Claire Waller – Arthur Brown

The creative genius behind The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown stage show

Unless they are big names with equally large budgets, even if they are well known, or even legendary, most bands would struggle to deliver a show that goes beyond some coloured spotlights or projected images in the background. The have to let the music speak for itself, which, thankfully many of the bands, I see live, manage to do that.

However, a show that dazzles the eyes, while filling the memory as well as the ears, isn’t impossible with the right kind of creative genius to add some magic to the performance. For those of you have been fortunate enough to see The Crazy World of Arthur Brown in concert will know exactly what I mean. Great musicianship, from all members of the band, with the added pizazz of wild costumes and a stage that wouldn’t be out of place in a Salvador Dali work of art. This is not an accident and is down to the creative imagination of The God of Hell Fire’s Creative Director, Claire Waller – being behind the scenes means she is an unseen and unsung hero but her role is integral to the whole experience. Therefore it is with great pleasure that I am talking with her today.

Darren Walker: Hello, Claire. On behalf of the Progressive Aspect of myself, thank you for your time today.

Claire Waller: Well, thank you for a wonderful introduction. It is really lovely to get to speak with you.

Darren: My pleasure. I’ll start off with my first question. Your sets and costumes are definitely striking and memorable, how did you get into stage creation? Is it something you’ve always done or did you begin by accident, or design?

Claire: Well, it’s a really strange one. The thing that I would like to say is I think life is about adapting and constantly learning and I started off as a teacher. I studied education with a bent on race, culture, equal opportunities, history and all things involving the magic of words, music and drama.

So I started off in primary education and I was fortunate to be passionate about what I did but really get involved in schools where the emphasis was on creativity and thinking skills. I worked with an local authority on a lot of topics which had been really hard to fight through when creativity was not a primary focus in their education process. I fought to put arts, drama, music and individual thinking skills on the curriculum – learning through creative projects.

As for me having any theatrical training? No. Did I have a training in vision leading and creativity? Yes, I did. But I realised, and released it, more and more as I went along. I kind of found myself in those early days.

My very first teaching role was in Cheshire and we had to go away on a full week induction and it was all based on portraiture and creating chairs, bizarrely, out of woody sticks and all this kind of weird stuff. All very ‘Blue Peter’, cut stick and be creative, but actually it was really all about journeying through learning.

So, the set design, costumes, character and concert storytelling all arrived from a very weird angle. Also the thing that I love about being with Arthur is that he was at his peak in the 60s and I was educated as a result of the 60s and that wild creativity. It was a very different form of education and it was about standing with a paintbrush and a record player and watching the colours move and sitting and playing, looking at life through colour. All about not being held back by saying I’m an artist, I’m a musician. I’m a dancer. If you see something and think I’d like to make that, do it and I think that’s the wonderful thing about being with Arthur. We fit each other because we do not fit in with other people’s way of thinking.

Darren: Well, it sounds like a wonderful philosophy. Creativity Without Borders or boundaries. Do you remember seeing Arthur’s costume and set in the 60’s?

Claire: Yes and it was inspirational to me. Arthur is this kind of palette. He has a body that you can dress in anything, and he also loves it all.

So the whole show was based on ‘How could the costume actually not be a costume?’ and ‘How can we make a life’s journey the whole concept of Arthur’s life in the guise of the God of Hellfire?’ We wanted to move away from the notion of the God of Hellfire being something evil or dark, because it really isn’t.

It is the thing of how do you burn away all those elements of yourself to get to your true, peaceful, centre, which is always peaceful, but disturbed by everything else outside of it.

So, the show came via a dream. I found myself waking up shouting things out to Arthur. “What about …..?” So it was all very, very surreal and that dream like quality is translated into the show.

