Category Archives: EdFestivals 2018

All our coverage from the 2018 festivals.

+3 Interview: Owen Roberts: I Let a Six-Year-Old Write My Show

Posted in *Written Interviews, EdFestivals 2018, Plus 3 2018 – Features by

“I keep telling her to get a job, but she says she’s too busy inventing a machine that enables her toy dog snowflake to levitate.”

WHO: Owen Roberts, Writer and Performer

WHAT: “After a severe case of writer’s block, Owen has thrown caution to the wind and decided to let a child write his show for him. Kids are funny, right? What could possibly go wrong? She can’t spell, she can’t sit still for more than 30 seconds, and her ideas are wildly unrealistic to say the least. This show is about the weird stuff children think and how bloody difficult it is to work with them. From one third of sketch legends BEASTS: ‘A tsunami of silliness’ **** (Telegraph).”

WHERE: Pleasance Courtyard – Pleasance This (Venue 33) 

WHEN: 16:45 (60 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

No, I’ve done 5 fringes with my sketch group Beasts. However this is my first time doing it as a solo artist. Which is why a few months ago I caved in and asked for help writing the show, however the only person available was a six year old child, so she’s writing it now.

What’s the biggest thing to have happened to you since Festivals ’17?

I moved in with a six year old, she’s basically my housemate now, except she doesn’t pay any bills or rent, or do any house work. I keep telling her to get a job, but she says she’s too busy inventing a machine that enables her toy dog snowflake to levitate.

Tell us about your show.

My show is called ‘I Let A Six Year Old Write My Show’ because that’s what I did. She writes the material, I have to perform it, and honestly the drivel she’s come up with. One minute I’m supposed to be playing a Chinese police woman disguised as a burglar fighting a dancing crab, the next I’m trying to eat a volcano with my foot, it’s chaos.

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

I’m also performing with my sketch group Beasts 16-19 Aug, also one of the other members of Beasts Ciaran Dowd is doing a solo show called ‘Don Rodolfo’, so check that out too.

LIKE WHAT YOU JUST READ? FOLLOW US ON TWITTER! FIND US ON FACEBOOK! OR SIGN UP TO OUR MAILING LIST!

INTERESTED IN BEING INTERVIEWED TOO? CLICK HERE!

+3 Interview: Charmian Hughes – Bra Trek

Posted in *Written Interviews, EdFestivals 2018, Plus 3 2018 – Features by

“I did my first in 1994, met my husband in the audience, had two children, and came back as soon as they were teenagers who could be shipped off to grandparents for the summer.”

WHO: Charmian Hughes, performer and writer

WHAT: “Bra as metaphwoar! Life can make us all outsiders through its conspiracy of myths and fairy tales. Bust out of stereotypes that squash us, in an uplifting quest to find our own fit in the world and a bra that fits. Big hit down under! Directed by Jessica Fostekew (Motherland). ‘Buxom!’ (TheatreView.org.nz). ‘Unique, insightful, funny’ (Dominion Post). ‘Funny and profound…a class above other stand-ups, great entertainer not to be missed’ (Stuff.co.nz). ‘Joyous fun. 4 stars’ (FunnyWomen.com). Charmian is a regular Glastonbury Festival MC, a thrice comedy award nominee, and a 34H.”

WHERE: Laughing Horse @ The Counting House – The Attic (Venue 170) 

WHEN: 15:35 (60 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

This is my ninth solo show at the fringe. I did my first in 1994, met my husband in the audience, had two children, and came back as soon as they were teenagers who could be shipped off to grandparents for the summer. I have been back to Edinburgh since 2011 and love every minute of it!

What’s the biggest thing to have happened to you since Festivals ’17?

This year I made the finals of the Petfringe Comedian Of The Year Competition, the last nine out of over 800 entrees. I toured New Zealand in March and visited Melbourne Comedy for the first time in April.

Tell us about your show.

