Author Archives: Dan Lentell

EdFringe Talk: Amusements by Ikechukwu Ufomadu

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“I haven’t before or since been in an environment where so many different styles of live performance could all be found in the same city and at the same time.”

WHO: Ikechukwu Ufomadu

WHAT: “Winner: Vulture’s Comedians You Should Know (2022). Winner: Drama Desk Award (2018). The Emmy-nominated actor and ‘gentleman-scholar of alt-comedy’ (Vulture, New York Magazine) makes his Edinburgh debut with a waggishly absurd exploration of such vital topics as ‘The Alphabet’ and ‘Counting’. He can be seen in the Oscar-nominated film, Judas and the Black Messiah, Los Espookys (HBO), Three Busy Debras, Joe Pera Talks To You (Adult Swim) and has written for Ziwe (Showtime). ‘You don’t want to miss him before he becomes a household name’ (Time Out New York).”

WHERE: Pleasance Courtyard – Bunker Two (Venue 33) 

WHEN: 17:40 (60 min)

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Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

In 2015, I was cast in this very trippy, work-in-progress, comedy-variety show that did a run in Edinburgh as part of its development. The city and the festival made such an impression on me that I’ve always wanted to return with a show of my own. Now, eight years later, I’m thrilled to be able to check that off my life’s to-do list. I haven’t before or since been in an environment where so many different styles of live performance could all be found in the same city and at the same time. While I’m very much looking forward to doing my show, I’m just as excited to see and be inspired by projects I wouldn’t normally come across in my corner of the comedy world in New York.

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

The biggest thing I’ve learned is that my brain is like a sieve, unable to hold onto lessons I’ve learned for any significant amount of time. To work around this, I must constantly put myself in situations that force me to re-learn the lessons I swore I’d never forget. This is a lesson I learned in the course of answering this very question, as my first pass at it consisted of a list of lessons that were technically learned in 2022, but only because I had forgotten them at some point prior to 2022.

Tell us about your show.

“Amusements by Ikechukwu Ufomadu” is crafted from bits and material I’ve been working on at comedy shows over the past several years. This run in Edinburgh is being produced by Stamptown, helmed by Zach Zucker, and I couldn’t be more excited to be working with them. Since venues began opening up post-quarantine, Stamptown’s variety show has been one of the more consistent shows I’ve performed on, both in New York and LA, and it’s what’s colloquially referred to as “a blast”. I can always count on being completely surprised (in a good way) by some act or bit at some point during the show. Post-Fringe,

“Amusements” will have an off-Broadway run at Playwrights Horizons that kicks off in November.

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

I heartily recommend seeing Larry Owens in Larry Owens Live. His vocal chops combined with his comic sensibilities will leave you both in awe and in stitches, which is a rare combination of feelings to feel at one show. I can’t even fully pin down what makes Ruby McCollister so entertaining to watch, but I always find myself in a haze of delight after seeing her perform, so I’d advise the reader to see her show Tragedy. Martin Urbano’s Apology Comeback Show is another must-see. Such a razor sharp comic mind that’s able to make jokes in territory that would eat other comics alive. I always bust a gut when I see Patti Harrison work, so if you need a guaranteed gut-busting, make your way there. I’m also quite intrigued by Moses Storm’s Perfect Cult which promises to create, with the audience, a new cult nightly. I’m always a fan of projects that feel like a high-concept gambit.

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EdFringe Talk: June

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“Seeing everyone on their A game promoting and performing their shows last year was a joy and we can’t wait to see what comes this year!”

WHO: Maddie Hurley

WHAT: “Billy is an ex-drag queen trying to reclaim past glory. He launches a desperate attempt to do one final performance and connect to his past, even as it tests his relationships and makes him question everything he believes in. This one-man show takes a deep dive into drag, platonic intimacy and disability. Nominated for Best Writing, Best Show, and Best Lead Actor at the Durham Drama Festival 2023.”

