“I can’t wait for Edinburgh audiences to experience the delightful mix of campiness, stupidity, and pure magic that Swamplesque is.”
WHO: Trigger Happy
WHAT: “After taking Australia by storm, everyone’s favourite ogre-inspired burlesque and drag parody is finally coming to Edinburgh! Swamplesque is the award-winning, critically acclaimed, burlesque parody show from Far Far Away! This ‘outrageously fun’ (Advertiser, Adelaide) show offers its audience a smörgåsbord of performance styles. ‘Brilliantly executed, side-splittingly funny’ ***** (TheUpsideNews.com). ‘A high quality, raucous and silly fairy tale adventure’ ***** (WeekendNotes.com). ‘The surrealness is unmatched, unlike any burlesque show you’ll probably ever see’ ***** (TheCuriousWriter.net). Winner, Best Cabaret Weekly Award (Adelaide Fringe). Winner, Best Cabaret Weekly Award (Fringe World).”
WHERE: Assembly Hall – Main Hall (Venue 35)
WHEN: 22:20 (60 min)
MORE: Click Here!
Is this your first time to Edinburgh?
This is my first time in Edinburgh producing a show but my second time as a performer/punter. My first Edinburgh Fringe was in 2022 – I arrived in Edinburgh with 2 performances and left doing 52 shows in 26 days and saw over 40 shows! I was absolutely hooked and knew I wanted to bring Swamplesque, it’s taken 2 years but I am so THRILLED to be bringing the show and I can’t wait for Edinburgh audiences to experience the delightful mix of campiness, stupidity, and pure magic that Swamplesque is.
What are the big things you’ve learned since 2023 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?
We have just finished a mammoth 15 week tour in Australia and it has taught myself and everyone in the cast exactly what we need to do to keep being successful! Having done so many shows, day after day, it’s hard as performers to keep the show fresh but knowing that we have a new audience in every show – they laugh at different things, the scream and cheer in points of the show other audiences don’t, they are continually keeping us on our toes and pushing us to do our best!
I think the biggest lesson we learnt was keeping our bodies nourished both physically and mentally. We take time before each show to check in on each other, we eat a vegetable every now and then and have the most intense games of Skip-Bo you’ll ever see! We have really bonded with eachother and it’s made the show better, tighter and funnier.
Tell us about your show.
I (Trigger Happy) have been performing my solo ogre act since 2017 and toured all around the world with it – in late 2019 I thought why not create a fringe show with all the different characters from the movie and put out a casting call to the Australian Burlesque community! I got back dozens of applications and narrowed it down to a cast of 8 (5 of which are still in the show today) and we debuted the show in January 2020. Since then, we have performed Swamplesque close to 100 times at different festivals and theaters across Australia.
The creation of the show has always been a collaborative effort, each individual performer chose their music and created an act, then we would piece together the show. It’s been a 50 minute show, a full 2.5 hour theatre show and now runs at a very tight 60 minutes! Over time acts get upgraded, performers change but the essence of the show will always be the same – a special shout out to Bebe Gunn and Henny Spaghetti (who were both in the original show) and still to this day do the same duet on stage that debuted in January 2020.
What’s next for Swamplesque – we hope some really big things! Coming to Edinburgh was on our bucket list and we hope that being exposed to some many industry folk and new audiences will mean we can keep touring this show all around the world!
What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?
Apricity – Casus Creations. It’s such a stunning piece of contemporary circus, truly a jaw dropping beautiful show!
Batshit – Leah Shelton. Leah is a fellow Brisbane performer, her work is INCREDIBLE. Every time I see her perform I’m left in awe, walking away going what did I just watch – in the BEST POSSIBLE WAY. Truly a master of her craft!
Reuben Kaye. See any of Reuben’s shows – Live and Intimidating or The Kaye Hole, Reuben is an extraordinary performer, one of the quickest wits and is also generally a really lovely person. The perfect storyteller that makes you want to sit up and listen, he’s funny, he can sing and he will probably make fun of you.
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