Bra Trek is a quest for identity and self esteem through the agonized terrain of adolescence…and the search for a bra that fits. It’s stand up storytelling, jokes and truths. It’s for anyone over 14, because though the themes are adult, the journey is one we must all make. I want every human to benefit from the wisdom and jokes of me! i wrote it and perform it, and it was directed by brilliant comedian Jessica Fostekew. It premiered at Leicester Comedy Festival, then went to Auckland New Zealand, visited Dunedin and Wellington, and has been performed at some small UK festivals. Next stop after Edinburgh- Clapham Fringe and Prague Comedy Festival!!

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

Before my show, go and see Caroline Cooke’s Proxy at the Gilded Balloon Turret. It’s early in the morning- 11am but well worth it, a compelling tale about a true and strange horrible psychological event in recent US history. I ALWAYS go and see what new thing Sarah Kendall has come up with. She is my favourite- combining engrossing tense storytelling with brilliant stand-up. Mandy Knight has a terrific show at the Voodoo Rooms with the PBH Free Fringe. Its going to be a monster.

LIKE WHAT YOU JUST READ? FOLLOW US ON TWITTER! FIND US ON FACEBOOK! OR SIGN UP TO OUR MAILING LIST!

INTERESTED IN BEING INTERVIEWED TOO? CLICK HERE!

+3 Interview: Leo Kearse: Right-Wing Comedian

Posted in *Written Interviews, EdFestivals 2018, Plus 3 2018 – Features by

“I present a robust defence of Donald Trump, celebrate consumerism, break down prejudice against the white working class and show the inherent immorality and impracticality of socialism.”

WHO: Leo Kearse, I’m the comedian

WHAT: “Scottish Comedian of the Year, Leo Kearse returns with the follow up to I Can Make You Tory. Poking fun at liberal sanctimony and hypocrisy, Leo takes on millennials, #metoo, environmentalists and Jeremy Corbyn, showing why socialists are selfish and Trump is great. ‘A giant of the art’ (Chortle.co.uk). ‘A solid hour of honest funny which will change your attitude’ (Scotsman). ‘He is warm, very funny, and deserves his title… a lotta laughs’ (TheClothesline.com.au). Warning: not for people who start online petitions.”

WHERE: Laughing Horse @ Espionage – Pravda (Venue 185) 

WHEN: 19:30 (60 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

This is my 7th time at the Edinburgh Fringe. That sounds like a lot, but I wasn’t really trying to be good at comedy until a couple of years ago.

What’s the biggest thing to have happened to you since Festivals ’17?

Some videogame producers who loved last year’s show “I Can Make You Tory” cast me in their videogame “Super Seducer 2” and flew me out to Belarus to film my scenes. It’s a hugely popular but controversial game – the guy behind it is pickup artist Richard La Ruina and the game basically teaches men how to chat up women. Obviously, showing men how to behave respectfully around women is now seen as sexual harassment so the Guardian campaigned to have “Super Seducer” banned.

In “Super Seducer 2” I have a scene where I chat up a feminist in a bar. I spent a lot of time getting punched in the head by a 6’1 Russian woman called Anastasia. In another scene, I’m performing comedy and the player gets to choose which material I do next. It was a tough scene to film because the audience were all Russian extras who didn’t speak English so were guessing where they should laugh. Still an easier gig than Portsmouth Jongleurs though.

Tell us about your show.

I write and produce my show. I used to consider myself a lefty liberal, but I feel that the left has disappeared up its own arse, taken on the worst aspects of the right (discriminating against people based on their demographics; censoring speech; making crimes out of miss-speaking). I believe everyone should be treated as an individual and identity politics are reductive and divisive.

I take a scalpel to male feminists, Labour antisemites, fat activists, environmentalists, white male privilege and #MeToo. I present a robust defence of Donald Trump, celebrate consumerism, break down prejudice against the white working class and show the inherent immorality and impracticality of socialism. If you want to escape the liberal bubble of the Edinburgh Fringe and see a raw, hilariously antagonistic show from a man who can’t help speaking his mind, this is the show for you.