WHERE: Greenside @ Infirmary Street – Ivy Studio (Venue 236) 

WHEN: 12:30 (60 min)

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Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

It’s the first Edinburgh Fringe for our brilliant writer Shehrzadae, along with half of our prod team. However, our director, Maddie Hurley, and lead actor, Stephen Ledger, brought a show to our same venue (Greenside, Infirmary Street) last year. The show was called Cottage. That was our first taste of the festival and taught us a lot about the process of putting on a play in such a supportive, but also saturated environment.

We loved how alive the whole city felt, with theatre going on on practically every street and corner. However, that density of opportunities to see great theatre also taught us the importance of standing out as a show. Seeing everyone on their A game promoting and performing their shows last year was a joy and we can’t wait to see what comes this year!

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

To make sure you and your team are being kind to each other and yourselves. Especially for young creatives with less experience it is easy to set impossibly high expectations for Fringe, and get upset when they aren’t lived up to.

Tell us about your show.

June premiered during the Durham Drama Festival in February 2023, with reviews praising the show for its evocative writing. We were strongly encouraged by industry professionals to take the show beyond Durham to realise its full potential. This led to the creation of our company, Gen Z Gender Collective, with the intention of spotlighting radical queer stories. After our run in Edinburgh, we will be taking the show to Theatre503 in London for two performances on the 8th and the 9th of September.

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

We love Das Weben, who’s our sister show in a way since we share some members of our team! They perform 4-19th (not 13th), at Greenside Infirmary St as well! We also love Potty the Plant and its brilliant and original puppetry. Joe Leather’s WASTEMAN is another on our to-watch list, as a fellow show about drag, but also because he’s performing in spite of a herniated disc. Love Prod’s Sing, River has caught our eye as a queer folk musical. Last but not least, we’re also really excited to see Cowboys and Lesbians!

For those looking for comedy, Sascha Lo is an amazing young comic and she’s doing a FREE show!

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EdFringe Talk: Let the Bodies Pile by Henry Naylor

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“2022 was a bit of an aberration. It was a very strange fringe.”

WHO: Henry Naylor

WHAT: “What connects two seemingly unrelated killings, 27 years apart? In 1993, Steve’s mother dies suddenly; can he trust GP Harold Shipman’s ‘Natural Causes’ diagnosis? And in 2020, when dozens die in a Yorkshire Care Home; is Covid responsible, or something more sinister? Three-time Fringe First winner Naylor has won over 45 major international fringe theatre awards, and currently holds the IFES World’s Best Fringe Theatre title. Bobby Award-winning, and Outstanding Theatre Award-winning (Brighton Fringe) actress Emily Carding stars, and it’s directed by the SoHo Playhouse (New York)’s Artistic Director, Darren Lee Cole.”

WHERE: Gilded Balloon Teviot – Dining Room (Venue 14) 

WHEN: 16:00 (60 min)

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Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

Wow. I think this is my 20th Edinburgh fringe, but I’ve really lost count.

The first production I ever did, was a school play called Aphrodite, written by our English teacher, back in the late eighties. Genuinely, it was one of the most fun things I’ve done in my life. There were nine of us in the cast, and for many it was the first time we’d ever been away from home. I remember drinking alcohol for the first time, getting drunk for the first time and losing my virginity… Beat that for a first Edinburgh fringe experience.

The show was less successful however. We were in a venue miles out of town, and one night we literally played to one man and his dog.

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

Not sure I learned too much from 2022. 2022 was a bit of an aberration. It was a very strange fringe. Very post-pandemic. I think last year many punters were still reluctant to sit inside crowded, sweaty rooms watching Fringe shows. Still concerned about catching Covid. Perhaps we got so used to sitting on the sofa watching box sets during the pandemic, that we had to relearn how to go out and watch live shows.

Tell us about your show.

This year’s show is called Let The Bodies Pile. I wrote it after meeting a care home nurse who told me horrific stories of conditions in the home during the Pandemic.

It was in between the two lockdowns, and she had PTSD. She’d been used to preparing one body-bag every couple of months, but suddenly, she found herself preparing five a day..
She was very honest about the mismanagement of the crisis on a governmental, institutional and personal level.

I’d never read accounts like hers in the press. Most of most of the press stories about the care homes during the pandemic were told from the perspective of the relatives of residents who’d died. I’d seen very little about the carers’ experience.

