Author Archives: Dan Lentell

EdFringe Talk: Lucy Porter: Wake-Up Call

Posted in *Written Interviews, EdFestivals 2022 by

“I think Edinburgh is a magical city anyway, and in August it’s even more special. I’ve seen hundreds of hours of live shows, lived in dozens of different flats, and eaten about a million baked potatoes from the Tempting Tattie on Jeffrey Street.”

WHO: Lucy Porter

WHAT: “A brand new stand-up show from the Fringe favourite. As heard on Radio 4’s The News Quiz and The Now Show. TV appearances include Would I Lie to You, QI and Live at the Apollo. Wake-Up Call is a show about revelations, realisations and epiphanies – both large and small. Subjects covered include: bin collection schedules, the novels of Jean Rhys, cats, school-fair booze tombolas, the Scottish Enlightenment, pressure washers and Huel. It’s an exuberant, silly show with some wisdom sprinkled on top.”

WHERE: Pleasance Courtyard – Forth (Venue 33) 

WHEN: 17:20 (60 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

I first came to Edinburgh to be a member of the Perrier Comedy Awards Panel in 1992, so this is my 30th anniversary of coming to the fringe! I didn’t realise it was such a momentous year for me until right now. My love affair with this festival is one of the longest relationships in my life. After losing my fringe virginity in 1992, I came back in later years as an assistant producer of the Perrier Awards, a TV scout, and finally as a comedian. I think Edinburgh is a magical city anyway, and in August it’s even more special. I’ve seen hundreds of hours of live shows, lived in dozens of different flats, and eaten about a million baked potatoes from the Tempting Tattie on Jeffrey Street. The best festivals are ones where the weather is not too rainy and not too hot – fringe venues are notoriously humid – and where there are lots of acts who are doing exciting, challenging work. I think that after a few years of being confined to quarters, performers this year will be more inclined to take risks and try new things, so I’m really looking forward to it.

What are the big things you’ve learned since 2019 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?

On the subject of lessons, I have learned that I could never be a teacher – having to home school my children was a very traumatic experience for me, my husband and the children. Mostly for the children I think. We coped in the end by just realising that my husband and I know nothing, and teaching the children some fun facts that their teachers will have to correct now that they’re back at school. We told them that Queen Victoria was Winston Churchill’s drag name, that Julius Caesar was famous for inventing salad dressing, and that mixing your parents a gin and tonic is a very important scientific experiment that must be done at least three times a day.

Tell us about your show.

Wake-Up Call is my favourite fringe show so far, because it’s incredibly personal and great fun. It’s based on all my experiences from the last few years, which are still quite raw, and hopefully audiences will relate to it. Although we all had vastly different experiences of early covid, lockdowns, and the weird period since, I think we’ve been united by common experiences in a way that I’ve never known in my 49 years on earth. The show is brand new for the festival, but I’ll be taking it on tour around the UK in 2023. It’s written by me, with some additional material by the brilliant writers Gabby Hutchinson Crouch and Mike Shephard. It’s being produced by the mighty Bound and Gagged, who are veterans at helping disorganised comedians like me get our shit together. It’s being publicised by the amazing Gaby Jerrard PR, who make sure that I do interviews like this one, and try to persuade reviewers to come and see the show. I’m incredibly grateful to all of them for their help.

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

I’m most excited about seeing Jordan Gray’s show “Is It a Bird?” At The Assembly George Square. I saw a little taster of her show last month and it was exceptional. She’s an all-round entertainer: she can sing, she can dance and she’s hilarious. To be honest, it’s a little bit unfair of her to be so brilliant.

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EdFringe Talk: SNORT

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“Go see all the Kiwi comedians! I might be biased, but…”

WHO: Brynley Stent

WHAT: “New Zealand’s favourite improv show and the sell-out hit of the 2019 Fringe returns! Cheeky, topical and relentlessly silly, Snort sees a rotating cast of New Zealand’s best comedians (including Rose Matafeo, Laura Daniel, Joseph Moore, Eli Matthewson, Nic Sampson, James Roque, Brynley Stent, Paul Williams, Rhiannon McCall, Freya Finch, Alice Canton and more) build an intricate hour of far-fetched, high-stakes comedy, entirely made-up on the spot, featuring a brand new guest every night.”