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

They should come to see Hate ‘n’ Live – it’s a late night improvised show. The audience write down what they hate, then the suggestions are pulled out of a bucket and the comedians have to say why they hate them – no matter what the suggestion is. It’s a lot more fun and less hateful than it sounds – the atmosphere is electric as the audience waits to see how the comedian will walk the line.

Darius Davies is returning with a new show, “The Art Of The Troll”. His last show was about his time as a wrestler – he spoke candidly about steroids, fights and a broken back – and got 5 star reviews. He’s an incredible troll and has been interviewed on BBC news where he trolled them mercilessly. The show also includes that clip of Katie Price’s son Harvey saying “Hello you cunt” which is funnier than anything else at the Fringe.

LIKE WHAT YOU JUST READ? FOLLOW US ON TWITTER! FIND US ON FACEBOOK! OR SIGN UP TO OUR MAILING LIST!

INTERESTED IN BEING INTERVIEWED TOO? CLICK HERE!

+3 Interview: Angry Alan by Penelope Skinner

Posted in *Written Interviews, EdFestivals 2018, Plus 3 2018 – Features by

“ALAN is about a guy who feels misunderstood and left behind in America.“

WHO: Donald Sage Mackay, Actor

WHAT:“‘Looking out over the country, this country, where I was born and raised, I wonder what’s going to become of us. Because this can’t be the future, can it? Everyone just… changing the rules?’ Roger thinks the world’s gone mad. He hates his job, his ex-wife torments him and to top it all, his girlfriend just discovered feminism. Roger’s about to lose his shit. Until he discovers Angry Alan: online activist and “voice of reason”… A darkly comic new play about masculinity in crisis from award-winning Penelope Skinner performed by Donald Sage Mackay.”

WHERE: Underbelly, Cowgate – Big Belly (Venue 61) 

WHEN: 15:20 (60 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

YES, thrilled to experience my first Festival!

What’s the biggest thing to have happened to you since Festivals ’17?

Professionally… probably a major recurring role as a “baddie” in DEEP STATE for Fox TV opposite Mark Strong that just aired in the U.K. and is currently running in the U.S.

Tell us about your show.

ANGRY ALAN is about a guy who feels misunderstood and left behind in America, doesn’t get feminism and #metoo and is struggling to keep up with the changing world around him. Written by renowned feminist U.K. playwright, Penelope Skinner, and developed with an American actor (me) this play gives a uniquely funny and inside-out cross-cultural peek at why some men just don’t seem to be able to evolve and hints at reasons for the recent steps backward here and in the U.S.

ANGRY ALAN was originally developed at the Aspen Fringe Festival and in Delhi ahead of this world premiere production at Edinburgh. We are hoping to bring this production back to London for a run and then to New York and beyond. Also a TV pilot is in development.

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

Go check out Penelope Skinner’s other play, MEEK, and UNDERGROUND RAILROAD GAME both at Traverse. And check out SQUARE GO at Roundabout @ Summerhall.

LIKE WHAT YOU JUST READ? FOLLOW US ON TWITTER! FIND US ON FACEBOOK! OR SIGN UP TO OUR MAILING LIST!

INTERESTED IN BEING INTERVIEWED TOO? CLICK HERE!

+3 Interview: Propeller

Posted in *Written Interviews, EdFestivals 2018, Plus 3 2018 – Features by

“For the month of August, Edinburgh becomes the worlds creative epicentre, and if you work in the arts I don’t know why you would be anywhere else.”

WHO: Louise Oliver, Producer

WHAT: “So you want to change the world? Really? You? You Instagram checking, avo-smashing, coconut-flat-white sipping loser? Yeah, the world sucks sometimes – OK, a lot. But you can’t do anything about it. Can you? This show says yes, yes you can. Maybe. If you ever feel frustrated about the way things are but don’t know what to do about it, this is the show for you. A devised piece about power and the possibility of change, directed by double Fringe First winner Caitlin Skinner and co-created by The Network Ensemble.”