She explained that she felt that she couldn’t go to the press because if she did – and she was found out – she would lose her job. She asked me if I’d write this, but change the details so that she was unrecognisable.

I’ve obviously changed it and fictionalised it. But because of her input, the play has an authenticity, I believe, and rings true.

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

I saw Jack Doherty’s show last night, and loved it. Fabulous storytelling. It’s called ‘Jack Docherty in David Bowie and Me.’

Michelle Brasier’s show ‘Reform’ was great, too, about her grapples with a conman. Has a great voice and band, and the story’s fun.

Liz Cotton’s ‘Last Stand on Honey Hill’ is charming, and potty-mouthed, and deals with global environmental concerns on a micro-level. Lovely.

And Tom Crosbie’s ‘Actions Speak Louder Than Nerds,’ is astonishing. Does excellent Rubik’s cube tricks.

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EdFringe Talk: Lipote: An Interconnected Journey

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“You should be prepared to constantly change and edit any production to make it ready for a performing somewhere such as Fringe.”

WHO: Oliver Farrow

WHAT: “A new UV opera-musical told from the roots of trees about the impact of intensive agriculture on forest systems. Inspired by the ongoing problems surrounding deforestation and palm oil monoculture in Borneo, it tells the story of a rainforest as it struggles to find help in the soils around its home, after the root system suffers the effects of a devastating storm. Based on the research of anthropologists, scientists and naturalists into forests and plantations and written in collaboration with UK ecologists this show explores issues that are important and relevant to us all.”

WHERE: C ARTS | C venues | C aurora – main house (Venue 117) 

WHEN: 13:20 (60 min)

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Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

This is our first time performing at the Fringe and every member of our team is feeling excited, nervous and thrilled to be part of this global arts festival and to see other people’s work. The diversity on offer, makes more experimental shows such as ours fit well into the whole programme. We recently performed this work at Nozstock Festival 2023, which is predominantly a live and dance music festival. The audience there were great but certainly did not expect to be experiencing opera and we hope with our blend of subject matter, design and musical influences that me might also be able to capture the attention of some non opera goers in Edinburgh. We are also aware we will learn so much from being able to participate in this Festival and it will help to build and bond us as a company at such an early stage in our development.

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

In the last year we have worked hard on the piece and learnt that you should be prepared to constantly change and edit any production to make it ready for a performing somewhere such as Fringe. We have showcased the work to a couple of audiences to gather feedback and understand where we needed to make changes. We have also included the music of the talented Leon Trimble, an expert in all things modular synthesiser, who will be performing with a plant alongside the opera. We have learnt that this topic is ceaselessly relevant to all our lives, even though it seems disconnected from us, and we hope that we are doing it some justice in our show.

Tell us about your show.

This show was written by myself (composer Oliver Farrow) and librettist Roxanne Korda. We began working on it during lockdown in 2020 and have been slowly but steadily developing it since then, bringing Wanshu Li (designer) and Jingya Peng (choreographer) on board. Our company Shaky Crown Collective is a result of this collaboration, the name being taken from the first line of the script.

The show itself is an exploration of different types of forest systems. We have focused primarily on the impact of deforestation due to palm plantation in Borneo and other areas. The story is told by the roots of trees as they traverse different soils to find help outside of their home. The music is unique and eclectic with influences ranging from opera, to musical theatre, to pop, to world music. The set and costumes are all designed to work under black light (UV).

This show is really a one off and not like any “opera” you will have seen before.

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

A local company to us – RoguePlay – will also be performing a work about deforestation (although not from the perspective of the soil). They are a physical theatre circus who will be performing at C Venues as well.

I would also recommend Amy Webber’s stand up show No Previous Experience that is partly about having an opera degree which hasn’t yet been useful for her… I met her when she performed at The Glee Club in Birmingham last month.

We enjoyed seeing Lachlan Werner – Voices Of Evil at Nozstock Festival last month, and recommend their high energy and absurd.

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EdFringe Talk: Who Walks This Path

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image of event

“Our connections with each other need to be strong and central.”

