“The current accommodation crisis is especially challenging this accessibility.”
WHO: James Horscroft
WHAT: “‘Most reliable sketch group in the game’ **** (EdFringeReview.com). 69 sketches in an hour! Featuring slapstick and wordplay at break-neck speed. ‘An excellent comedy show’ **** (BroadwayBaby.com). Featuring DazzReviews, as seen on YouTube (500,000 subscribers; 100 million views). Following 1,700 tickets sold in 2023, the Barrel return for their fifth year at Edinburgh! This is the speed of TikTok put on a stage. ‘The hot, young comedy act you promised yourself’ **** (GetYourCoatsOn.com). ‘The hit-rate of their sketches is high’ (List).”
WHERE: Gilded Balloon Patter House – Dram (Venue 24)
WHEN: 15:40 (60 min)
MORE: Click Here!
Is this your first time to Edinburgh?
This will be our fifth full run of Edinburgh Fringe, meaning we will surpass 120 performances at the festival by the time we’re done. We’ve been going to Edinburgh since 2018, and have no plans to stop.
Edinburgh Fringe is a unique crossing point between independent arts and mainstream audience, which is an opportunity that is simply not available anywhere else to the same extent.
The best version of this festival is keeping an accessible platform for independent performers, which I celebrate. However, the current accommodation crisis is especially challenging this accessibility. Even we’ve been pushed an hour bus outside of the city. Some serious reform on this front is desperately needed; my 21-year-old self from 2018 wouldn’t have been able to go in this climate.
What are the big things you’ve learned since 2023 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?
That persistence does pay off. Last year, we had record sales (for us) with 1,700 tickets sold across the festival, and over 2,300 tickets sold in total across 2023.
Consequently, this was the first year we were able to pay ourselves (properly) for the month’s work that we’d put in. It was an incredible moment, and just vindicated what the first five years of the group had been working towards.
It also taught us that you don’t need an evening slot to be successful. This was the first late-afternoon slot we’d ever gone with, and it proved to be our most successful production.
Tell us about your show.
‘Not Another 69-Sketch Show’ is a revamped version of our 2023 show, with a load of new sketches added into the bunch, as well as a brand new running story.
This will be the first year that ‘Biscuit Barrel’ will actually have sketches about biscuits, which is exciting. Specifically, Rich Tea has broken away from the pack in pursuit of proving that he is not the most boring biscuit.
I’m surprised just how many biscuits we’ve included, others being Custard Cream, Bourbon, Party Ring, Jammy Dodger, Fortune Cookie, Garibaldi, Oreo, Iced Gems, Club Bar and, yes, controversially a Jaffa Cake… Considering we’re a cast of five, it’s not bad going at all.
We’ve just done a sold-out preview in Bristol, next going to London and Durham before Edinburgh kicks off.
After Edinburgh, we have our most ambitious show yet at the 400-seat Theatre Royal Winchester. The group starting at the nearby university in 2016, it’s a fitting homecoming for such a huge project.
What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?
‘Burning Down The Horse’ may’ve been my favourite last year, and is the sort of show that I would love to make.
‘Locomotive for Murder’ was a Barrel-wide favourite from last year, so we’re really glad to see them back, as we also are with the awesome guys from ‘Potty the Plant’ who have TWO shows this year, the other being ‘Fringe the Musical’.
If you wanted a more thematic Fringe, you could see us one day and ‘A Jaffa Cake Musical’ the other day. We generally don’t endorse cake-related fraudsters, but this would be an exception.
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Get Your Coats On 