WHERE: Pleasance Courtyard – Pleasance Above (Venue 33) 

WHEN: 13:00 (60 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

This will be my 13th year at the Edinburgh Fringe. My first experience of the Fringe was to bring my own show back in 2005. I wrote and directed a partially devised comedy that intended to condense 3000 years of theatre history into one hour. I was a recent Theatre Studies graduate and was convinced, in all my youthful naivete, that this was a highly original idea. Being one show in a programme of thousands taught me very quickly that it definitely wasn’t. Since then I have attended the festival every year in some capacity; performer, writer, director, producer, Festival Fringe Society employee and audience member. To me, it’s the most important date in the cultural calendar. For the month of August, Edinburgh becomes the worlds creative epicentre, and if you work in the arts I don’t know why you would be anywhere else. This year I am wearing my producer hat and am working with the Scottish Drama Training Network to produce our production of Propeller, and I am also the Associate Producer with Edinburgh based production house Civil Disobedience, and we will be presenting a diverse roster of around nine shows at this years Festival.

What’s the biggest thing to have happened to you since Festivals ’17?

So many amazing things in my life and career have happened to me as a direct result of being involved in the Festival. It’s hard to pick just one. I’ve been able to work abroad, make some intense friendships, some of which have ended up also being creative collaborators. The Fringe has given me the opportunity to do what I love for a living. I suppose one of the most life-changing results was in 2013. That year, whilst working at the Festival, I decided I wanted to re-train as an actor. I met and subsequently auditioned for the Head of Admissions for the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts while he was in Edinburgh as a talent scout. That meeting and audition resulted in an acceptance on a scholarship to their programme for actors and I ended up moving there for a couple of years to be the ultimate living cliché; a struggling actor in New York City. Unique and once in a life time opportunities like that happen all the time at the Fringe. It’s like no where else in terms of what’s possible.

Tell us about your show.

Propeller by the Network Ensemble and the Scottish Drama Training Network is one of my bigger projects for this year and I am really excited about it. Presented in partnership with Pleasance Futures, Propeller is a devised piece of new theatre about power and feeling powerless. It will be an irreverent, theatrical, call to action. It’s being directed by double-Fringe First winning Director Caitlin Skinner, produced by myself on behalf of the Scottish Drama Training Network, and created by the Network Ensemble. The company, known as The Network Ensemble, came together through the Scottish Drama Training Network.

The Network is a graduate production ensemble made up Acting, Performance and Technical Theatre graduates from Scotland’s Colleges and Higher Education Institutions. The Network Ensemble is about giving them that first professional opportunity as they make the transition from training to industry. As the show is being created by the cast, the 2018 Fringe will be the premier of the work. I believe the show is going to tap into a collective feeling of unchanneled frustration with the current political climate that the majority of people are feeling right now. We hope that it will serve as a fun yet practical guide to what we can all do as individuals on a grassroots level to effect change. Given the current landscape in America, particularly with regards to how young people are mobilising and engaging in politics, it would be incredible to take the show over there. Perhaps to college campuses and regions of America that are removed from the diverse urban hubs, where we could engage with local schools and community groups.

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

I think it’s good to challenge yourself when you are in Edinburgh. To go see something that puts you outside your comfort zone. It’s the kind of environment where anything goes so you are likely to see work that you aren’t going to find anywhere else in the world. You should take risks. Find out what everyone is talking about, because if there is a hot ticket, it’s likely to be a show that people continue talking about for years to come. You should seek those experiences out. If you normally only ever see stand-up, then go see some mental, immersive, site-specific theatre. You never know, it might just change your perspective and introduce you to something you never knew you loved. My personal recommendations for this year are One Life Stand, All We Ever Wanted Was Everything, Bugle Boys, Jet of Blood, What Girls Are Made Of, Fringe Wives Club: Glittery Clittery, Hans: Like a German, Closed Doors, Handfast and Ulster American.

