“Work happens in the quiet hours. When there is no one around. When it is you and a piece of paper or when you are trying to devise work or sharpen lines.”
WHO: Anu Vaidyanathan
WHAT: “BC:AD (Before Children, After Diapers) is a stand-up comedy show and one mad, mommy’s take on how the definitions of words change before and during motherhood. Through a number of stories from before she had children and after she changed loads of diapers, survived the institution called marriage and then found herself amidst two short roommates who insist on calling her ‘mom’, Anu paints a peripatetic picture of the life and times of a comedian, filmmaker and sometime engineer who loves endurance sports, including parenting.”
WHERE: Gilded Balloon Patter House – The Penny (Venue 24)
WHEN: 15:40 (60 min)
MORE: Click Here!
Is this your first time to Edinburgh?
This will be my third year in Edinburgh. I came there for the first time in 2022. I had eight months of standup experience and a world-view bar none. I thought Scotland was sunny and that the Fringe had 4 venues and 400 artists. I was off by a few orders of magnitude! The Fringe is special to me because I learned very quickly what it means to be an artist and the role of the audience in our lives. It’s the audiences who make the Fringe so special. The festival is also great because of the variety of acts that converge from all parts of the world. I think this festival is a lot of work for those with more modest means. Being self-produced comes with a lot of weight but, it is also an opportunity to fast-track learning to tackle it all with grace and fortitude.
What are the big things you’ve learned since 2023 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?
Since 2023, the biggest learning for me is that the work happens in the quiet hours. When there is no one around. When it is you and a piece of paper or when you are trying to devise work or sharpen lines. That time needs to be protected. And non-negotiably so. I took three months off to write in the winter and also took the month of June to only write and re-write. I think that was a great change of pace as opposed to how I did things in 2022 and 2023 with a lot of previews and travel.
Tell us about your show.
BC:AD – Before Children, After Diapers, is my love-letter to motherhood and parents who see that children are alchemists. I don’t think I would have ventured into the arts if not for my kids. I wrote it because of many experiences through two pregnancies and thereon. We have no company to speak of. Just me and after three years, my intrepid production assistant, Saffy, who is a gem. This premiered in Edinburgh in 2022 and went on tour immediately afterward. I had no idea how live performances worked, caught and maintained momentum or what translated. I think the biggest learning was that when I am true to my voice, people do lean in and listen. I was really thrilled with this discovery. I am bringing it back this year following an offer of publication from Westland books. My brilliant editor Karthika, with whom I worked with at Harper Collins when writing my sports memoir, is someone I have been dying to work with again. So, when she said yes, I said ‘of course’. We will be touring this show in the UK, Europe and North America in the coming months.
What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?
I love the work-ethic of Ania Magliano, who is amongst the first comedians I ran into on my debut set in London as a standup comic. Her shows are funny and I learn a lot by watching her work. I have recently discovered the work of Chloe Petts, whom I also love. Her radio work is also very very funny and intelligent. I am also curious to see what Stuart McPherson, Jin Has Li, Catherine Bohart, Kiri Pritchard Mc-Lean, Paul Foot, Andrew O’Neill, Simon Munnery and Chloe Radcliffe are unto this year.
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