WHO: Elspeth Furini

WHAT: “Interactive storytelling with audience participation and improvisation about loss, community, our human need for connection, and the pain and humour of the journey. We tell the story accompanied by music and song, teaching several songs to “the village” audience. Our songs spring from our deep work engaging with communities, supporting well-being and positive mental health through song. Our show is an intimate gathering together to weave laughter and soul work through the old ways of music and story. Have fun, sing and walk this path with us!”

WHERE: Greenside @ Nicolson Square – Fern Studio (Venue 117) 

WHEN: 11:45 (45 min)

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Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

It’s been 38 years since I Iast performed at the Edinburgh Fringe so it’s a long overdue return. A lot of life has happened since then but composing, singing and performing has been a constant creative outlet. Following two musicals that were performed at the Brighton Fringe in 2016 and 2018, I was determined to bring a show to Edfringe. We’ve been here a couple of days and it’s clear the Fringe experience is very different from the mid-1980s….bigger, busier, more produced, slicker, but the excitement and buzz feels very similar. It really is great to be back here and taking part. We just hope we can get people to come and see the show!

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

I’ve learned to slow down and keep things simple. The value and joy of connecting with people and sharing our common humanity is something I think we were all reminded of over the pandemic. It was especially true for me in my work as choir leader for Cascade Recovery Choir in Brighton supporting people recovering from addiction. Our connections with each other need to be strong and central and our latest show deals with this through a simple story rooted in universal themes and archetypes, backed with original music and song.

Tell us about your show.

The show has grown from a song I wrote which the show is named after, Who Walks This Path, that was a central part of my work with the recovery choir during lockdown. It’s a song about our feelings of loneliness and isolation that make us feel cut off from each other, while all the time there are people waiting to support us and walk with us, who share the path we walk on. It’s about not being alone if we can reach out and if we allow ourselves to be seen.

The song has been performed many times by the choir and I have run workshops on it with community groups and for International Women’s Day at the Brighton Dome.

Around this song the story of a young woman emerged who had to face loss and suffering and find a way of being in the world. We tell the story with a number of songs exploring the same themes which I have written over the last few years. All the music is acoustic and unplugged. There is something simple and direct and intimate in this medium that brings us closer to our audience. The Fern Studio at Greenside at Nicholson Square adds to this intimacy. And did I mention the audience joins in with the singing? We teach the show’s title song at the beginning of the performance. It’s about all of us being connected.

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

This is a tough question as we’ve only just arrived so haven’t seen many shows yet. We saw Dirty Words today at The Pleasance which I’d definitely recommend seeing. It touches on some of the same themes as our show, as well as looking at how language is used to create divisions and control. There are great looking shows at our shared venue too. We’re looking forward to seeing Torch Ensemble’s The Climate Fables as it combines fairytale, storytelling and possible end of the world scenario, so big important themes there!

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EdFringe Talk: The Easy Rollers: Drop Me Off in Harlem

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“The arts is still recovering from the last few years. It’s almost like starting again and the one thing that will build up momentum is supporting other artists.”

WHO: Dani

WHAT: “Taking you back to the golden age of jazz, The Easy Rollers are a roaring seven-piece jazz outfit performing hits from the speakeasy bars of the Prohibition era and beyond. Expect theatrical interludes, raucous showstoppers and some of the finest jazz this side of the Atlantic! ‘A slick, tightly choreographed hour of sizzling speakeasy from a melodious young septet’ (FringeReview.co.uk).”

WHERE: The Jazz Bar – Partially Seated (Venue 117) 

WHEN: 16:00 (60 min)

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Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

We came to Edinburgh in 2017 for our first fringe! We had no idea what to expect because our band had been based in Manchester and nobody knew us in Scotland. We did ONE show. That was it… and it sold out! So every year we have developed the show and added more nights. The show has really turned into something special and if you’ve followed us on the journey, you’ll know what I mean!

We love the community around fringe as artists and particularly at The Jazz Bar as a venue hub. The space is perfect for the music we play and so we love coming back every year. We are thrilled to be back this year 21, 22, 23 and 24 August at 4PM.