WHERE: Pleasance Courtyard – Upstairs (Venue 33) 

WHEN: 23:00 (60 min)

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Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

This is my first time in Edinburgh. I am an Edinburgh Fringe Virgin! I had planned to come in 2020 but then this little thing called The Pandemic happened, so this trip has been a long time coming!

What are the big things you’ve learned since 2019 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?

In the lock-down I spent a lot of time learning how to make a perfect Croquembouche…it has not proved useful yet.

Tell us about your show.

I perform as part of an Improv group from New Zealand called ‘Snort’ (which is a very silly name we chose on a whim and it just stuck). The show started out mainly as a way for a group of comedy friends to perform together / hang out together on a Friday night, but it became really popular and now we’ve been performing to weekly sold-out crowds in Auckland on a Friday night for almost 10 years! In Edinburgh we are being produced by the lovely people at Berk’s Nest.

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

Go see all the Kiwi comedians! I might be biased, but I recommend: Eli Matthewson, James Roque, Two Hearts, Abby Howells, Nic Sampson and Paul Williams.

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EdFringe Talk: Fire Is Not the Only Element

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“Themes for my current Fringe show include womanhood, war, class, punk, love – oh and seagulls. Something for everyone !!”

WHO: Morna Burdon

WHAT: “Full of laughter and tears, this is poetry as entertainment. Punctuated with true-life stories and song. Packed with humanity, compassion and pithy observations on life. From womanhood to war, from class and punk to love, and the beautiful game. Moving, funny, gaspingly honest. Expertly written and performed. ‘Absolutely joyous, funny and emotional.’ ‘Told so simply, with great depth.”

WHERE: Scottish Storytelling Centre – Library at Fringe (Venue 30) 

WHEN: 17:00 (60 min)

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Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

I live in Edinburgh and have been lucky enough to be part of the Fringe many times in a range of roles – actor, director, street theatre performer, producer. This year – poetry, spoken word, song. The great thing about the Fringe is the variety, the opportunities and the internationalism -for performers and audience. And sometimes they merge. One year I invited anyone who wanted to, to come along and we would create a piece of theatre that would show that evening. 17 brave souls turned up – from Canada, Thailand, Scotland, England and elsehwere . Professionals and amateurs performed a show that night that they had created together and they played to a full house!! Wonderful! I have also been a punter and again it is the variety and internationalism that I enjoy. Also the sheer excitement you can feel in the street, in the auditorium, backstage. People having fun!

What are the big things you’ve learned since 2019 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?

I have learned you can act in 19th century French farce from your own living room alongside 2 actors in their living rooms, directed by 2 directors based in Milan and Sardinia and play to an audience looking at you through this thing called Zoom and you can make it work !!! Thanks to EnglishMilanTheatre for believing it could!!! Magical watching a piece of bread being handed from one actor in Glasgow to one in Edinburgh and it seeming to be the same piece of bread! And then there was the acting ( of course!) . But it was great working on timing etc miles away from each other. I learned having COVID is no fun but also that slowing down and just taking one day at a time leaves space for – well, creativity, I guess. I wrote this show during lockdown – and learned I can write poetry (and songs) and create a whole show from that. Give it time and things will evolve . Simplicity. Good for the soul.

Tell us about your show.

My show is ( I hope!) an entertainment of poetry , spoken word and song. I started writing poetry during lockdown and it just growed!!! I love the way words can tell stories and poetry can create a language that we can all relate to – build pictures and feelings and intertwine them all so that we suddenly discover we are looking at life and this show is about us ( except when it’s about THEM and we get a chance to say what we think about THEM!)