We ended up working with a wonderful guy called Andy Clark, who we met in America when we were on tour with Yes. I spent many hours with him, talking through the concepts. He created the actual technical side of the background, where Arthur was supposed to be present, but in shadow form, and the costume was supposed to just catch the light. Leading to a point where the projected image became the real person. It worked, to some extent, but it has been a work in progress needing lots of modifications as we went along.

Darren: As there are lots of costume changes during the set, have there ever been any disasters?

Claire: Yes, we’ve had very public costume disasters.

I think the best story with that was the time I had a camera and was filming the show, so that I could watch it later and look for ways to improve things, but it was also going live on Facebook as well. Then, during the show Arthur came flying towards me, this great big voice saying “You need to do something. My trousers are coming off!” All on camera and I couldn’t delete it and it was out there for everybody to see.

Darren: Well, at least if the trousers came down, you’d have given them a memorable show. Running across the stage – trousers around his ankles

Claire: Thankfully he’s layered up so they didn’t actually see anything. But it I managed to rectify the problem so the show could go on. But it demonstrates the speed at which we have to change. The art really lies in how to get the costume on, then off and the next one on again with no big gaps. The whole show is put together so that the music, the story and the costume changes flow seamlessly.

We were once at a show and there was a woman came up to me at the merchandise table, at the end of the show. She was quite a famous theatre manager with some big theatre, and she punched an actor because he didn’t put his arms straight in the time that she needed to get his costume off. She just lost it and punched him. Thankfully I have never been that bad or had to do that, but it can be tense and pressured during costume changes. Creating costumes that are striking and easy to get on and off can be tricky.

Darren: Is there a table, in the semi darkness, with everything in set places so you can find them without needing bright lights?

Claire: Yes, definitely. But last year we played the Eel Pie Club in Twickenham, which is a fantastic venue. It was rammed and there was barely a space to stand in, with the green room being pretty much within the club with just a curtain that goes across, to separate us from the audience. I’d laid out all the costumes, everything lined up, hung up, ready for the changes. Arthur went on the stage and, all of a sudden, the guy who was in charge of the stage turned all the lights off, blacked the entire room. I couldn’t see a thing, didn’t know where to go and I couldn’t get out of the room because it was so crowded. Fortunately, Robin, who was doing the visuals for the show, saw it. He came to find me crawling on the floor, using the light on his phone to get to me. But thankfully none of us panic and know that, no matter what, the show must go on. Keep calm and carry on.

Darren: What is it like touring with Arthur and the band? Is it collaborative or is there a strict hierarchy of control and do they have issues with the set or your costumes?

Claire: All the band are really nice. We all take things seriously but not so serious that we become pompous. We want the audience to enjoy the show and that means having fun.

We’ve been together six years now on this show, but COVID hindered us. We started with the idea and we put all of the production and rehearsals into place, we did one gig and COVID came along and then we’ve kind of struggled through and it was only last year was the first year where we felt that everybody’s growing into this and the performance element of it is truly working. Because we want it to work, so everybody has ownership of it.

At first it was really difficult for the guys. The hats that I created at the start were awkward and difficult to wear, so that’s all been modified. We’ve also had to trim down props that we had and we’re constantly evolving. But I don’t think it’s ever completed and I don’t think a costume is ever perfect, or lighting is ever correct. We just have to keep that vision of what you’re aiming at and adapt as we go along.

Darren: After a concert do you analyse how it want, making tweaks and changes after each show, or do you just assess it after each tour and then make the changes, as and when?

Claire: Arthur and I, along with the band, are constantly reviewing. These can range from projector positioning, what props should stay and what does not work, through to Arthur’s gestures. But what works in one venue might not work in another so we have to be creative and flexible.

Darren: Do you ever get into disagreements, where one person says, oh, I think this works better doing this way, and others say, Oh no, it’s rubbish. We prefer it this way?

Claire: I don’t think we’ve had many disagreements. We have worked together for a long time and know what is wanted. It just works. Arthur and I have a clear vision of what we’re trying to do and the rest of the band recognise that.

