“The festival is so massive it can often feel quite lonely, like you’re lost in the crowd – so hopefully our show ‘Crying Shame’, a wild sparkly cabaret all about loneliness, will connect our audiences and help people feel like part of the Fringe community.”
WHO: Conor Dumbrell
WHAT: “Step inside Club Fragilé for a cabaret-show-cum-wellness-journey all about loneliness. In a dusty dreamscape you’ll encounter washed-up cabaret acts, filthy lip-syncs and a joyous celebration of queer culture, as these camp clowns try – and possibly fail – to connect with you (I know, how embarrassing). You might be lonely, but you’re definitely not alone. Devised by emerging queer theatre collective Sweet Beef, who work to explore socio-political issues with a healthy dose of audience interaction and comedy. Recipient of the Pleasance’s Charlie Hartill Fund 2024.”
WHERE: Pleasance Dome – King Dome (Venue 23)
WHEN: 21:30 (60 min)
MORE: Click Here!
Is this your first time to Edinburgh?
I’ve been up to EdFringe twice before, in 2017 and 2019 so I’m very excited to see what’s changed since the pandemic. Apparently, the greatest bagel shop in the world, Elephants and Bagels, has closed down so I’ll be on the hunt for new spots for lunch. It’s Sweet Beef’s first Fringe as a company and we’re buzzing to be heading up with Pleasance as winners of their Charlie Hartill Fund. Fringe has the most magical atmosphere, the whole city is overflowing with brilliant shows all day and all night and you’re guaranteed to bump into a friendly face wherever you go. But the festival is so massive it can often feel quite lonely, like you’re lost in the crowd – so hopefully our show ‘Crying Shame’, a wild sparkly cabaret all about loneliness, will connect our audiences and help people feel like part of the Fringe community.
What are the big things you’ve learned since 2023 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?
We’ve learnt how to do glossy, glittery clown make-up that doesn’t sweat off for a whole hour of dancing. We learnt how to make promenade performances too. The show was originally commissioned by Stanley Arts in Croydon as part of the London Borough of Culture as an immersive cabaret installation, where audiences were guided through the crumbling dreamscape of Club Cabaret Fragilé. It was a huge design with bathtubs and bubble wrap and discos and we’re currently figuring out how to fit it all into Pleasance King Dome. It’s a mammoth task but we’re definitely trying to learn adaptability! Plus we’ve been learning how to inject as much humour as possible into our shows. The production dives into rough topics like loneliness, isolation and shame and we’ve discovered that best way to tackle them is head-on with humour and showstopping Britney numbers rather than getting stuck under a melancholic raincloud.
Tell us about your show.
Our show is called ‘Crying Shame’. It’s a cabaret-tyle theatre piece all about loneliness packed full of audience interaction, lip-syncs, dancing, confetti, clowns and biscuits. It’s was devised by us at Sweet Beef, Pleasance’s London Associate Artists, and won the Charlie Hartill Award 2024 and is supported by the Keep It Fringe Fund. We originally met at LAMDA and devised a show called ‘I Hate It Here’, about zero-hours contracts, that toured the UK to 5-star reviews. We’ve since expanded and work with loads of new creatives, performers and theatre-makers, running workshops and sharing our work all over the country. For ‘Crying Shame’ we interviewed people of all ages about loneliness and have spun their perspectives into a funny, punchy cabaret show, bursting at the seams with desperation and our performers’ need to be loved.
What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?
We’ve got tonnes of recommendations!
Definitely catch the other Charlie Hartill-winning shows at Pleasance. ‘Duck’ by Two Magpies is filled with hard-hitting hope and ‘For the Love of Spam’ by Sierra Sevilla is so witty and neat and has the friendliest team at the Fringe. Plus they give you free Spam!
If you like the sound of Crying Shame then you’ll love ‘plewds’, Kathrine Payne’s award-winning clown show about a queer relationship gone bad. The show at Summerhall takes weird, unexpected and hilariously dark turns and it’s the perfect subversive Fringe show with a mind-blowingly skilled central performance.
Super excited to see Mark Hannah’s beautiful ode to Edinburgh ‘Athens of the North’ – he’s a properly gifted actor and the show is brilliant.
Can’t wait to soak up loads of comedy too. I’m going to take my mum to see Rose Matafeo’s show ‘On and On and On’ at Pleasance because she is hilarious and we’re obsessed with her TV show Starstruck. It’s the best RomCom series ever – on BBC iPlayer if you’ve not seen it yet. And John Tothill is a comic genius.
Jazzed to see Ugly Sisters by piss/CARNATION too. They won this year’s Untapped Award at Underbelly and their work is so magical and bold and vulnerable.
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