The company is me ( though I am helped this year by a wonderful creative producer, Ida Casilli, who also has several other hats !! ) I started writing my own shows around 8 years ago because I wanted to perform again after many years of directing and heading up projects and the simplest way of getting the gig seemed to be if I wrote my own show !! I also really loved singing so incorporated that ( there are a coupla songs in this current show for that reason). I did a 30 minute online version of this show as a Platform event with Edinburgjh Performing Arts Development who help with that kind of thing and are amazing. I then developed it into a full hour and it premiered at the Scottish Storytelling Centre to a sell -out house which was when i decide to bring it to the Fringe ( same venue). I am planning to tour it afterwords – round Scotland, Italy expressing interest and other possibilities in the offing. My other shows are still touring – with Gie’s Peace on at Prague Fringe in late September and Bonnie Fechters and After Judy Chicago also available. The former is about women of courage throughout history and After Judy Chicago includes a the audience sitting at their own Dinner Party as that was the title of Judy Chicago’s iconic feminist artwork that the piece is based on. Themes for my current Fringe show include womanhood, war, class, punk, love – oh and seagulls. Something for everyone !!

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

There are so many to choose from! See Alan Cumming in his Burns show. He really works his craft, that man.
Look out for local artists – support them – they are here all the year round working away when it is not all so festival-ly. Scottish Storytelling Centre might be a good start for some of that though it is full of artists from throughout the world too – lots of theatre as well as traditional storytelling.
The Medea – cos my pal Pauline Lockhart is in it. Plus I hear it’s quite a good play!! Been a round a while.
Experiment, have fun, and come back next year !!!

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EdFringe Talk: Nic Sampson: Marathon, 1904

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“I’m from New Zealand which is traditionally located on the other side of the world, so getting to Edinburgh has been difficult in the past.”

WHO: Nic Sampson

WHAT: “32 athletes entered the 1904 Olympic marathon in St Louis, Missouri. Only 14 finished… What happened in between was a perfect storm of stupidity, cheating, raw eggs, wild dogs and rat poison. In his Edinburgh debut, New Zealand comedian Nic Sampson brings to life the incredible true story of one of the dumbest sporting events of all time. Co-writer of Starstruck (BBC Three). Star of The Brokenwood Mysteries (UKTV).”

WHERE: Pleasance Courtyard – The Cellar (Venue 22) 

WHEN: 16:40 (60 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

This is my first time doing the Edinburgh Fringe! I’m from New Zealand which is traditionally located on the other side of the world, so getting to Edinburgh has been difficult in the past. I moved to the UK in 2019, just in time for things to get really good over here! I’m excited at the prospect of seeing lots of shows, meeting lots of comedians, and losing my mind over the course of the month!

What are the big things you’ve learned since 2019 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?

I’ve learned that when you decide to move countries, check to see if any big pandemics are on the horizon. Also, during the lockdown me and my wife read about what Antarctic researchers do to pass long stretches in isolation. Apparently the thing to do is find something slow growing like a plant, and monitor its progress every day. We picked a strawberry plant in our local park, and every day we would check in on it, waiting for that fateful day when it would finally bear fruit. In the end it turned out the plant we were monitoring was just a weed. But I still think the idea was solid.

Tell us about your show.

My show is called Marathon, 1904, and you’ll never believe this, it tells the story of a Marathon that took place in 1904. Specifically, the 1904 Olympic Marathon in St. Louis, Missouri.

It was probably the wildest, most disastrous Marathon in the history of the Olympics, but the story has been somewhat lost to the sands of time. It’s an utterly mad tale of stupidity, corruption, wild dogs, raw eggs and rat poison. And it all really happened.

I came across this story randomly a few year ago and was surprised that I’d never heard it before. How could a story this crazy not be more widely known? Why aren’t we teaching this in schools, if for no reason other than to discourage people in their 30s from attempting marathons?? So I decided to share it the only way I know how, by making myself the centre of attention. I know little about sports and I’m a decidedly average runner, but I am a skilled actor who can do up to four different voices.

It’s produced by Country Mile Productions and afterwards we’re taking it straight to Hollywood baby.

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

They should go and see SNORT – the improvised comedy show that I’m doing with my pals from New Zealand every night at Pleasance at 11pm. It stars Rose Matafeo, Two Hearts, Eli Matthewson, James Roque, Alice Snedden and more, and I hope this isn’t TMI but it’s a lot of fun!