LIKE WHAT YOU JUST READ? FOLLOW US ON TWITTER! FIND US ON FACEBOOK! OR SIGN UP TO OUR MAILING LIST!

INTERESTED IN BEING INTERVIEWED TOO? CLICK HERE!

+3 Interview: The Political History of Smack and Crack

Posted in *Written Interviews, EdFestivals 2018, Plus 3 2018 – Features by

“I wrote the play based on an experience I had when I was in jail for drugs offences many years ago.”

WHO: Ed Edwards, Writer

WHAT: “‘The history of England jumps off its axis. 2am, 8th July, 1981, 20 cities across England burn.’ The night of the Manchester uprising. That night should change everything. Drawing on his own personal experience, Ed Edwards’ script crackles with anger, humour and authenticity as he chronicles the fallout for communities crushed by the heroin epidemic at the height of Thatcherism. Shot through with home truths about the road to recovery this is an epic love song to a lost generation.”

WHERE: Roundabout @ Summerhall – Roundabout (Venue 26) 

WHEN: 17:30 (60 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

We came to Edinburgh a couple of years ago with a show called Life by the Throat which got a bunch of five star reviews and was one of Claire Z from Fringebiscuit’s top three picks of the Fringe.

What’s the biggest thing to have happened to you since Festivals ’17?

In terms of work, probably Nick Hern agreeing to publish my play along with a political essay of the history of smack and crack that we couldn’t squeeze into the play itself. The play has to follow characters and it’s hard to get pure history into something like that, so the essay made me feel like I can get to the bottom of the whole thing, as well and entertain an audience. Not that there isn’t some history in the play itself, just we didn’t want to max out our credit card.

Tell us about your show.

I wrote the play based on an experience I had when I was in jail for drugs offences many years ago, when a lad who was in the Liverpool riot made a speech one night on the landing about how he and the rest of the Liverpool youth had taken Liverpool the night of the Toxteth riot, only to find themselves “jumping over the courter at the office toting an uzi” (sub-machine gun) trying to feed a drug habit. I’d always felt there was a connection between the 1981 riots and the heroin epidemic and thought it was a good subject to write about. Add in some fucked up love and that’s the play. It’s being led by Cressida Brown of Offstage who read the play when it was a finalised in the Theatre503 playwriting competition. I’d written it to direct myself, Cress said if I let her direct it, she’d do all the leg work production-wise. That was enough to persuade me! Since then, Annabel at W14 Productions and Ali from Ransack Theatre have got involved, then Soho came on board. No premiere, it will go on to Soho Theatre for three weeks in September.

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

Anything by Kieran Hurley.

LIKE WHAT YOU JUST READ? FOLLOW US ON TWITTER! FIND US ON FACEBOOK! OR SIGN UP TO OUR MAILING LIST!

INTERESTED IN BEING INTERVIEWED TOO? CLICK HERE!

+3 Interview: Andrew White: Coming of Age

Posted in *Written Interviews, EdFestivals 2018, Plus 3 2018 – Features by

“I had the best time meeting new people, seeing so many shows, and just soaking in the whole experience.”

WHO: Andrew White, Writer & performer

WHAT: “In 2017, Andrew White debuted his first solo show, It Was Funnier in My Head, unable to legally drink, have debt, or even get into some venues he was set to perform in! But this year, he’s back and ready to do it all again with a new-found sense of adulthood… Now 18, I embark on a brand-new show, exploring what it means to be an adult and the world I am “grown-up” in. Through stand-up, poetry, and even experimental mime, I’ll discuss every aspect of life for a teenager facing the “real world”…”

WHERE: PQA Venues @Riddle’s Court – PQA Three (Venue 277) 

WHEN: 18:00 (50 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

It’s my third Fringe, and second as a performer.

I absolutely adore the festival, and very quickly fell in love on that first visit in 2016. In fact, it was during that trip that I said to myself that this is where I wanted to be every August.

