Today we’d like to introduce you to Madeleine Hamilton.
Hi Madeleine, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I began learning the bagpipes when I studied abroad at the University of Edinburgh for a semester of college. I signed up for the class History and Performance of the Bagpipes because I thought it would be funny to learn the bagpipes while in Scotland. I do stand-up comedy and realized that the bagpipes were what my set was missing. Not more or funnier jokes, just something louder so that you couldn’t hear them. Halfway through the semester, I realized that I was practicing every day and that I’d get upset if I didn’t get my practice in. I had to face a truth more brutal than the Scottish winter: I was completely obsessed with the bagpipes. I came back to USC for senior year with the bagpipes in tow, fulfilling every stereotype about making studying abroad your entire personality. But the joke had turned into love, and I couldn’t look back.
Now, I play the bagpipes on the corner of Crescent Heights and Santa Monica. Meanwhile, my stand-up quickly devolved into only being about the bagpipes. So, I began working on an hour-long one-woman show about the bagpipes and boys called Piping Hot.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
The bagpipes are a very polarizing instrument. People either love them or hate them and when you’re first starting out, most people hate them. And you. I play on my street corner because otherwise my roommates would have me evicted. Playing on the street corner is legal, but that doesn’t mean people have to like you. I have a few enemies: once a man paid me $100 to stop playing. That made me cry. During the pandemic, another man called the cops on me every single day for six straight months. He even threatened to citizen arrest me. It was a very exciting time for the neighborhood. Luckily, most cops are big bagpipes fans, so at least I have the law on my side.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m especially proud of my solo show, Piping Hot. It had a sold-out 3-night run in December at the Sherry Theater in North Hollywood, and it recently got accepted into the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for this upcoming August. Piping Hot combines the bagpipes, comedy, and storytelling in a way that I haven’t seen done before. The premise of the show is that I teach the audience about the bagpipes via stories of my sexual escapades. Yeah, you heard me. While it is technically a first-timer’s bagpipes lesson, each part of the instrument unfortunately reminds me of a man from her past, and you know I’m going to talk about it. I weave a narrative of my search for love and coping with heartbreak against the backdrop of my true love: the loudest instrument ever.
At its core, Piping Hot is about love, lust, and the bagpipes. As I walk the audience through my many failed (and often tragically comical) attempts at connection, I try to piece together a common thread of what it means to love and be loved. I ultimately come to the realization that it’s ok that to not have everything figured out at the ripe, old age of 25 and that love can take many forms.
I hope that even though the bagpipes are polarizing, people can relate to the universal themes of searching for love and connection in an attempt to feel less alone. Also, I believe that the more you know about the bagpipes, the more you’ll respect and appreciate the unique instrument. If enough people can learn to tolerate the bagpipes, maybe I’ll stop getting the cops called on me. I doubt it, but a girl can dream.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
I believe that risks are necessary to take in any creative endeavor. We can’t grow as artists if we don’t feel uncomfortable. I think great art is born on the precipice where the artist is taking a risk and feels uncertain about her ability to accomplish whatever it is but isn’t so overwhelmed by anxiety that she can’t function. Inherent in the process of creating is experimentation. A lot of things we try won’t work, but maybe a couple will, and dead ends can often lead to new territories that we wouldn’t have been known about without the initial failure.
Contact Info:
- Website: madhamilton.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madhampipes/?hl=en
Image Credits
Main photo and me in the bed: Jack Hackett photo of me and male dancer on the street: Dusti Cunningham