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EdFringe Talk: Laura Davis: If This Is It

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“I lost my home, my job, almost all my possessions, some family members and a couple of dear friends in this pandemic. Also a pretty good vacuum cleaner but it’s obviously not at the top of the list.”

WHO: Laura Davis

WHAT: “Most Outstanding Show nominee at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2022. Laura Davis is internationally acclaimed as one of the strongest, most distinctive comedy voices around. Bold, hilarious and razor sharp, Davis delivers extraordinary stand-up that subverts expectation at every turn.”

WHERE: Monkey Barrel Comedy (Carnivore) – Carnivore 1 (Venue 180) 

WHEN: 16:00 (60 min)

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Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

This isn’t my first festival and I’ve never been to a rodeo. I’ve been doing these kinds of month long festivals for about 15 years. What makes a good one is two things for me. 1. a genuine sense that you made the best piece of work you possibly could and got to share it. 2. spending a month with a shuffled roulette of old and new friends, eating baked potatoes, laughing about anything and griping about all the problems we chose for ourselves.

What are the big things you’ve learned since 2019 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?

I lost my home, my job, almost all my possessions, some family members and a couple of dear friends in this pandemic. Also a pretty good vacuum cleaner but it’s obviously not at the top of the list. Two and a half years later I still don’t have a home to go to and I’m trying to restabilise and gain back some ground.

I think I learned what’s worth holding onto, what I’m willing to sacrifice and for what. I learned what feels like it’s worth fighting for and what I really care about when it comes down to ugly end.

That of course is going to be sort of a different personal curation for everyone so there’s no quick quote to share on what those things should be. But I’ll live differently forever now. I think that’s okay.

Tell us about your show.

I wrote it. It was nominated for best comedy at Melbourne International Comedy Festival because I’m much funnier onstage than I am in interviews.

I’m taking it to Soho Theatre after this Fringe which always feels like a little bit of a magical venue. There’s also a shop near Soho Theatre called Cafe De Nata which just sells fresh Portuguese tarts so I’m pretty excited for after the show, too.

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

You don’t even have to wait until you’ve seen my show to see these shows as my show contains no required information to enjoy them.

Tom Mayhew, Danielle Walker, James Nokise, Josie Long and Alice Fraser. They all put so much consideration into the heart of their shows, so much attention to the detail of the craft and consistently produce unique and original work that I can’t bear to miss.

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EdFringe Talk: Sam Lake: Cake

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“I think in many ways I’m still a silly little comedy boy.”

WHO: Sam Lake

WHAT: “Debut hour from nice young man, Sam Lake. In 2020, Sam wrote a show all about his upcoming wedding. Then both the wedding and show were swiftly cancelled. Based on his own personal love story, it’s a show about reassessing your goals when things don’t go how you planned. But it’s also funny. And there’s cake. We’ll have a lovely time. As well as starring in All 4’s The Joy of Missing Out and Dave’s The Comedy Guide to Life, Sam has also won Leicester Square New Comedian of The Year.”

WHERE: Pleasance Courtyard – The Cellar (Venue 33) 

WHEN: 21:50 (60 min)

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Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

I actually live in Edinburgh! I moved here just over two years ago to be with my (now) husband. I moved just before the lockdowns first started. Remember when that whatsapp message was going around about making a big lasagne at Wembley Stadium? Yeah, that’s when I fled London.

I’ve obviously been to the Edinburgh Fringe before, but this is my first time with my own show. I think visiting the fringe and seeing as many shows as you can in one go is fun, it’s exciting. Doing a show for the whole month is quite different. If you happen to see me in the street, maybe handing out flyers for my show, please, for the love of god, make me drink some water or chew a multivitamin.

What are the big things you’ve learned since 2019 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?

I think in many ways I’m still a silly little comedy boy, but what’s changed the most for me is learning to be a bit more expressive about my emotions, as in not keeping things that are bothering me to myself. It’s okay to talk to friends and loved ones about your feelings. It’s something I’m still working on, but it’s a good lesson learned. I’m ashamed to say it, but in order to learn this lesson, I did have to start a podcast and I am truly so sorry for that.

Tell us about your show.

