“I’m starting my bachelors in Edinburgh this September, purely because after this one visit, I knew this was the right city to spend the next 3-4 years in.”

WHO: Daniel Fischer

WHAT: “No one knows what happens after we die. Oscar can’t stop worrying about death. Ella can’t stop worrying about Oscar. While the young writer catalogues his snowballing existential crises, his half-sister ricochets through a kaleidoscopic wonderland filled with witches, pirates and strange, hungry creatures called Fuzzies. Time unravels. Space turns over. A deeper mystery simmers beneath the surface, with Oscar at its centre, if Ella could just find her way back to him. Living With Skeletons is a mind-bending, folk-musical rabbit hole that takes a curious dive into living beings’ intrinsic fear of the end.”

WHERE: Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose – Big Yin (Venue 24) 

WHEN: 21:45 (90 min)

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Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

I was a punter last year for about two weeks, and that was my first ever taste of the Fringe. Not to schmooze, but I completely fell in love with the city. I was obviously seeing about 4-5 shows each day, which was transformative, coming out of a pretty rigid New York conservatory program, and then seeing the insane amount of artists that are mounting shows pretty separate from the industry. I really felt at home, and it became so easy to make friends, with performers after their shows, or with fellow audience members. I met my friend Charlie in the audience while watching Lizard Boy at Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose, and now I’ll be performing there and he’s gonna be technical manager for all GB shows. There’s an infectious uplifting, welcoming vibe all around the city, and it’s extra special because I don’t think that vibe could develop anywhere else other than in Edinburgh. Of course, artists and punters were very easy to befriend, but locals were somehow even more delightful. I’m starting my bachelors in Edinburgh this September, purely because after this one visit, I knew this was the right city to spend the next 3-4 years in. There’s such rich architectural history all around, and it’s so seamlessly intertwined with the pubs and nightclubs and student areas. Similarly to Budapest, it balances perfectly between metropolitan and digestible.

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

2022-23 for me, was dedicated to writing this show. Obviously there’s a lot of comedy and uplifting theatre at the Fringe, but there’s also so much heart, which is why I felt comfortable in divulging so much of myself into this show. I guess honesty is my biggest takeaway from 2022. Or rather vulnerability. I come from a Hungarian-Jewish family, which comes with a habit of using comedy or whit or intellect to glaze over certain serious things. It’s not all bad; I did develop an insufferable level of charisma and optimism. But I think I always had a natural inclination toward sincerity that wasn’t embraced too much in my father’s side of the family, which are all classical musicians or biologists. I spent most of 2022 in Dublin, living alone, working at the Westbury Hotel, and writing this show. It drove me slightly insane, but it forced me not to perform or crack jokes. And once I showed my finished script to a couple people, they were really moved, even my dad who I have never seen cry to this day. That really reaffirmed that there’s strength, humanity, and intelligence in being uncomplicated and honest.

Tell us about your show.

Living With Skeletons is a musical about death (kind of), written by me, the wickedly talented Daniel Fischer. I founded Fishhook Theatre Company for the purpose of putting on this show and pretending we’re official and established. Now it’s got a website and, thanks to this form, a twitter account, so I guess it’s taking on a life of its own. This show is our company’s debut, and our global AND Fringe premier.

I started writing the show not long my eldest sister Paula died of suicide, in spring 2019, right before global shutdown. Initially I needed an outlet for the existential crises I was constantly suffering from, at inopportune times, like during lectures and stuff. I’d get proper freaked out about death, and about the end of all things, or the idea of eternity, or the idea of being inexistent, all questions no one knows the answer to. It started out as just musings on that, and through writing it, and discovering all these characters, I think I produced not only the best thing I’ve ever written, but the medicine I needed to embrace growth and LIFE (ugh so sincere).

I don’t know what’s next for the show, after Fringe. I’d love to get it filmed and put it out on the internet for people to see. I’d also love to publish a cast recording so I can listen to the songs forever, and probably hate them in five years when I’m a better writer and a better singer.

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

You absolutely positively without a doubt HAVE to see Coffee Kid. This is Síomha McQuinn’s absurdist show about a girl whose mom and dad are an espresso machine and George Clooney (respectively). It’s brilliant. I saw it at the Dublin Fringe Festival last autumn, and I’ve never met or spoken to Síomha, (nor am I sure about how I’d approach pronouncing her name), but I still HAVE to plug this show because it changed my life (for better or worse? You decide).

Also go watch Austentatious, objectively the best improv show at the Fringe. Also go watch Laura Ramoso’s Frances, she’s a comedic genius. There’s probably thousands more, but honestly you probably won’t go wrong with anything, even the truly awful shows are a delight to suffer through.
Also watch mine again OH HO HO I said it anyway!! They told me not to say it but I don’t take orders from THE MAN!!

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