House of Oz to return to Edinburgh after the success of Maureen, which they also presented. 

They’ve been super supportive of my work and gave me the encouragement I needed to make this show. 

Edinburgh is the place to figure out what your made of! I’m so excited to see how this goes. 

Apart from seeing Dancefloor Conversion Therapy, what’s your top tip for anybody heading for Edinburgh this summer?

Enjoy the moment. Edinburgh’s an extraordinary place to be in August and there’s so much choice that it’s easy to fall into the trap of feeling like you’re missing out if you don’t go and see everything on your list. But, really, all you have is the moment you’re in and there’s always something wonderful to discover right in front of you. Whether it’s a choice an actor has made with his character’s mannerisms, or the way a director stages a scene or even just a trying new flavour combination at a mac & cheese kiosk between shows. 

Why should people book Dancefloor Conversion Therapy?

It’ll be a show that keeps reoccurring in your mind for years to come. It’s not just about dance floors, it’s about getting through the world. 

When and where can people see Dancefloor Conversion Therapy?

Underground, Assembly George Square Studios, 1-24 Aug, 23:15, 60 min, £15, 18+