“As a performer it’s really easy to get bogged down in audition drought and imposter syndrome. What the Fringe gave to me was autonomy over my career, the opportunity to build connections with brilliant creatives and develop appreciation for the variety of roles that span the arts.”
WHO: Issy Wroe Wright
WHAT: “The Chortle Award 2023 finalists bring you their glittery comedy cabaret of unbridled fun! The comedy quartet delivers their self-penned songs celebrating sex and sisterhood in a bra-burning evening of mischief. The powerhouse vocalists will take you on an X-rated ride with riotous anthems that are as wide-ranging as their dating escapades; from the plight of online pornography to the perils of flat-pack furniture. Expect big voices and bold statements in a sparkly spectacle filled with hilarity and full-frontal vulgarity. ‘Truly remarkable!’ ***** (BroadwayWorld.com). ‘Fierce, intoxicating and gloriously indecorous’ (Chortle.co.uk).”
WHERE: Pleasance Dome – QueenDome (Venue 23)
WHEN: 21:50 (60 min)
MORE: Click Here!
Is this your first time to Edinburgh?
This will be Flat & the Curves first full month up at the Fringe. We performed a short 2-week run last year at The Stand. At the time we had no idea what to expect; luckily we got brilliant feedback and some of our comedy idols even ended up in our audience; Dillie Keane of Fascinating Aida (a huge influence for us) and comedy legend, Stewart Lee, even gave us a shout out at the end of his show. That’s the beauty of the Fringe, it helps to even out the playing field and that’s a huge part of why we’re going again this year!
As a producer/performer, this is not my first rodeo. I’ve been a Fringe devotee since 2015, when I brought my first show, Shit-Faced Showtime. I was straight out of drama school, incredibly naïve and inexperienced. With help from (what was then) Magnificent Bastard Productions (Shit-Faced Shakespeare), the musical sister-show, went from strength to strength, 8 years down the line, the show play’s in the West-End at The Leicester Square Theatre during their Christmas Season. The Fringe is beautiful for what it does for creatives who don’t fit a particular commercial mold.
To me, the Fringe signifies a freedom to be creative. As a performer it’s really easy to get bogged down in audition drought and imposter syndrome. What the Fringe gave to me was autonomy over my career, the opportunity to build connections with brilliant creatives and develop appreciation for the variety of roles that span the arts. That’s the plus side, I can’t deny the elephant in the room when it comes to the cost of taking a show up there. Flat & the Curves are only able to make it up this year with the help of outside funding, Leicester Square Theatre providing sponsorship alongside the Keep it Fringe Fund. It’s important that bigger more financially stable companies continue to lift up the emerging ones, that’s what’s going to keep the Fringe alive.
What are the big things you’ve learned since 2022 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?
Since the last day of the Fringe last year we’ve been planning our show for this year…almost obsessively. We learnt last year that we needed a much bigger run up to the Fringe. We’ve organised our flyers, our press and most importantly, accommodation, much further ahead than we did last year. The main thing I find is to keep a cool head; there is so much stimulus when you’re there that worrying about these things on the ground is just a hindrance. Other more trivial things we’ve planned ahead: Sleepover rota’s, to negate the politics of pals kipping on your sofa and packing a receptacle for what we (in the professional world of drinking) affectionately call ‘journey juice’ i.e. on-the-go booze to save money in bars. Pack a hip flask and ear plugs and you’ll have a ball.
Tell us about your show.
Flat & the Curves is a 4-part comedy girl-group that formed 3 years ago. All 4 of us had worked together across cabaret, function-bands and musical comedy; Our fabulous fire-head Katy Baker headed a previous iteration, the award winning comedy group, ‘Four Femmes on the Thames’, our resident little weirdo, Charlotte Brooke was writing her own comedy and was a best newcomer at the Musical Comedy Awards, the fabulous Arabella Rodrigo was a hugely in demand session singer/West End performer and myself, Issy Wroe Wright busy putting my liver through the ringer, producing and performing in Shit-Faced Showtime.
Our plan was to write original comedy music that not only hit the tone comedically, but also sounded and looked like a professional girl band. Our show is a gig-style musical show that explores the modern-day female experience. Our shows are a cabaret of unbridled fun. As classically trained musicians and singers, we’ll sing anything, from Operetta to Euro-pop and all done dressed tit-to-toe in sequins.
When we were coming up with the concept for this show (we’re all involved in the writing and direction), we had been discussing the word ‘diva’ and its negative connotation in describing assertive women. ‘Divadom’ is about taking ownership of patriarchal labels. We took inspiration from the musical diva’s we admire, operatic prima donnas, 90’s brit-pop girl bands or 80’s rock goddesses, writing songs that emulate their music and then putting in a funny feminist twist. We’ve been described in the past as, ‘Fascinating Aida, meets the Inbetweeners, meets the Spice Girls’, which I think is quite fitting. Our show is uniquely different from most things you might see at the Fringe, it’s a late night uplifting party that will send you out into the evening in a fabulous mood.
What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?
My main tip is to go and see things you wouldn’t usually be able to see in your hometown. My personal hot-tips are Lorna Rose-Treen (Taking her show ‘Skin Pigeon’). I recently saw a snippet of John Tothill’s show, ‘The Last Living Libertine’ which made me howl (@johntothill). If we’re talking about musical comedy, I’m really excited about seeing Rosie Sings show about her priceless vagina (@MyVspriceless).
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