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

2022 was a great year for us at Fringe. We did 7 shows..! One thing we learnt is that accommodation is expensive..!

But in all seriousness, we have learnt that the arts is still recovering from the last few years. It’s almost like starting again and the one thing that will build up momentum is supporting other artists. The community from last year was like no other. It was reassuring hearing everyone’s stories and to know we have all experienced such similar things being in the arts during this time.

On a more positive note: As a band, we have learnt that this show is getting too big for us! In all the best ways! We have definitely absorbed this one! We have expanded the show to a 2 act cabaret which is being toured this October in Theatres and Concert Halls… more about that later.

So the big one for us is that now we are looking for producers to take us on and help us manage the show as it keeps growing. We never imagined the show would get to this stage and we are so grateful for everyone who has joined us on the way and supported us. If you want to know more about the extended show, head to our website. And if you’re a producer, please come and say hi after the show! We’d love to meet you!

Tell us about your show.

Our show is musical and theatrical journey through the Prohibition era into the Swing Era. The music is the main focus, and how could it not be with seven award winning musicians, but we have threaded it together with skits and theatrical interludes about the culture, music and happenings of the time presented in a fun and engaging way. Excellent music and slightly educational… almost.

We are 100% self produced. Alex Hill and I manage the band and produce the shows as well as create the concepts and write the script. We have an amazing band who, especially in the last few years have become really involved in the show, offering incredible inputs to song arrangements and script suggestions. It has really developed and changed every year since 2017.

Not often do you see the band members get involved with the script..! We have grown this over the years and it’s so great to have a full ‘cast’ in the band. This year as well, we have worked with a text and vocal coach called Anne Whitaker. She has given us tips on how to use our voices in the space and different tools to deliver text. Often if you have an instrument in front of you, you won’t need to speak on stage so this has been extremely vital in the progress of the show.

The last time we interviewed here, we mentioned wanting to take the show on tour… and now we ARE! Later this year we are heading to London, Wells, Newcastle, Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham, Cheshire, Norwich and Marsden to present our extended 2 act show!! You can head to our website to get tickets, see dates, venues and more details. You’re not going to want to miss it, ol’ sports!

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

My Best Judys is happening at Zoo Southside Main House. It is a glamorous night of beautiful singing and celebration of all music Judy. The venue is great and it’s the show’s first time in Edinburgh! Go check it out for sure if you like Judy Garland and tunes by Gershwin, Arlen and more. The musical era slightly after The Easy Rollers.

If you want to stay in this jazz world, but go even further back in time, we highly recommend Tenement Jazz who play at The Jazz Bar. We see these guys every year and think they are great. One day we will have to do a show with them… dream gig. Go see them.

We also recommend Garry Star. He is one of our faves. VERY different to our show’s world but we go every year. Great physical comedy… very physical.

Amy Webber is another comedian we would highly recommend. She incorporates her music background with her stand up and we think she is hilarious.

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EdFringe Talk: ARRAN BIRKS: TRUTH HURTS

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“That all sounds very self-important. Maybe I just need a pedestal.”

WHO: Arran Birks

WHAT: “I’m a liar. You’re a liar. We’re all liars. But why? On a mission to find out is solo comedian Arran Birks. During the show, Birks breaks down the woes of his ex-corporate job, faces the fears of his health issues, and encounters a lie detector that fights back. Formerly of the Oxford Revue, Arran Birks gets honest about being dishonest.”

WHERE: Strathmore Bar (Venue 160) 

WHEN: 12:40 (60 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

This is my fifth time in Edinburgh, fourth time as a visitor to family, third time at the fringe, second time as a performer (I performed with the Oxford Revue last year), first time as a solo performer. The fringe is a vital and comprehensive celebration of all things entertainment. I always get drawn back because while promotion and performing are overwhelmingly competitive, there doesn’t exist a better place to perform or watch comedy acts. In my opinion.

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

I put off trying to do a solo stand-up show for years because I thought I wasn’t ‘ready yet’. At the beginning of 2023, I gave in to the unexplainable insuppressible urge that the time for waiting was over and I should just do it. From this, I would think that a lesson 2022 taught me was that I should stop waiting for something to happen to me and go out and make it happen myself. But that all sounds very self-important. Maybe I just need a pedestal.

