“I love inventive and creative theatre and this was done with such enthusiasm I enjoyed it every time and can remember it vividly at a distance of over 40 years.”
WHO: Adrian Palmer
WHAT: “I never met a man I so disliked and yet I can’t describe him. A fusion of storytelling and a one-person show. An intense hour-long dramatic narrative, adapted and performed by Adrian Palmer in a version as close as possible to the timeless literary masterpiece of Edinburgh’s own Robert Louis Stevenson. The original Victorian melodrama of Gothic suspense and horror on the nature of evil and the hypocrisy of a male dominated society. ‘An expressively superb Adrian Palmer held the audience spellbound.’ (Southern Daily Echo).”
WHERE: Paradise in Augustines – The Snug (Venue 117)
WHEN: VARIES (55 min)
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Is this your first time to Edinburgh?
I have performed at the Edinburgh Fringe on two previous occasions. First in 1980 in a production of Harold Pinter’s – The Caretaker and then in 2016 in an adaptation of Franz Kafka’s – The Trial. It’s a really special experience. Fringe audiences tend to be knowledgeable about and interested in theatre and very supportive.
It’s a great experience as either a punter or performer. Memories of my first visit include dancing drunkenly with a group of friends on top of a phone box and going to see again and again a performance by Loughborough University students of a devised piece called E=MC2. Looking back it was what people call ‘A level drama’ but I’m a sucker for that type of thing. I love inventive and creative theatre and this was done with such enthusiasm I enjoyed it every time and can remember it vividly at a distance of over 40 years.
What are the big things you’ve learned since 2023 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?
I wasn’t at the Fringe in 2023 but I have learnt over the years I have been performing my own adaptations and writing that it’s very satisfying to think small. My venue which is The Snug in Paradise in Augustine’s seats 35 people when full – which I hope it will be – and my performances are at lunchtime. There’s not a lot of technical wizardry, just me acting my little socks off and I hope my two pieces will appeal to audiences looking for something intimate, thought provoking and entertaining in the middle of the day.
Tell us about your show.
It’s two storytelling adaptations of great pieces of literature from the nineteenth century.
It’s more or less a one person venture for me but with a lot of personal support from friends. I run the company, devise the shows and manage myself. I don’t always do what I tell myself to do though. My friends have supported me in getting venues for my performances and helping me sell the tickets and running the shows and doing the marketing.
I have performed Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde many times. I had a week long run at The Theatre Anglais in Southern France and the performances really helped to develop the show and get it running smoothly. I have also performed it at a number of small scale venues – in a church in Wilmslow, in a restaurant in Stockport and online in aid of Macmillan cancer research.
My first performance of this incarnation of The Three Strangers will be a preview at Feed General Store in Heaton Chapel, Manchester on 27th June 2024. I haven’t got any performances booked in after August for either show yet but hoping to get some through my presence at The Edinburgh Fringe this year. There’s a lot of work goes into developing the work and once it’s done I keep it in my repertoire. I would love to take either of them abroad and am looking at International Festival opportunities.
My next big project will be a revival of my own adaptation of A Christmas Carol in December which is on the back burner at the moment but I am looking for a characterful Victorian restaurant or church, probably in the Manchester area where I can put on a ten day or two week run just before Christmas.
What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?
Talk to people you meet – Edinburgh is a very friendly city – they will tell you what is good and they will probably be right.
The big buzz when I went to the Fringe in 2016 was ‘Counting Sheep’ a Ukrainian immersive piece of folk opera and multi media which was great. The audience ate at a wedding, danced, stoned the police, wept at a funeral and finally joined the army. A Great Show. And how prophetic it proved to be.
Go small, take a chance, see as many shows as you can. Sometimes the big and hyped shows disappoint but the small stuff will blow you away.
I will definitely be planning to see shows that are working in a similar field to my own – literary adaptations, storytelling, one person shows. The following browse through the programme look interesting for a start but I will be wandering about and trying to see as many varied things as possible.
Shows I will be seeing:
• Under Milk Wood
• Don Quixote
• Sherlock Holmes – The Last Act
• One Man Poe
• A Montage of Monet
• Gulliver’s Travels
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