And next August, I was there with my debut show! It was called ‘It Was Funnier In My Head’, and I couldn’t have asked for a better start to Fringe life. More importantly though, away from any of the shows success, I had the best time meeting new people, seeing so many shows, and just soaking in the whole experience.

What’s the biggest thing to have happened to you since Festivals ’17?

I’ve performed a lot more at bigger gigs, and perhaps one of the best things to happen was the chance to perform at the Pavillion Theatre in Bournemouth in front of over 1000 people. A surreal night for my stand-up career, and one I shall treasure for a long time.

Tell us about your show.

Well the answer to all the ‘who’ questions is pretty much myself. It’s quite a lonely world in stand-up comedy, and no matter how many friends you make and people you gig with, at the end of the day, it’s just you on stage with a microphone.

It’s all about growing up and becoming adult, as I turned 18 earlier this year. The show covers all sorts of things, from broad concepts like bigotry and family to more specific experiences like learning to drive and going to parties.

I’ve done several performances already to hone the show, so Edinburgh isn’t exactly is a premier, but it is, in theory, and unveiling of the final polished product!

Whether it goes anywhere beyond the Fringe is up in the air, but I’d love to show it to as many people as possible.

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

All sorts. I’ll recommend some specific shows below, but just go and see everything and anything. Really awful student improv, a surprise smash hit musical, experimental magic. There’s loads at the Fringe, so try and experience as much variety as you can. Your August will be all the richer for it!

However, to be more specific…

  • Jess Robinson: No Filter (One of the most awe-inspiring impressionists out there, no-one’s quite like her).
  • Kit and McConnel (A timeless musical comedy duo, whose songs and parodies I always find myself singing in the car).
  • Olaf Falafel – There’s no I in Idiot (Madcap puns and clever jokes, an absolute joy).
  • Shady With a Chance of Sunburn (Dana Alexander is so funny, and whilst our shows clash, I hope many will go give her some love in my place).

and finally…

  • The Raymond and Mr Timpkins Revue: Ham (An indescribable act – hilarious and unforgettable.

LIKE WHAT YOU JUST READ? FOLLOW US ON TWITTER! FIND US ON FACEBOOK! OR SIGN UP TO OUR MAILING LIST!

INTERESTED IN BEING INTERVIEWED TOO? CLICK HERE!

+3 Interview: Baby Face

Posted in *Written Interviews, EdFestivals 2018, Plus 3 2018 – Features by

“I reassessed how people treat me in relationships, and as I have childlike attributes to my body – I realised that I can often be infantilised without realising this is happening.”

WHO: Katy Dye, Creator/Performer 

WHAT: “Hey baby! Welcome to a world of knee socks, bunches, lollipops, bubblegum and models adopting the childlike expressions of six-year-old girls. A daring exploration into the paradox of living in a society that continues to infantilise women. Paedophilia is not OK yet fetishised images of women as prepubescent girls are. In this brave and outlandish performance a grown woman attempts to be your baby to discover if innocence really is as sexy as we’re told it is. Winner of the Autopsy Award 2018.”

WHERE: Summerhall – Demonstration Room (Venue 26) 

WHEN: 13:30 (50 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

Yes this is my first time performing at the Edinburgh Fringe.

What’s the biggest thing to have happened to you since Festivals ’17?

Being awarded The Autopsy Award by Summerhall for 2018 has probably been the biggest thing to happen to me since festivals ’17. This has motivated me to take the steps to stage the production on a bigger scale than I have ever tried before. Another big achievement was being selected as one of Sir Tom Hunter’s 100 Disrupters ‘positively disrupting Scotland’ for staging Baby Face.

Tell us about your show.

Baby Face is written by myself, produced by Jack Stancliffe, with sound design from Glasgow based musician, Zac Scott, and lighting design by Michaella Fee Rossi. I have been friends with Jack and Zac for a number of years, after meeting and studying together on the Contemporary Performance Practice course at The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. I came to know Michaella through watching various productions she had designed lighting for. So, generally, I met the team through the Glasgow arts scene.

