+3 Interview: Rory O’Keeffe: The 37th Question

Posted in EdFestivals 2018, Plus 3 2018 – Features, Written Interviews by

“I got a job writing interactive story apps, which has inspired the style of this year’s show.”

WHO: Rory O’Keeffe, Writer/Performer

WHAT: “Stuart and Zoe meet for their first date and do ‘The 36 Questions’, a psychological experiment designed to make strangers fall in love. It works. Now, after four years as a couple, is it time for the next question? Thirty Six Questions. One couple. One interactive Choose Your Own Adventure-style story. Award-winning comedian Rory O’Keeffe makes his first foray into the pretentious comedy/theatre world of storytelling (or Rorytelling*).‘Thoughtful and self-aware’ **** (BroadwayBaby.com). ‘Comedy for a post-recession graduate generation’ **** (Fest). ‘Downright clever show’ **** (Edinburgh49.org). *He promises not to make this pun in the show.”

WHERE: Banshee Labyrinth – Cinema Room (Venue 156) 

WHEN: 13:20 (60 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

This is actually my 10th time in some form or another. I have been re-reading last year’s Edinburgh diary to get myself excited. Here is a sample entry (background info: my girlfriend is called Charlotte).

“Walked home disconsolate, bought parmesan, rang Charlotte, basically just complained at her which is unfair.”

So needless to say I am ABSOLUTELY. PUMPED. (for the parmesan).

What’s the biggest thing to have happened to you since Festivals ’17?

I got a job writing interactive story apps, which has inspired the style of this year’s show. The company make The X Factor Life and Love Island: The Game. They’re Choose Your Own Adventure style stories so you decide what happens and you choose your appearance and your name. Most people choose their own name but I like to mix things up and try to win Love Island as ‘Boris Johnson’ or ‘Stewart Lee’.

Tell us about your show.

‘The 37th Question’ is a comic storytelling show about a couple (Stuart and Zoe) who met doing ‘The 36 Questions’, a psychological experiment designed to make strangers become intimate. It’s about what happens 4 years later when they approach the ‘37th Question’. It’s about choices, jealousy, miscommunication, and has a lot of laughs if you are that way inclined. It’s also slightly interactive as the audience can choose which way the narrative goes at certain points, including choosing between a happy and sad ending.

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

Beard, Lazy Susan, The Pin if you’re into your sketch comedy. Matt Winning for a funny and insightful look at Climate Change. Kieran Hodgson for what sounds like a good Ted Heath impression (I will be Youtube-ing in advance to cross-reference). You should also check out the best novelist at the Fringe, Christopher Bliss. He writes two to three novels a day, which I think is really impressive actually.

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