EdFringe Talk: Guy Masterson: Love and Canine Integration

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“I’ve learned from stepping into live theatre again and from performing at NZ Fringe how important it is to allow yourself an authentic connection, to let flow ‘off script’ so that the reaction and response is for you as much as for audience sharing with you.”

WHO: Milly Moon

WHAT: “Once upon a time, she walked the length of Aotearoa New Zealand. To scream at the ocean, to sing at the trees, to curse the effing supplejack vine. She walked to process grief, to know alone, to remember home. While she walked, she sang. In an intimate performance of story and songs for wandering feet, Moon’s retelling of walking Te Araroa hiking trail, celebrates the power of voice, body, and being shit scared but doing it anyway. Moon’s unique and raw performance style engages audiences to embrace story, in sometimes uncomfortably intimate, sometimes darkly explosive performances.”

WHERE: Greenside @ Nicolson Square – Fern Studio (Venue 209) 

WHEN: 14:00 (55 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

It certainly is! This is my first time producing and performing my own show which I presented in Feb at NZ Fringe and had sooo much fun I decided to add Edinburgh Fringe into my UK trip! I think what I’m finding particularly special and inspiring about this festival is how incredibly diverse the works on offer are. I come form a music background and diving into the Fringe world is already opening a sense of possibility and creative expansion, it’s very exciting!.

What are the big things you’ve learned since 2022 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?

ooo ee! Huge lessons learned in 2022 as an artist and a human navigating the world! I feel the last couple of years I’ve been in constant ‘absorption’ from lessons born from the experience that inspired Walking Songs, and in continuing to develop in different directions, I’m solidifying, breaking down and re-learning these lessons again and again. The most poignant developments have been in discussion of the themes of this body of work with audience and those willing to share story in return with me, connecting in their own way with things like the idea of home as a sense, that everything falls apart and that it’s never too late to start again.

I’ve learned from stepping into live theatre again and from performing at NZ Fringe how important it is to allow yourself an authentic connection, to let flow ‘off script’ so that the reaction and response is for you as much as for audience sharing with you. It is vital to find honestly in the art I’m offering and that magic that happens when I’m telling story with my own voice, is why I’m doing this.

Tell us about your show.

Walking Songs is written, produced, marketed, performed and all the rest of it, by little old me! I make the props, write the music, tell the stories and am taking it through 3 Fringe Festivals by my sweet self.

I spent almost 5months walking the length of my homeland – Aotearoa New Zealand – to heal from trauma, loss and attempt to re-find a sense of home. While doing do, along with screaming at ocean and bush, I wrote. On the other side of the walk, I put these writings together, wanting to tell the story, share the music and connect with those on their own healing journeys.

Walking Songs premiered at NZ Fringe in Feb this year and will go to Melbourne Fringe in October. With my background in Music, I have already started recording the songs and stories and will be releasing these as an album in the near future along with other developments of the work. I’m excited to move this in many creative and connected directions!

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

There are soooo many incredible acts at the Fringe – I’m almost overwhelmed exploring what I’M going to see!!

If you enjoy elements of what Walking Songs has to offer – music, solo, adventure and nature connection, I think the ‘intimate sound experience’ 1000 Miniature Meadows is offering might be of interest – I sure can’t wait to immerse in this thoughtful exploration!

Bronwyn Claire Asha is performing a new show called ‘As I Roved Out’ and if her previous work is anything to go by – this will be extraordinary! An enchanting storyteller and talented multi-instrumentalist, As I Roved Out is certainly for those looking for story and song for wandering feet and heart.

My fellow Greenside performers have a huge variety of music, solo acts, and female representing pieces – I love the sound of Charlotte Grimmer’s ‘Initial Consult’, a comedian from my part of the world, I imagine comedy from Australia with a musical twist can only be HEAPS of fun!

Also set in Australia but digging into a much darker story, Shaddows Of Angels would be my pick for something to challenge and provoke as a female lead theatre piece. I’m also very excited to see Alison’s Skilbeck’s Uncommon Ground, Queen Mary Theatre Company’s ‘All the Glorious Moments In Between’, Oor Theatre’s ‘Singing Sands and By the Moon’s ‘Be Home Soon’ which look at themes I have been exploring with Walking Songs, of home, loss, grief and a transience that can deepen an understanding of ourselves and our world.

There are just so many incredible offerings – go Fill Yer Boots!

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