There was a few different inspirations I had for making Baby Face. A couple of years ago, I read Blake Morrison’s, ‘As If’, which is a journalistic account of the James Bulger trial. In this book Morrison discusses the meaning of childhood innocence in our world today. I was thinking a lot about power dynamics and moral boundaries surrounding this area. At the same time as this I reassessed how people treat me in relationships, and as I have childlike attributes to my body – I realised that I can often be infantilised without realising this is happening. I started to think about the implications of this on a bigger scale, what is it that attracts us to innocence/the infantile, and what does this mean in terms of our moral codes in society?

The show has been performed in various versions since I created it in 2015. It has been performed in earlier stages at In Between Time in Bristol, Camden People’s Theatre in London and Buzzcut Festival in Glasgow. The show continues to change, as my relationship to the subject matter and form changes. Right now I am very interested in how to show complex psychological and emotional ideas through movement and sound. I am also interested in the pop culture references that infantilisation brings up, and the commercialised and consumable version of infantilisation that most people might be familiar/which on a deeper level could easily be seen as paedophilia. I am interested in exploring where we draw the moral boundaries between these things being acceptable or being reprehensible. I am interested in working with more UK contemporary performance festivals and venues, to find out what other contexts this work could exist in after the fringe.

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

I am really looking forward to seeing VOID at Summerhall by Mele Broomes. Mele is an incredible physical performer, and her take on J.G. Ballard’s Concrete Island looks to be visually and sonically mesmerising! I also think that European Citizen Pop Song at Summerhall looks to be very interesting too, and adding something new to the conversation on how Brexit is impacting culture. People should also go and see Live Art Bistros 12 hour marathon of performance art at Zoo, as it is rare to find appropriate contexts to perform durational/one on one/action based performance art at the fringe, and this might just be it!

LIKE WHAT YOU JUST READ? FOLLOW US ON TWITTER! FIND US ON FACEBOOK! OR SIGN UP TO OUR MAILING LIST!

INTERESTED IN BEING INTERVIEWED TOO? CLICK HERE!

+3 Interview: Little Death Club

Posted in *Written Interviews, EdFestivals 2018, Plus 3 2018 – Features by

“I am super excited to be coming back to the festival this year with new hilariously filthy songs…”

WHO: Bernie Dieter, Mistress of Chaos (MC)

WHAT: “Winner: Pick of the Fringe, Adelaide Fringe Weekly Award 2017. The darkest, funniest and most debauched kabarett club this side of Berlin! A Weimar-punk jazz band soundtracks a night of dangerously funny kabarett, breathtaking circus and fire-breathing sideshow at its most inappropriate, provocative and hilarious best. Join multi-award-winning Bernie Dieter (star of La Clique, EastEnd Cabaret) for ‘a night of debauchery and devilry! Hilarious’ ***** (FourthWallMedia.Wordpress.com). ‘Magnificent, be amazed, be appalled, and be blown away’ ***** (WeekendNotes.com). ‘Absolutely outrageous! An unmissable experience’ ****1/2 (OUTInPerth, Australia). ‘Wickedly funny, the audience were in stitches’ ****1/2 (X-Press Magazine, Australia).”

WHERE: Underbelly’s Circus Hub on the Meadows – The Beauty (Venue 360) 

WHEN: 20:00 (60 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

No darlings, I have been to Edinburgh many times before- I just can’t stay away! The last time I was there though was actually outside of festival time, as I was the MC (Mistress of Chaos as I like to call it) for the infamous variety show La Clique. I am super excited to be coming back to the festival this year with new hilariously filthy songs, a 3 piece Weimar punk jazz band, and some of the best acts in the business in the Little Death Club.

What’s the biggest thing to have happened to you since Festivals ’17?

We have toured Little Death Club around Australia with such an incredible response and had a fully SOLD OUT season in a beautiful Spiegeltent in Perth fringe world this year. I have also consumed a LOT of delicious gin since then…

Tell us about your show.