Tell us about your show.

My show ‘Arran Birks: Truth Hurts’ was entirely created and written by me. I haven’t premiered anything pre-Edinburgh – the festival shows will be the only shows. Unless someone likes it and wants me to perform in their garden or something. The process of making it took about seven months on-and-off, while I debated with myself whether it was a good idea. I eventually convinced myself I wanted to know what a stand-up set marred by an annoying lie detector would be like. Safe to say I am significantly bricking it.

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

My brother Fraser Birks is doing a show called ‘How to Prevent the AI Apocalypse’, which is through PBH’s Free Fringe, just like my show. His differs from mine in that his is a Science & Rationalism show, and those are a rare breed at the fringe. His show is well worth seeing for it being the perfect balance of informative, thought-provoking, & funny. We could all do well learning more about Artificial Intelligence!

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EdFringe Talk: Dazzling

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“I had my name plastered all around the city on a poster that said ‘Ugly Chicken Fisters’ in huge writing.”

WHO: Holly Sewell

WHAT: “Alix is in their mid-twenties and, at first sight, full of the joys of life with flatmate Jan. But the cracks quickly start to show, and they get wider, and darker. A relationship with a beautiful stranger frames six months of their life, triggering drastic career changes and relapses into depression and substance abuse. ‘Undoubtedly tragic… but so joyous in its raw depiction of emotion’ (TheTab.com), it’s a portrait of a modern, queer woman’s descent into despair. Dazzling premiered in March to a sold-out run in Cambridge. ‘A stunning production that I could not recommend enough’ ***** (TheTab.com).”

WHERE: theSpace @ Niddry St – Studio (Venue 9) 

WHEN: 13:10 (50 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

Yes! A few of the company members have been before, but it’s our first time taking a show up together. For me, it’s the first time I’ve even gone. I’ve been doing a Maths degree for the last three years, and didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do until I tried writing a play, completely impulsively, last summer. It was the best impulse I’ve ever had (and I have a LOT of them), and I entered it for a competition, which I didn’t expect anything to come of really. Since I thought it would never see the light of day, I called it ‘Ugly Chicken Fisters’. Funny, right? No – it ended up winning a week’s run at a student theatre, and I had my name plastered all around the city on a poster that said ‘Ugly Chicken Fisters’ in huge writing. Ridiculous.

The play we’re taking to the Fringe is a little less crassly named; Dazzling. It’s more personal, more intense, and much darker than the last one, and I’ve been lucky enough to have a team of some of the most genius people I’ve ever met working on it. It’s been so brilliant to have people who are more Fringe veterans than I am on the team. Without them, I think the make-or-break environment of Fringe, even just online, would feel terrifying and impossible to navigate.

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

In a classic move from someone who likes to write, I think I’ve tried to sum up the lessons I’ve learnt in the last year in the show! I’m sure everyone feels like this, but when I look at myself from the start of 2022, I see a pretty young and vulnerable person. Something I’m trying to work on is taking accountability in my relationships when things go wrong – definitely not totally sunk in yet, but it’s slowly getting better. The protagonist of our show, Alix, is the embodiment of someone who hasn’t learnt this yet. They’re utterly selfish, (again, something I’m trying to work on!), eventually to the detriment of themself and everyone around them. I always have to remind myself that being self-absorbed in an insecure/critical way is still being self-absorbed! There’s no point sitting around telling yourself you should be better. Try putting more energy into other people than yourself.

That being said, I’m very much a work-in-progress in all these ways – super clichéd to say, but it’s true. I’d love to think I’ll get to the point of totally absorbing all sorts of life mantras, but rewiring your brain is such a slow and painstaking process. Always good to give it a go, though!

Tell us about your show.

