“I’ve met brilliant people at Edinburgh Fringe, even just as a punter. The first person to ever read this script, Katie Plott, was someone I met at Edinburgh in 2023. God bless her.”
WHO: Panos Kandunias
WHAT: “Charlie’s sick of his iPhone. His best friend never replies, his mum nags him and everyone else’s life looks better than his own. Sick of scrolling, for his 27th birthday, he’s buying an old-school flip phone. No more five-hour screen time days. That’ll fix everything… won’t it? I Bought a Flip Phone is a hilarious, heartfelt dive into digital burnout, raunchy texts from men, and the feeling of waiting for your life to start. Join Charlie for an hour of hilarity and honesty as he searches for connection and some peace of mind.”
WHERE: Playground 2 at ZOO Playground (Venue 186)
WHEN: 15:35 (60 min)
MORE: Click Here!
Is this your first time to Edinburgh?
Yes, this is my first Edinburgh Fringe as a performer or writer. I’m very lucky to have my wonderful producer PJ who has produced at Ed Fringe several times and so has been really supportive, encouraging and listened to all my panicked voice notes.
EdFringe feels special because it really feels as though the city is enmeshed with it for that month and so the energy for it feels through the roof. The quality is unparalleled too. There’s a feeling that you could see something that will truly WOW you at any time of day.
I’ve met brilliant people at Edinburgh Fringe, even just as a punter. The first person to ever read this script, Katie Plott, was someone I met at Edinburgh in 2023. God bless her.
It really holds a special place in my heart. Some of the pieces that have inspired me most have been at Edinburgh and so it feels like a real joy to be bringing this to the Fringe.
What are the big things you’ve learned since 2025 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?
That you can’t do it all and that trying to is actually quite misery inducing.
To feel as though you’re on top of being in touch with friends and family and spending as much as time as you want with them, do well at work, sleep enough, do your skin care, exercise, read all the things you want… I could go on. But I’ve really started to accept that something has to give.
As much as I’d like to, I’ve started to accept that I cannot be available all the time and constantly say yes. It’s just not possible. If someone has the trick for that please let me know (I already drink a crazy amount of coffee).
Really, there is a huge amount of value in pausing and assessing what you want your attention to go towards at this moment. Maybe sometimes, it will be more towards work, sometimes more towards your partner, sometimes more towards your family or friends. I’m trying to put that into practice but I always feel like I’m falling short on something and need to get over that. I suppose I’m trying to put it in practice ahead of Fringe. It’s a really big endeavour and so I’m trying to focus on rest, and staying calm before the adrenaline will run my life for a month. This run will be the thing I focus on and everything else will have to take a backseat.
It’s a big part of what the show is about: feeling as though you’re now getting your life right. I think we’ve become so used to consuming everyone else’s lives, it’s really easy to feel as though we’re not doing enough.
Tell us about your show.
I wrote it and I perform it (the Earth just shattered). I wrote it a while back now and it felt a little bit like falling in love. When I would talk to friends about it felt a little bit as though I was talking about a crush. Sometimes you write something and it feels like wading through the thickest, nastiest mud to get it to where you want it. Whereas this felt, yes, like hard work, but it felt like a crush that would always text back. Whenever I was stressed, it would resolve itself. I would find a way forward. It was the best feeling and I’m so proud of it.
I then staged a couple workshop performances at spaces in London, after I had some wonderful friends watch me do it in my living room many times, to make sure I wasn’t entirely delusional and that it would work in front of an audience. Thank god audiences laughed and also loved the ending.
I then eventually got connected to amazing producers at HOME in Manchester, Lisa and Saff, who programmed the show for a four night run. That was the first time the show got reviewed, and it felt great to see critics and audiences connect with the play over that week and find it really funny. The play then got put on at Oxford Playhouse, and Theatre Royal Bath for short runs which were both wonderful.
Saff connected me to PJ, who read it and said she wanted to produce it for Edinburgh Fringe, and so here we are. As for after? Time will tell!
What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?
My dear, incredible friend Toby Graham is doing his play Slugs at 12:55 at Pleasance Courtyard. I can’t wait for people to see what he’s written. It’s darkly funny, it’s uncomfortable in the best way and I think people are really going to want to dissect what they’ve just seen when they watch it.
I’m really excited to see Katrina Bennett’s play Cruising. I’m not sure how you could read the blurb on the Fringe website and not be intrigued.
Racists, Recessions and Revolutions as well as Thermodrama both high on my list too!
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