My show is called Cake, an hour of stand-up comedy from myself, and it is making its big debut at the Edinburgh Fringe. It’s being produced by the wonder that is Katie Storey who is truly a godsend. And you can see it 3-28th Aug (Not 16th) 9.50pm at the Pleasance Courtyard.

My show is the story of how my husband and I found ourselves having to completely scrap our plans for our wedding day and instead have a very hasty, very chaotic wedding. It was an amazing day, but how it all happened and specifically what happened on the day is quite the story. It’s a show about making peace with how things you planned for yourself actually unfold and being comfortable with unexpected changes. It’s also about me and my husband, how we met, our own cute little love story.

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

In all honesty, most people coming to the fringe have already booked the big shows they want to see. As a punter, sometimes I think you should just walk around the streets and take a chance on the

first show you get handed a flyer for. Some of my best and opposite-of-best experiences at the fringe have come from doing this.

If I had to recommend anyone else’s show, may I recommend some fellow debutants: Krystal Evans, Hannah Fairweather, Chloe Petts, Shelf, Joseph Parsons, Celya AB. All wonderful. But only go see them AFTER you’ve seen my show. Daddy’s still has wedding bills to pay off.

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EdFringe Talk: Crizards: Cowboys

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“In 2017 we realised the real money’s in the double act business – the rest is history.”

WHO: Will Rowland and Eddy Hare

WHAT: “The UK’s lowest energy double act explore the Wild West. Expect songs, characters, rootin’ and tootin’ from two best friends dressed as cowboys. Crizards are a couple of offbeat boys (Will Rowland and Eddy Hare). Both Will and Eddy are New Comedian of the Year finalists for their solo stand-up, and Eddy was nominated for the BBC New Comedy Awards in 2021. ‘Very wry, very well performed’ (Bruce Dessau). Leicester Square Theatre Sketch Off finalists. As seen on BBC One and BBC Three.”

WHERE: Assembly George Square Studios – Studio Four (Venue 17) 

WHEN: 22:15 (60 min)

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Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

This is our debut hour! We’ve been up for work-in-progress runs and stand up split bills before, and we did a couple of student plays when we first met. In 2017 we realised the real money’s in the double act business – the rest is history. The great thing about Edinburgh is getting to see all your friends’ shows and also making new friends. People often say Edinburgh’s all about “destroying your enemies” but we just don’t see it like that!

What are the big things you’ve learned since 2019 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?

We started 2020 with a simple idea: what if a double act show were about cowboys? And what if the cowboys sang songs? Then we heard about Covid and learned that the world didn’t need that show at the time. We stopped thinking about the show during lockdown. Will briefly considered quitting comedy, Eddy bought a pull up bar but had to return it because it didn’t fit his door frame. A lot’s changed since then and 2022 feels like just the right time for a cowboy themed comedy musical – if it turns out we’re wrong we’ll be the first to admit that.

Tell us about your show.

We’re Crizards, we’re the UK’s lowest energy double act, and this is a cowboy themed show with songs in it. It’s our first time doing a show with songs in it so it’s been really fun and exciting for us to write, and we think it will be really fun to watch too! Georgia House is producing it, and we’ve been doing work in progress shows all year but Edinburgh is its first proper outing – afterwards we’ll take it wherever we’re asked to (within reason).

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

There are loads of great acts this year! Patrick Spicer, Ania Magliano and Rob Copland are all debuting this year too – really funny people and great stand ups. Also really looking forward to seeing Sunil Patel, Helen Bauer, Micky Overman, Nick Elleray, Heidi Regan, Sam Nicoresti, and Neil O’Rourke.

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EdFringe Talk: Love, Loss and Chianti

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“There are surprises on the Fringe everywhere you look, an intensive, packed experience which reminds even the most diehard box-set viewer of the pleasures of live performance.”

WHO: Robert Bathurst

WHAT: “Robert Bathurst (Cold Feet, Downton Abbey, Toast of London) stars alongside Rebecca Johnson (The Trip, The Flood) in this heart-breaking and hilarious double-bill of love and loss, written by Costa Book of The Year Award-winner Christopher Reid and directed by Jason Morell. Intertwined with glorious animations from cartoonist Charles Peattie, Reid’s A Scattering and The Song of Lunch are brought to life in this critically acclaimed production.”

