“It is about time I came up to perform in the Fringe – and pretty shameful that I never have before!”
WHO: Monica Dolan, Tessa
WHAT: “Setting the modern obsession with putting your own child first against our responsibility as a society towards children as a whole, this dark tale, written by and starring BAFTA award-winning actress Monica Dolan (W1A, Appropriate Adult, The Witness For The Prosecution), explores how far one mum will go to give her child what she wants. A searing exploration of the pornification of our culture and the sexualisation of our children. Directed by John Hoggarth.”
WHERE: Underbelly, Cowgate (Venue 61)
WHEN: 18:00 (60 min)
MORE: Click Here!
Is this your first time to Edinburgh?
It’s my first time performing at the Edinburgh Fringe, but I have visited and performed in Edinburgh before at various theatres. I played Laura in The Glass Menagerie at the Edinburgh Lyceum in Polly Teale’s production nearly twenty years ago (one of my favourite jobs). It was over Christmas and New Year and a terrific time to be in the city. I also toured to the Traverse with a play called Sliding With Suzanne with Max Stafford-Clark and Out of Joint, and was in Edinburgh with Shared Experience’s Jane Eyre in 2006. So it is about time I came up to perform in the Fringe – and pretty shameful that I never have before!
Tell us about your show.
My solo show The B*easts is having its premiere at the Fringe. I wrote it and am also the sole performer but am lucky enough to have a supportive team around me. My producer is Suzanna Rosenthal for Something For The Weekend, and the show is directed by John Hoggarth and designed by James Button.
I had already written the show, and sent it to Suzanna who wanted to do it and around the same time I read it to John and James who I have known from other jobs for years, and who were keen to get on board with the piece too.
The show is about sexualisation of culture and specifically children, and is a storytelling piece. I haven’t thought beyond doing The B*easts at the Edinburgh Fringe, but am open to anything that comes from performing here, and the play has lately been published by Samuel French, so there will hopefully be a future for it with other performers too.
What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?
Showstoppers the Improvised Musical definitely – you will need it after my show! The Hero Who Overslept is a Gilded Balloon show about Climate Change that I think will be worth catching, also Education, Education, Education at the Pleasance Dome, and Richard Gadd: Monkey See, Monkey Do.
Comedy-wise: Sara Pascoe, Richard Herring, Reginald D Hunter, Focus On: Lola and Jo and Max and Ivan: The Reunion are some to aim to catch, I think.
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