Darren: Do you make all the costumes and the props yourself, or do you just see them in antique shops or junk shops and think that would be interesting? Or is it a bit mixture of?

Claire: It’s a mixture of all of it. We’re constantly collecting like Magpies. If we see something, we tend to just get it. But, obviously there are price restriction on it. It’s quite often an old junk shop, or a very cheap shop that I see something unusual and think ‘I can make that work’. So I get things, chop things up, change them around and then make things from scratch. I go to Leeds market for my fabric but I get to know places, lots and lots of charity shops and I’m permanently bobbing into those.

I recently found an old sign that says ‘No smoking, No matches, No naked lights allowed’ and I’m going to introduce that into the show when Arthur’s helmet is alight 🙂

Darren: The helmet is Arthur’s trademark. Have you found adapting that to be problematic?

Claire: One of the favourite things I’ve made him was also the first things, and, initially, he actually was quite reticent about it. It was a black helmet which was sort of devilish. It was supposed to be interwoven, darkness and light, but with nature in there. There was uncertainty but Arthur was able to carry it off in a theatrical way. Simply newspaper sculpted with masking tape, but it worked.

Darren: You are giving away your secrets!

Claire: Yes, but it is all about the image, not how it is made. It has to capture the audience’s attention. For example, the first time that he went out in costume he froze in fear because it was a Butlins metal weekend and he went out fully flamboyant in a gold costume with all the audience in intense black. I just stood and watched and the first thing I thought. ‘My God, what have I done?’ Because everybody was just standing there like statues, solid and they didn’t move. But at the end they went wild and they really loved it. And that’s what’s I think is the fabulous thing, and I love the most, is that we go to all these metal festivals and the audiences, in their black T-shirts, really enjoy the show. It’s a kind of fantasy realm that people are not judging, and they’re actually are enjoying, themselves without taking us, or their own images, too seriously.

Darren: Are there other bands, or acts that, you’ve sort of seen and think ‘Oh, I wish I could work with them because I could certainly bring something to their show’?

Claire: Yes, I saw an act called King Shabaka, but his real name is Shabaka Hutchings. The gig has remained in my mind because of his huge stage presence, an absolutely amazing musician. I love the music, but there’s something about him that I would love to do costuming for him.

The other person, whose music I love, is Ólafur Arnalds, from Iceland. He did something called the Chopin Project, which I loved, and that’s an entirely different style of music, but it’s something that has this slightly psychedelic surreal feel to it. So much scope for creativity. And then there is world music as well, I would love to be involved with bringing different musicians from different cultures into a space where you could blend it all so the storytelling, the nature of human story, can be translated and put across.

Darren: A melding of the senses, which challenges convention? I’ve just had a weird mental image of the audience being in the centre and the concert being in around, circling them.

Claire: Ah, now that’s weird as that is my absolute intention that, before we finish touring, we end with a circular performance just like that. Us on the outside of the audience. You absolutely got it

Darren: You manage to see inspiration and ideas everywhere, which is wonderful.

Claire: That’s life, isn’t it? Take the time to look because it’s always there. I am really fascinated by people too. I love people watching and I love just meeting people.

Darren: We are running short of time, but before you go are there any stories you want to share about the fire helmet?

Claire: We have a health and safety risk assessment and we’re really careful about the helmet and if it is risky, or too dangerous, we do not light it. But one time in Blackpool we had made the assessment and decided not to use it, but the organiser didn’t trust us and, even though the helmet was secure in a box, they insisted on confiscating it. They must have thought we were pyromaniacs, wanting to burn the place down. The Crazy World of Arthur Brown does Smoke on the Water! We had to ask for it back after the show.

Darren: Well, unfortunately time is running out, so I will call it a day there. And thank you again for your time.

Claire: Oh, it’s been lovely talking with you.

[Live photographs by Chris Simmons taken at The Temple of Prog Festival in January 2025]