WHERE: Assembly Rooms – Music Hall (Venue 20) 

WHEN: 12:55 (95 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

This is my sixth Edinburgh as an actor and the second time bringing my own show. It’s a great place to try out something unusual – audiences are up for it. There are surprises on the Fringe everywhere you look, an intensive, packed experience which reminds even the most diehard box-set viewer of the pleasures of live performance.

What are the big things you’ve learned since 2019 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?

Don’t always believe what you hear. Question everything.

Tell us about your show.

I’ve taken two books by the poet Christopher Reid and adapted them for theatre using 90 minutes of brilliant cartoon animation. Rebecca Johnson and I perform. I’ve been developing the show for ten years – animation takes time – and have loved collecting a great team, including co-producers Assembly Productions and Something For The Weekend; everyone has patiently stuck with me.

We tried out one half – the funny half – of Love Loss & Chianti in Edinburgh in 2018 and launched the whole show in London in March 2020. We lost everything, like so many others, and have regrouped to do it here. It’s so exciting to be doing this material again.

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

For slam-dunk guaranteed entertainment and breathtaking skill it has to be the Showstoppers improv gang. I’m also looking forward to Baxter vs The Bookies – I love horseracing; Tim Vine, I surrender to him completely Frank Skinner, I’m devoted to his poetry podcast and loved his book on standup; Basil Brush’s Family Fun Show, probably the hit of the festival; Debussy At Teatime, what could be better?; Arthur Smith, he’s a listed monument, the funniest one I’ve seen; Ghosts Of The Near Future, looks like a wild ride; and Tim Key, with whom I spent a night in Kuala Lumpur.

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EdFringe Talk: The Silent Treatment

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“A lot of the story takes place inside the human body so one moment you’re watching a vaudeville song performed by two cysts and the next you’re inside the human heart.”

WHO: Sarah-Louise Young

WHAT: “The Silent Treatment. A singer loses her voice and embarks on an unexpected journey of self-revelation. Based on a true story, this intimate, funny and uplifting new solo show combines storytelling, physical theatre and song to explore how the body remembers what the mind forgets. From award-winning performer Sarah-Louise Young, creator of An Evening Without Kate Bush and Julie Madly Deeply.”

WHERE: Summerhall – Anatomy Lecture Theatre (Venue 26) 

WHEN: 13:50 (60 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

2022 will be my 17th Fringe and my 40th show. I’ve been coming here for 26 years, since I was a student and cut my teeth .

I love how rich and diverse the array of talent is at the Fringe and take part as much to see other shows as to perform myself. It’s also the one month of the year when I get to see my performer friends as we are often on the road at the same time.

With over 3000 shows to choose from it can feel a bit overwhelming for an audience, but strong word-of-mouth can turn a small underground show into a festival hit and that’s exciting. I’m always on the look out for new and later emerging artists and like to see as much local work as I can as well. We own a debt of gratitude to the people who actually live and work in Edinburgh and this festival should be as open to them as possible.

It’s always a risk bringing new shows up here of course and it’s an expensive and ambitious undertaking, but with the PBH and Laughing Horse Free Fringes there are ways to do it a little more economically.

The first week is always hectic with everyone flying by the seat of their pants as they bed in their shows and navigate flyering, accommodation, getting changed in a broom cupboard and remembering to eat. With new audiences arriving every day there is always something you could be doing to sell your show, but that’s a positive. Yesterday’s one start review could be tomorrow’s award-winning success. It’s a brilliantly bonkers, beautiful, Behemoth!

What are the big things you’ve learned since 2019 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?

