It’s hard to pull off an original character as successfully as Alex Hines, who has portrayed Juniper Wilde on-and-off for the last few years, playing stages across the state.
Her new show Juniper Rising is hitting the stage this Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and we caught up with the comic behind the character to chat about it all.
Whether you’re watching them on your favourite TV show or Tik Tok, characters change with the world around them. Juniper’s maiden performance took place nearly five years ago and the world has changed dramatically since then.
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“Juniper Wilde was a character I came up with a while ago,” Alex says. “I was really interested in people in the public eye and the product that they become. It’s almost like a dehumanised state that people in the public eye become, and this is before Tik Tok.
“I was just really interested in people like Lindsay Lohan, Amy Winehouse or Amanda Bynes, how dehumanising it is for them to be in the public eye and how they are treated.
“I also find it super interesting how famous people live in a different reality. Someone like Kanye West, he is in a completely different reality. It’s interesting trying to understand his behaviour through the lens of what we understand to be reality.”
If you’ve seen Juniper Wilde, you’d be aware of the energy the character brings to the stage – she’s someone you can’t take your eyes off. Alex notes the day-to-day transformation from Alex Hines into Juniper Wilde.
“Every time I do Juniper, I always drink Purple Powerade. Always. I don’t know why. But then during the Fringe Festival, I discovered Sugar-Free V, and when I tell you I’m addicted…” Alex adds with a laugh.
“Because she’s so high energy, I always have to stretch before the show because it’s so physical. It’s different to a lot of other shows that I’ve done, where I can just kind-of get into costume and go.
“Juniper is a lot of getting ready, getting into costume, stretch, Powerade. With this 22-show season of a very physical show, it will be super interesting to see physically how it goes on my body as well. I’m kind of excited to see how that will go.”
Alex Hines trained at UCB, Second City and The Groundlings, the three premier Los Angeles comedy training grounds, to network and further enrich her comedic instincts.
“It was amazing, it’s so alive in L.A. I really crave the feeling of being back in that environment where it feels like anything is possible. I remember doing a stand-up class in L.A and somebody came into class, and they’d been at an open mic night, and they said Adam Sandler had rocked up. It was all just so crazy.
These companies also focus on the world of improv, an integral skill that helps all elements of the comedy-creation process. Many popular comics have gone through improv training at these venues, alumni include Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Lisa Kudrow, Aubrey Plaza and Abbi Jacobson. Hines enthuses about the rich value those experiences had on her career.
“Everyone sincerely wants to make good stuff and support each other, on an energetic level, I really miss it. But in terms of what I learned there, I did a lot of different stuff in a really short amount of time and it was really intensive. I definitely still use things like character and improv – a lot of the stuff that I’ve got in this show is from improvising with my director in the room.
“No learning is wasted, and that was a really rich time of learning for me, it all feeds into my process. I think the skills that I learned there are invaluable, it all feeds into this show, for sure.”
Alex Hines’ Juniper Wilde: Juniper Rising is taking place at ACMI’s Gandel Lab from March 30 until April 23 as part of Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Buy tickets here.
This article was made in partnership with Junkyard.
