“I fell in love with Edinburgh and with the Scots. You’re so friendly and so much fun!”

WHO: Sandy Bruns, Co-Producer

WHAT: “Few bodies of musical work rouse, seduce and are of such solace as that of the great Leonard Cohen. Stewart D’Arrietta’s musical interpretations are gutsy and arresting, and the stories he tells add an intimate insight into Cohen’s life and motivations. The six-piece band perform 15 songs including the heartrending Suzanne, the iconic Tower of Song, the desperately seductive I’m Your Man, the rousing Hallelujah, plus more.”

WHERE: Assembly Hall (Venue 35)

WHEN: 18:15 (75 min)

MORE: Click Here!

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Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

We came last year with Lennon Through A Glass Onion and I fell in love with Edinburgh and with the Scots. You’re so friendly and so much fun!

I spent the days out ‘flyering’ which enabled me to interact with loads of great people. I also got to see 29 shows, all of which were good in their own way, and many of which were absolutely FANTASTIC!

Tell us about your show.

Stewart D’Arrietta wrote the show and is the lead performer. This is a showcase of Stewart’s many talents.

His great love is playing with other talented musicians, and he’s been doing so for a long time with various shows and many bands. Other musos like working with him too. The great energy they have together on stage is palpable. His musician mates back home in Sydney love working with Stewie, so he was able to bring some of our best with him. We’ve picked up two local musicians too.

The high cost of bringing 5 people all the way from Australia and housing everyone means we will probably struggle to cover costs. Because of this, we decided to fund ourselves rather than have anyone else tproduce us. Hopefully it will pay off.

We played to a full house and standing ovation at the Canberra Festival, and our brief Australian tour was extremely well received too.

Provided you like us in Edinburgh, we plan to do a UK run next year…

What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?

We are looking forward to seeing Deeptime, the sound and light extravaganza projected onto the magnificent Edinburgh Castle. I think it will be an extraordinary moving, historically rich experience. We lack that sense of history back home.

On a lighter note and for side splitting laughs, I recommend seeing the Irish born Australain comedian, Jimeoin. He is hilarious!

POST-FRINGE ’16 UPDATE 

What’s the one thing you wish you’d done this year (that you didn’t do, or didn’t do earlier), and what’s the first thing you’re going to remember for next time?

We loved our flat, but next year we will ask for one on the ground floor, or one flight up at the most. We don’t mind stairs; but lugging our equipment up and down was challenging/ exhausting.

Best thing we did early in the piece was get a 4 week Lothian bus pass. So good to be able to hop on and off buses at whim.

Who outside your company did the most to make your Fringe? What did they do for you? Did you know them before the Edinburgh Festivals ’16?

Our mates at the Wash Bar next door to the Assembly Hall made us feel so welcome, like last year.

The Assembly staff, particularly those in the reception at the Press office were also very friendly and nice to us. And our stage managers were amazing, getting all our stuff on and off stage in record time. With a smile!

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