I took ‘An Evening Without Kate Bush’ to the Fringe in 2019 (also playing this August alongside ‘The Silent Treatment’) and was about to start a national tour when lockdown happened. I’m not a frontline worker so I know by contrast my struggle was not comparable. But it was a challenge, losing a year’s work over night. Doing gigs in my living room on Zoom and making money where I could gave me a renewed appreciation for a live audience. I’m very grateful I was able to create online content but when I was invited to share ‘The Silent Treatment’ online I decided not to. The show is about voice loss and explores what it feels like to stand in front of an audience knowing you might not be able to make a sound. The inspiration for the show came in Edinburgh when I lost my voice for 24 hours and I knew I wanted to return to the scene of the crime. The audacity of doing the show here spurred me on to continue making it.

Tell us about your show.

‘The Silent Treatment’ is my first truly autobiographical story about my historic struggles with sporadic voice loss. There is a lot of shame around singers and their voices, with performers afraid to open up about their experience for fear they will be thought of as a liability. As it happened there was a medical reason for mine and I was able to seek help. But along the journey I discovered so much more about who I was and how my body had been protecting me for years.

This really is the show I shouldn’t be making because I was advised very strongly by industry professionals that speaking out about my experience would reflect negatively on me – well that was a red rag to a bull! I hope by sharing my story I can help others tell theirs and feel less shame.

After 6 years of thinking about it, I begun work in late 2019 and shared a very tentative 20 minute version to a handful of trusted friends who all belong to the Authentic Artist Collective (https://www.authenticartist.co.uk). The brilliant Sioned Jones, who is a terrific actor in her own right, was there and she gave me some really helpful feedback. I knew at once she was the right person to direct my show and was delighted when she said yes.

Although the subject matter is serious I wanted the piece to have humour and levity too and we share a similar sense of the absurd which sealed the deal. Sioned has helped keep me on track and brought her gifts of imagination and movement to the rehearsal room. It may be my story but I feel ‘The Silent Treatment’ is as much hers as it is mine.

When we had to pause making it over lockdown we kept talking and worked on an audio version which then developed into this final version you’ll see at Summerhall this year.

The final piece of the jigsaw was brining the fantastic Christopher Ash in to create the sound design and co-write the songs with me. I met Chris through Showstopper! (The Oliver Award-winning musical improvisation group I was a member of for over 10 years) and we had also worked together on a production of ‘The Show Queen’ at Park Theatre London and a new musical ‘The H Word’. He has such a delicate and sensitive approach to music and was the perfect person to realise all the different sound worlds in the show. A lot of the story takes place inside the human body so one moment you’re watching a vaudeville song performed by two cysts and the next you’re inside the human heart.

In the two years it’s taken us to bring ‘The Silent Treatment’ to the Fringe it has evolved, I hope for the better. It isn’t the show it would have been had we shared it in 2020. We’ve done four previews and so far the repose has been terrific. Whenever you make work, especially autobiographical, you have to interrogate why people should care, what’s in it for them? I really wanted to make something which resonated with anyone who has been silenced or shut down, not just me as a singer. I hope I have done that with ‘The Silent Treatment’.

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

There are SO many incredible shows to see!

Top of my list is ‘Kathy And Stella Solve A Murder’ at Summerhall. It’s written by Jon Brittain (Rotterdam) and Matthew Floyd Jones (of Frisky & Mannish) and the cast is to die for. I’m a big fan of Jodie Jacobs.

I’m also making a beeline for ‘Blue And Pip’ from the award-winning writer of ‘Rust’, Helena Fox. They are an exciting artist and it’s described as ‘a modern-day folktale exploring endometriosis, the patriarchal healthcare system and the ebbing of the tides’.

Rather cheekily I have to say ‘Looking For Me Friend: The Music Of Victoria Wood’ which I have directed! It’s a beautiful show starring Paulus and will leave you with a warm hug in your heart.

Check out ‘Ada Camp: Too Little, Too Soon’ for comedy and variety, ‘She/ Her’ for theatre and oh so many shows! I should probably stop now… unless you’re into Kate Bush in which case…

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EdFringe Talk: David Ephgrave: Good Grief

Posted in *Written Interviews, EdFestivals 2022 by

“I no longer take such basic things for granted. I just wish the Government didn’t treat the creative arts like the less significant sibling to every other industry.”

