“What makes EdFringe unique is its sheer size and the ever-present chance of discovering something that a few years later turns into a cultural icon.”
WHO: Sebastian Michael
WHAT: “What do William Shakespeare and Johann Sebastian Bach have in common? Sebastian Michael, author of The Sonneteer and Sonnetcast podcaster, is trying to find out, bringing you some of his and your favourite sonnets and connecting them – somewhat adventurously – to a fugue. Expect glorious poetry, some fascinating insights, and one or two surprises…”
WHERE: Greenside @ Infirmary Street – Ivy Studio (Venue 236)
WHEN: 11:30 (50 min)
MORE: Click Here!
Is this your first time to Edinburgh?
This is my first time at the Edinburgh Fringe in nearly ten years. I’ve done it in various capacities before – as an actor, performer, director, producer – but never with a spoken word solo show until now.
I’ve had my ‘triumphs’ and ‘disasters’, sometimes with the same show in the same year, and I’ve tried to “treat those two imposters just the same,” as well as anything in-between, though I admit it tends to be markedly easier to handle the former than the latter…
More than once have I told myself: that’s it, I’ve done it now, I don’t need to do this again. But the lure of Edinburgh proves irresistible. What makes it unique is its sheer size, the abundant wealth of productions in one place that you simply don’t get to see anywhere else because they will never be commercially viable enough to make it to London, for example, and the ever-present chance of discovering something that a few years later turns into a cultural icon.
I’ve never been to the Festival just as a punter – even my first trip about 35 years ago was in essence a recce – but I know the choice of shows can be overwhelming. And, as everyone knows, just being there has become prohibitively expensive. This I consider a big problem, because it threatens the experimental nature of the Fringe to its core.
What are the big things you’ve learned since 2022 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?
I have to answer this question very literally: The big things I’ve learnt since 2022 are the Fugue and the Sonnets. I haven’t learnt all of the Sonnets yet – this is a work in progress – but in April 2022 I started learning William Shakespeare’s 154 Sonnets by heart and I’m nearly halfway through, currently, as I write this, approaching Sonnet 68, Thus Is His Cheek the Map of Days Outworn.
Playing the Fugue in C Major from the Well-Tempered Clavier, let alone performing it as part of a show, would have been beyond me a year ago, and the thought of doing so ludicrous. It’s genuinely amazing what a good teacher and a lot of practice can do for you though.
I suppose the big learning in more general terms came in 2020/21 with Covid, which served as a major reset button and put everything in perspective, as has the war in Ukraine since: we really need to treasure our arts, our forms of expression, our poetry, because although they be robust and lasting, the freedom and leisure we need to nurture, develop, and enjoy them are fragile indeed and may come under existential threat at a moment’s notice.
Tell us about your show.
This show sprang from a conversation I had with my young and prodigiously gifted piano teacher, when I wondered out loud: what do William Shakespeare and Johann Sebastian Bach have in common? and semi-jokingly answered: me. On account of my abundant love for them both. The two are really as different as you can imagine, but this piqued my interest further and I thought it might be a rewarding challenge to try and link Shakespeare’s Sonnets somehow to a Fugue by Bach.
The show consists pretty much of what it says on the metaphorical tin: I am presenting some of my and also some of the audience’s favourite Sonnets, giving a bit of background to how they came about and what they may mean, and linking them to one particular piece of music by Bach.
This is a premiere and whether it goes on anywhere else after Edinburgh, and if so where, depends entirely on the universe: if the world wants me to do this show, it is on offer and I’ll consider going anywhere that I’m invited to. If it turns out that nobody has any need or use for it, then I’ll enjoy the rest of the fest as best I can and book it all down to what will in any case be a profound experience.
What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?
I am doing this interview a month before I travel up to the Festival, so I haven’t seen anything yet, but my recommendation to anyone is: go discover! Find the shows nobody’s talking about. Eschew the deluge of ‘star-ratings’ and seek out obscure but interesting premises and ideas. Be the only person in an auditorium that seats sixty and see something that blows your mind.
The following are shows that have so far attracted my attention. They’re mostly from the venue group that I’m at – Greenside – because I’ve only looked at their programme in detail so far, but I have also identified a couple or so outside.
Enjoy:
A/lone: Loneliness and disconnectedness are big themes for us today, and this physical theatre / dance / verbatim piece looks like it’s taking an imaginative approach to them.
Burnt Lavender: “The revolution starts here,” is what this company of students from the University of Worcester say about their foray into LGBTQ+ history. I feel I am part of that history and I’m intrigued to know what the revolution looks like from their perspective…
Maybe Things Are Okay The themes of this show – life, loss and love in different colours – have forever fascinated me and they are ones I have dealt with in some of my own plays. So this is an opportunity to see how a new generation explores them.
Perfect Pairing: A Wine Tasting Dancegustation The concept of a ‘dancegustation’ in itself is one that most likely has to be experienced to be understood, and I am all for word creations if they define something that may well be worth cultivating…
Peer Gynt: A Jazz Festival Grieg and jazz sounds to me like an exquisitely promising combination, and one that I can’t wait to hear in fusion.
Alan Bennett’s Cocktail Sticks I’m a great admirer of Alan Bennett and I don’t know this piece, so this will be one of those opportunities the Fringe often offers for filling an educational gap.
I Believe in One Bach The cue for me here is in the title: I have not found many shows at this year’s Fringe that feature Bach, and none that isn’t simply a performance of his music, except mine and this one here, so obviously I’ll have to go and find out more.
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