Dazzling is a solo show about love, art and addiction. I wrote it after a tumultuous year of relationships, and needed somewhere to put all the feelings I was having. It’s extremely intimate and emotionally intense – we’ve had quite a few people leave the show in tears. There’s a smattering of Fleabagesque humour (and a nod to Fleabag in the show), but it’s more dark than it is funny. Having got my friend to produce the last show I did, I decided it wasn’t worth the stress of finding a producer and produced the first run we had, which was just three nights in Cambridge. For Fringe, I’m really lucky to have found a fellow theatre-lover to help me with all the extra challenges producing for the Fringe brings. We’d love to go on tour to more places with it after Fringe, but for now we’re just working on one thing at a time.

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

Go and see something that’ll make you feel good – something different from ours, you’ll want the relief! Two shows I’m really excited about are Character Flaw, which is a show all about having ADHD (odds are you’ll relate if you’re spending a month at Fringe), and Meat Cute, which is all about a woman on a mission to turn her Tinder dates vegan, and which has already had a big shiny array of five-star reviews. If you’re on the look-out for something in the same vein as us, check out Lovesong Prods’ ‘Sing, River’ – it’s a queer folk musical, and looks visually absolutely stunning. Or if you’re at Fringe before us, check out Peach Productions’ Wishbone, all about a queer ex-couple in isolation together! Show lots of love for queer folk, POC folk, women, trans-led companies, disabled-led companies and any kind of marginalised voice you can come across in the deafening racket of Fringe. It’ll be wonderful and joyful and creative and you’ll have a better time the more different voices you get to hear.

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EdFringe Talk: 30 Minute Musicals: Top Gun

Posted in *Written Interviews, EdFestivals 2023 by

“You can have all the time in the world, you’re never quite ready.”

WHO: Brooke Seguin

WHAT: “30 Minute Musicals, direct from Hollywood, reports for duty with their fan favourite musical parody of quintessential homoerotic 80s film, Top Gun. Don’t miss singing and dancing fighter pilots flying high in the sky, steaming up the locker room and getting sweaty on the beach!”

WHERE: Assembly Checkpoint – Assembly Checkpoint (Venue 322) 

WHEN: 19:50 (55 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

This is our second time at Fringe with 30 Minute Musicals! Though some of our performers, IE Tom Lenk, have been many, many with multiple productions in the past: Tilda Swinton Answers an Ad on Craigslist and Lottie Plachett. Performers love to return to Fringe year after year because it’s so special. There’s such an explosion of art in Edinburgh during fringe! It’s addicting! Even though producing/performing at Fringe is incredibly hard, exhausting work, it all becomes worth it onstage when you have that connection with that audience.

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

Ha! Well, we initially tried to get back to fringe in 2020, 2021, AND 2022… Some of those years, it was obviously impossible. But, 2022, we just weren’t ready or recovered enough from “pandemic-times” to make it from the US to EdFringe!! What have I learned?? You can have all the time in the world, you’re never quite ready. Fringe is always a leap into the unknown and, no matter what, is always THRILLING!

Tell us about your show.

I am responsible for writing/directing the show. All of our performers: myself, Tom Lenk, Tommy Hobson, Brant Cox, JD Barton, Mark Jude Sullivan, and Nathan Frizzell with our trusty Los Angeles Stage Manager, Stephaine Boltjes, are responsible for production the show at Ed Fringe. The show was originally produced in LA back in 2012 and has undergone many iterations throughout the years. We brought it to Fringe in 2019 as a part of a roulette series where the audience picked the show they’d like to see that evening, between – Top Gun, Jurassic Park, and Die Hard. Jurassic Park won many nights. So, we brought Top Gun back to give the show it’s due.

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

I will definitely be seeing “Chris Grace: As Scarlett Johansson”! Chris is hysterical ALWAYS. I’ve been looking forward to his show. Baby Wants Candy – always great. Also, “Tim Murray is Witches” is a must see. I had the opportunity to catch “Blue” in LA, written by June Carryl, who will also be starring in this production with Assembly, and that show was stellar!!! Very thought provoking and impactful! Can’t wait to see it again here at Fringe. …. and I can never get enough Reuben Kaye. I’m still talking about things I’ve seen at The Kaye Hole years later. Very excited to share a venue with one of my favorites at Fringe!

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