WHO: David Ephgrave

WHAT: “David nails losing parents, so you don’t have to (NB you’ll still have to). Since David’s childhood, his dad Barry provided frustration and support in equal parts. Even as his health deteriorated, he still brought comedic relief. But when he died, everything imploded and now it’s time for a cathartic debrief.”

WHERE: Just the Tonic at The Caves – Just Up the Road (Venue 88) 

WHEN: 14:40 (60 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

Nein, non, no and other such negative responses: this will be my fourth solo show at Edinburgh and my seventh or eighth once you add in the various things I did as one half of the comic duo Doggett & Ephgrave. The first show we brought up in 2008 was a comedy play I wrote with Glyn called The Balloon Debate, set in the basket of a hot air balloon, 2000 feet about East Anglia. This basket had to be built and dismantled every night in super-quick time as per the fringe tradition and also had to be strong enough to withstand the weight of the chap playing the pilot, who fell out of it towards the end of the show (he did all his own stunts).

We certainly never anticipated the emotional rollercoaster Edinburgh had in store for us that first time or how much money it would cost to do it. And that was fifteen years ago when things were markedly cheaper. I love the Fringe, and there’s no festival like it, but something has to shift before performers can no longer afford to do it. It reached that watershed years ago, to be honest, but it gets more prohibitive with each passing year without throwing in the after-effects of a global pandemic. If I ever meet the guy syphoning off the profits, I’ll shake my fist at them. My money’s on it being Scrooge McDuck though I can’t prove it; those anthropomorphic ducks of Scottish descent are the worst.

What are the big things you’ve learned since 2019 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?

Perhaps my most eye-opening realisation was how vulnerable the arts were in the face of something unprecedented like the pandemic. Aspects of my job that I’d never questioned – like whether an audience could legally congregate – were suddenly verboten. And a surprising byproduct of this is my sudden tendency to lapse into German, which I’ve already done twice in this interview; ich weiß nicht.

Before 2019, I spent twelve years running the comedy club Mostly Comedy in my home town of Hitchin that – more by luck than judgment – kept growing in profile and popularity. We recently moved to our biggest venue, which could comfortably seat 300 people, and the rollcall of acts who had played it was just extraordinary. I was even – shock horror – at a point where I could pay myself for what I did without worrying whether the club could afford it. Then Covid hit, and we had to shut our doors for nineteen months and managed two more gigs before closing for good.

None of this was likely before Covid. Now, I no longer take such basic things for granted. I just wish the Government didn’t treat the creative arts like the less significant sibling to every other industry, though with Nadine Dorries as Culture Secretary, this won’t change soon. Her unhinged body language frightens me; she moves like Vincent D’Onofrio’s bug-filled farmer in Men in Black.

Tell us about your show.

My show was written and produced by me and addresses what it was like to lose my dad to cancer in 2019 and then go no contact with my mum to end a cycle of emotional abuse. Both experiences were terrible, though the latter ripped me apart as while with my dad’s illness, there was ostensibly nothing we could do once we’d exhausted his treatment, the circumstances with my mum made me feel equally helpless, despite logic dictating that empathy could fix them. However, this wasn’t the case.

I’m aware that doesn’t sound like the most obvious setup for comedy, but maybe that’s the point. The last show I brought to the Fringe in 2018 was called ‘David Ephgrave: My Part in His Downfall’, which tackled my depression, amongst other things. At the time, I wasn’t sure if I was ready to own up to how much my poor mental health had held me back, but the title I’d chosen had painted me into a corner. In the end, I was glad it did, as the laughs came from a far deeper place. That’s also been the case when previewing material from ‘Good Grief’. And both my parents could be funny, though some of those the humour’s pretty dark. But don’t panic as I approach the tough stuff lightly. You don’t need valium to watch me, though if you suddenly Quantum Leap into my body, I’d recommend it.

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

Every year I recommend Phil Kay as there’s no one like him. He is just the best storyteller and can extract comedy from the most unlikely sources. His sets are a tightrope walk, though when he’s at his best, it’s like you’ve just watched the guy successfully traverse the line between the Twin Towers in ‘Man on Wire’. God, I love him.

Three comics who are also always a treat to watch are Lucy Porter, Anna Morris, and Dan Cook.

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