“I’ve run the gamut of Ed Fringe jobs, starting with flyering for Baby Wants Candy in 2019—my first uni summer. I saw over 60 shows in the month and was hooked.”
WHO: Lil Wenker
WHAT: “A hell of a lot can happen in the time you await the results of a pregnancy test. This is the story of a woman staring down the barrel of motherhood, torn between her own ambivalence… and an uncontrollable urge to push. Award-winning Popelei burst out of isolation and onto your screens with their darkly comic theatre production, reimagined for film. Blistering honesty, exhilarating choreography, and one extremely knocked-up performer.”
WHERE: Pleasance Courtyard – Cellar (Venue 33)
WHEN: 16:15 (60 min)
MORE: Click Here!
Is this your first time to Edinburgh?
No! I’ve run the gamut of Ed Fringe jobs, starting with flyering for Baby Wants Candy in 2019—my first uni summer. I saw over 60 shows in the month and was hooked. In 2022, I had the absolute pleasure of teching Rosa Garland’s TRASH SALAD and a few clown school friends’ late-night madness cabaret night, HOT BOYS BATH HOUSE, which began at 1:30 AM. I think that festival took a few years off my life.
Last year, I performed for the first time in a bouffon/ballet two-hander called CRAP BALLET. We were up for two weeks, and then I stuck around to watch shows for the last week. But this year is the first solo show/full month/performing madness all coming together at once. I’m so excited and already planning places I can take naps here and there …
I think a great festival really embraces the festival aspect of it all. My first year, I saw EVERYTHING. Circus, stand up, dance, children’s theatre, live music. I’m keen to do this again; the access to so many different genres is really one of the most unique parts of Ed Fringe. Also going to different genres and venues allows you to meet folks from all around the world, which is another hugely unique opportunity Ed Fringe provides.
I’ll say I have never experienced the festival fully as a punter, since I’ve always had SOME responsibility towards a show. However, I definitely feel so much more awareness of the festival at every stage this year as I am producing the full run. Cecily, my amazing director, and I have been in rehearsal since November and filling out applications since December. So the festival has become so much more than August to me, and it’s made me respect all the amazing people who have brought their shows up before me, especially all those who also self-produce. I bow down (and thank the many, many friends who have helped me along the way!!!)
What are the big things you’ve learned since 2023 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?
Oof, have I absorbed my life lessons yet? I guess we’ll see come August!
But the biggest lesson I learned was the importance of having a really great team. Last year, I felt like I was learning the ropes for the first time, even though I had been to the festival before. Putting on your own show is just a completely different ball game than tech or flyering. There are so many decisions, and the days are exhilarating and exhausting. We performed some absolutely electric shows and then completely dead ones the day after. Having David, the co-performer and co-creator of CRAP BALLET and our company CHEKHOV’S GUM, kept me sane. When I had no energy, he picked me up and vice versa. We saw shows together, celebrated the highs together, ate ice cream when we wanted to think about anything other than bouffon ballet.
This year, David will be up a few days (YAY), and Cecily will be with me the entire festival. She is an absolute force. She always has energy and poise—it’s kind of remarkable. And she is the world’s best advocate and cheerleader. I already know she is going to be there for this pep-talks when I’m tired or nervous or having a bad day.
Tell us about your show.
BANGTAIL is a co-creation between Cecily and myself. It all began when I saw TROLL, the Norwegian clown show Cecily directed at fringe last year. I was just about to move to London from the US and was looking for a collaborator. So I sent her an Instagram DM inviting her to a gig and for a glass of Malbec.
During the drinks, I pulled out my notebook and pitched her the idea for BANGTAIL: a cowboy accountant. I told her about my dad, a Midwestern accountant, and about watching westerns with him as a girl.
It’s so crazy thinking now to our first few weeks of rehearsal—we didn’t know each other at all, but we got right to work on this show. The cowboy stuff all came pretty naturally. We watched some westerns and could see quite easily how to have fun with the movements and characters. The other bits took a lot more time. There are probably a hundred versions of the show out in the world that we created but never stuck with. We once had a version of the show where the main character stops being a cowboy to build the Empire State Building.
Though this is atypical for us both, most of our studio rehearsals were dedicated to talking about men, ideas around purpose, our fathers. Most of the real rehearsal work took place at gigs around London, where we would try 5-10 minute cuts of the show, basically various games at a time, for live audiences. I think I’ve done maybe 60-75 gigs where I’ve tested and refined BANGTAIL material. It’s a really long and delicate process, but it has been a real joy and helped me get to know so many comedy people in London.
We’ve toured the show in the US (NYC, Minneapolis, and Chicago) and are hoping to go back there post Ed Fringe! We would really love to go to LA this time, too! We have also performed at various festivals around the UK including Leicester, Brighton, and Peckham. We are finishing up previews in London over the next month or so with stops at SOHO, 7 Dials, and The Pleasance London. Right before Ed Fringe, we do a night at Creatures Comedy Festival in Manchester.
Post Ed, we’d love to do a more official UK tour. We did a few one-off nights in various cities this spring, but I’d love to settle down in a city for a week or so. More London dates! And the Australian fringes would be absolutely amazing!! Let’s see!!
What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?
So, so many!!!
Tom Fox: Frankenstein on a Budget
Piotr: Furiozo
TROLL
Rosalie Minnit: Clementine
Ozzy Algar: Speed Queen
Sophie Duker: But Daddy I Lover Her
Posey Mehta: Big Fat Cabaret
Luke Rollason: Let your hair down
Derek Mitchell: Goblin AND Double Dutch
Alex Franklin
Lorna Rose Treen: Skin Pigeon
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