It is the darkest, funniest, most debauched kabarett show this side of Berlin. A travelling home for all the punks, freaks and weirdos of the world. I created the show with Tom Velvick from Dead Man label 2 years ago. It started as a late night lock in in a Spiegeltent and has grown into the ultimate Kabarett show with a hilarious original soundtrack, a 3 piece Weimar punk jazz band, and some of the best acts in the business- breathtaking circus, fire breathing side show, fierce drag and ridiculous characters who we are lucky enough to call our carnie family. We are super proud of this show and can not wait to bring it to the Underbelly Spiegeltent in the Circus Hub. The show is being produced by Dead Man Label in conjunction with Underbelly,, and the Edinburgh run will be it’s first time in the UK.

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

There are so many shows I’m looking forward to this year that I’m not sure how I’m going to fit them all in! Courtney Act who is on in the Underbelly Spiegeltent just before us, Velma Celli (absolutely gorgeous and has an incredible voice), Josh Glanc (who is also performing the Little Death Club this season) is an amazing character comedian, absolutely hilarious. Also Yana Alana ‘Between the Cracks’ as she is an incredible Aussie cabaret superstar,  and I never miss Le Gateau Chocolat…

LIKE WHAT YOU JUST READ? FOLLOW US ON TWITTER! FIND US ON FACEBOOK! OR SIGN UP TO OUR MAILING LIST!

INTERESTED IN BEING INTERVIEWED TOO? CLICK HERE!

+3 Interview: 3 Years, 1 Week and a Lemon Drizzle

Posted in *Written Interviews, EdFestivals 2018, Plus 3 2018 – Features by

“I played Sylvia Pankhurst in a BBC One docudrama which was so much fun…”

WHO: Alexandra Donnachie, Performer

WHAT: “The show pieces together Alexandra and Kate Donnachie’s sometimes heartbreaking but often hilarious memories of growing up together and managing their close bond when older sister, Alexandra, developed a severe eating disorder. When Alexandra (finally) decided to ask Kate what that time was like for her, she began cooking up ideas for this autobiographical show – albeit before Kate agreed to be in it. This is a performance that recalls on touching memories, shares laugh-out-loud anecdotes and melts Mars bars to bring to stage a story about living with an eating disorder.”

WHERE: Underbelly, Bristo Square – Jersey (Venue 302) 

WHEN: 14:25 (60 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

It’s my eighth time! I’ve been up to the festival every year since 2010 but in a number of different capacities. I worked at a venue on box office for a number of years and in 2013, I performed in a show whilst holding down the box office job. I would not recommend this to anybody. Other years, I’ve popped up to see stuff but I’m also half-Scottish so I get to go up a fair bit outside of the festival too!

What’s the biggest thing to have happened to you since Festivals ’17?

I was on the telly! I played Sylvia Pankhurst in a BBC One docudrama which was so much fun and such a great job to get to do with some amazing people.

Tell us about your show.

Our show is about the relationship between my sister and I when I was ill with an eating disorder as a teenager. My sister and I made the show together almost two years ago and we both perform in it which – so far – has been a really fun experience because we work so well together! Mind you, this will be the longest run of the show we’ve done so let’s hope we’re still saying that at the end of August.

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

Ooh lots of stuff! Definitely see Ladykiller which The Thelmas are bringing to The Pleasance Courtyard this year and Christina Murdock’s Dangerous Giant Animals at Underbelly, Cowgate looks fantastic. I also discovered Jess Robinson earlier this year and thought she was incredible. She has a show at the festival this year called Jess Robinson: No Filter which I think will make for an awesome evening!

LIKE WHAT YOU JUST READ? FOLLOW US ON TWITTER! FIND US ON FACEBOOK! OR SIGN UP TO OUR MAILING LIST!

INTERESTED IN BEING INTERVIEWED TOO? CLICK HERE!