Tag Archives: Underbelly, Cowgate

+3 Interview: Losers

Posted in EdFestivals 2017, Plus 3 2017 - Reviews, Written Interviews by

“Edinburgh’s bloomin’ expensive. We’ve finally emptied our piggy banks and taken the plunge.”

WHO: Arthur Jones, Performer

WHAT: “Grab a voting handset, meet four dangerously desperate contestants and decide their formidable fates. It’s the most nail-biting TV game show of the decade and no one’s going down without a fight. Theatrical mischief-makers Tit4Twat bring their critically-acclaimed satire to Edinburgh for the first time. 16+ (stupidity and real violence guaranteed).”

WHERE: Underbelly, Cowgate (Venue 61) 

WHEN: 23:20 (60 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

As a company – yes. We’ve been performing Losers all over the place for the last 3 years – but Edinburgh’s bloomin’ expensive. We’ve finally emptied our piggy banks and taken the plunge.

Tell us about your show.

We’re bringing Losers to Underbelly Cowgate: a rowdy, late-night and interactive satire about the depths reality TV contestants will go for a ‘big break’. Audience members are armed with electronic voting handsets, and introduced to four performers who’ll do anything (and we mean anything) to win the audience’s affection and avoid getting punished.

We, Tit4Twat Theatre, devised the show together in response to a couple of (now banned) reality shows that took torture and degradation of contestants so far that people very nearly got hurt. Google The Chair and The Chamber to see what we mean. The fact those formats were permitted to air in the first place and (indeed) people signed up to ‘star’ on them troubled us though – so we did a lot of research, and Losers is the result.

Tit4Twat is three Warwick University Theatre graduates (Arthur, Rachel and Sophie), who share a love for creating messy interactive performance. We formed the company soon after graduating, and have spent the last 3 years creating and touring Losers predominantly around London venues (Camden People’s Theatre, Rosemary Branch, Etcetera and Rag Factory) but also further afield (Warwick Arts Centre, Derby Theatre and now Underbelly).

Post-Edinburgh, we’re taking the show back to London – Rich Mix in Shoreditch – to feature in We Are Now Festival, which celebrates performance that utilises emerging and innovative technology. A Spring 2018 tour is then (excitingly) in the pipeline.

What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?

Barely Methodical Troupe’s Kin. We just re-watched it at Latitude this weekend and it’s SO GOOD. Circus with charm, attitude and a banana.

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+3 Interview: Laughing Stock 

Posted in EdFestivals 2016, Written Interviews by

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“Thus began a month of treacherous crutching and wheelchair manoeuvring around Edinburgh, a famously cobbled and hilly city.”

WHO: Rhys Bevan – Performer

WHAT: “Irreverent. Irrelevant. Elephant. Last year, Laughing Stock were a brand new sketch comedy foursome. Now, they’re back to improve upon their five-star debut. Winners of the SketchFest 2015 Audience Choice Award, finalists at Sketch Club 2015, Sketch Off 2016 and official selection at the SketchFest and CoFilmic Sketch Screen Awards.”

WHERE: Underbelly, Cowgate (Venue 61)

WHEN: 15:40 (60 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

No, this is Laughing Stock’s second year up at the Fringe. Last year we were just about to perform our London previews when Lewis (one of the four performers) ruptured his achilles tendon. Thus began a month of treacherous crutching and wheelchair manoeuvring around Edinburgh, a famously cobbled and hilly city.

Despite this, and the many other hurdles that came with it being our first foray into the Fringe, we had loads of fun, some great audiences and some lovely reviews. So here we are again!

Tell us about your show.

Our show is a sketch comedy show, irreverent and varied with music, dance, storytelling and song. We devise it, write it, produce it and rehearse it ourselves. We are Rhys Bevan, Arabella Gibbins, Lewis Doherty and Phoebe Higson. We all met many moons ago at drama school and have all given up lucrative Los Angeles-based careers for this.

What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?

So difficult to pick one. But I was so impressed with Emma Sidi yesterday. Super slick, polished and laugh-out-loud funny. Even better than last year!

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+3 Interview: In Our Hands

Posted in EdFestivals 2016, Written Interviews by

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“It’s a fast paced, human and heartfelt hour that will leave the audience gunning for Alf to succeed.”

WHO: Molly Freeman – Co-Artistic Director and Performer/Puppeteer

WHAT: “Alf is a trawler fisherman at the top of his game. But times are changing and so is the industry. Will Alf adapt in order to survive? Follow a fish’s journey from sea to plate, watch a seagull’s ridiculous attempt to find food and witness a father and son reunite. Award-winning Smoking Apples, co-creators of CELL, use innovative puppetry, a striking set and an original score to transport you out to sea, under the ocean and onto the deck of the Catcher’s Fortune.”

WHERE: Underbelly, Cowgate (Venue 61)

WHEN: 16:00 (60 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

No, this is our second trip to Edinburgh. Last year, we brought our previous show, CELL, which was a collaboration with another puppetry company, Dogfish. We’ve also all been to Edinburgh prior to this with other companies and shows. It’s really exciting to be back with In Our Hands, we love the city and the festival, it’s the best bubble to be in in August.

Tell us about your show.

In Our Hands uses puppetry and visual theatre to tell the story of Alf, a trawler fisherman. It’s a show about how the current pressures in the trawling industry affect the people who work in it but it’s also about Alf’s personal life and his distant relationship with his son. It’s a fast paced, human and heartfelt hour that will leave the audience gunning for Alf to succeed.

It is a bit of an odd subject to make a show about but that’s sort of our thing. We like to take subjects that are difficult to digest and use puppetry and visuals to present them in an interesting, accessible and enjoyable way. We work very much as a devising collective with everyone in the cast taking responsibility for the creative content. Myself and my colleagues Matt and Hattie, co-produce and co-direct but ultimately, the show is a direct product of the entire cast and creative team.

We started developing In Our Hands is 2014 and premiered it last year in 2015. We chose to make a show about trawler fishing because within our cast of five, we had a number of different, conflicting opinions on it and thought this would be a good starting point. Myself, Matt and Hattie met whilst studying at Drama school and then we studied puppetry abroad in Prague together and this formed the basis of our company. Luke and George are our long term associates but we have never made a show together so decided it was time. That, and they have some great beards…

What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?

I highly recommend checking out The Marked by Theatre Temoin, it’s a brilliantly dark show featuring some stunning mask work and well worth a watch. The hilarious and abusive bad boys of the puppetry world, Boris and Sergey, are also back this year and they’ve brought along their own venue, the Omnitorium. They’re hugely entertaining and no two shows are the same because they are completely improvised. Also, if you’re an artist at the Fringe, you also get a discount at the bar – winner!

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