Edinburgh

Milo McCabe: The Edinburgh Interviews 2019

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© Steve Ullathorne
Who? Troy Hawke (Milo McCabe)
What? Tiles of the Unexpected!
Where? Underbelly, Bristo Square – Dexter (Venue 302)
When? 17:30

What are your feelings as you enter into this year’s Edinburgh Fringe season?

Right now, excited to get the loose ends of the show tied up. As I write this I am six previews deep with twelve to go and there’s work to be done! There’s a distinct moment when the energy of a show shifts from relaxed knockabout presentation of new ideas that everyone knows is ‘new stuff’ to it actually starting to become a finished product and I’m straddling that at the moment.

What is the premise of your Edinburgh show this year?

I don’t want to give too much away but essentially my character Troy Hawke is investigating deep governmental ties between a presumed defunct mind control program and a ubiquitous furniture giant!

What is the biggest obstacle you face(d) while putting this show together?

I’m facing it right now as it’s an ongoing investigation! When I’m writing a show it always seems like the hardest thing to do in terms of the show, the thing that would require the most effort, is always the right thing to do. It’s so annoying!

Has your attitude towards the Fringe changed at all in recent years?

I still get excited about it, even though I’ve been up several times now. I think it’s pretty hard to not get excited during the festival. There’s like a buzz in the air all the time constantly.

Do you have any other Edinburgh show recommendations?

Tom Houghton, Elliot Steel, Gareth Waugh, Mark Nelson and Ryan Cullen all have shows I’ve seen/heard part of and I can 100% recommend all of them. Elliot and wee Ryan are doing Free Fringe too, so definitely put them on your list.

Where would you like to be in a year’s time?

Next year I’d like to be just as stressed as I am now about my new show having just completed a huge theatre tour of this one! It’s challenging writing a new show every year with the inevitable moments where you have tough previews and material that isn’t quite working but the rush when it comes together is one of the best feelings there is in my opinion.

GET YOUR TICKETS FOR TROY HAWKE: ‘TILES OF THE UNEXPECTED!’ HERE

THE EDINBURGH INTERVIEWS 2019

Catherine Bohart: The Edinburgh Interviews 2019

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© Matt Crockett
Who? Catherine Bohart
What? Lemon
Where? Pleasance Courtyard – Upstairs (Venue 33)
When? 18:00

What are your feelings as you enter into this year’s Edinburgh Fringe season?

I’m really excited for the Fringe this year. Lemon is my second show so I don’t have the same levels of fear that I did last year that I wouldn’t be able to write the show or that I couldn’t make it through the month. Of course, there are new reasons to be anxious (it wouldn’t be any fun if there weren’t), I want the show to be better than last year’s and truer to my comic voice but mainly I’m looking forward to it. I just want people who come back to have a good time and for people who’ve never seen me before to get a clear sense of who I am. I think the show is funnier than last year’s though and that’s a good place to start. I say ‘the show’, I obviously mean the crumpled, tea stained notebook I carry everywhere.

What is the premise of your Edinburgh show this year?

Lemon is about sex, relationships and love. It’s mainly jokes about societal expectants of those things and how they are perceived when between two women. I’ve dated men and woman and though I don’t buy into a gender binary in any strict manner, I hope the show is a fun exploration of how those experiences have differed and compared for me. It’s pretty smutty, I didn’t mean it to be but it seems that all that tea has been making me kind of rude.

What is the biggest obstacle you face(d) while putting this show together?

Scheduling time for crying. Big part of my process.

Has your attitude towards the Fringe changed at all in recent years?

I’m more positive about it than I have been in the past. I mean, sure it’s hard and long and expensive. But also, all your friends are there and you get to perform everyday to people who meant to see you (this may change this year as another comic has the same show title as me), and you see some of the best comedians in the world every day. Whereas before I was quite scared by it, now though I am still terrified, it feels like a fun goal for the year rather than a looming spectre. Most days… I think… yeah, let’s say that.

Do you have any other Edinburgh show recommendations?

Oh yeah, so many! Ahir Shah, Laura Davis, Sarah Keyworth, Chloe Petts, Liza Treyger, Lou Sanders, Helen Bauer, Sophie Duker, Ed Night, Larry Dean, Rhys Nicholson.

Where would you like to be in a year’s time?

Answering Q&As for my Edinburgh Fringe Show. I like to set achievable goals.

GET YOUR TICKETS FOR CATHERINE BOHART: ‘LEMON’ HERE

THE EDINBURGH INTERVIEWS 2019

Ben Pope: The Edinburgh Interviews 2019

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© James Deacon
Who? Ben Pope
What? Dancing Bear
Where? Pleasance Courtyard – Bunker Two (Venue 33)
When? 20:00

What are your feelings as you enter into this year’s Edinburgh Fringe season?

I’m excited, I’m nervous, I’m looking forward to a haggis pie.

What is the premise of your Edinburgh show this year?

It’s a show all about work. Using stories about all the jobs I’ve ever had, I try and shine a light on the current nightmare work atmosphere we’re experiencing – zero hour contracts, unpaid internships, caffeine addiction and the erosion of sleep – and persuade you to work less and live more. Plus there’ll be jokes!

What is the biggest obstacle you face(d) while putting this show together?

The sheer wealth of amazing (and deeply depressing) research and writing there already is on the topic of work. Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber, Not Working by Josh Cohen, Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker… there’s so much exciting literature around at the moment. Trying to convert my sincere opinions and all the fascinating information and stats I’ve learned into solid material has been TOUGH. But very rewarding.

Has your attitude towards the Fringe changed at all in recent years?

When I first came up in 2013 as a fresh-faced and -livered student, the Fringe was complete spiralling Gothic wizardry. This year will be my 7th Fringe in a row, so the varnish has come off – I think I’ve seen too much of the android machinery behind the Wizard of Oz curtain. That said, every year something completely blows my mind or breaks my heart, and if you boil it down, it’s a lot of hope-ful, wonder-ful creative people gathering together and grasping for something live and meaningful in a room and I think that’s really beautiful.

Do you have any other Edinburgh show recommendations?

I saw some of Ed Night’s new material and he’s going to have a blisteringly sharp show.

Where would you like to be in a year’s time?

On holiday in Scandinavia. But if my incessant need for validation is anything to go by, I’ll be back at the Fringe doing another show and filling my body with deep-fried haggis pie.

GET YOUR TICKETS FOR BEN POPE: ‘DANCING BEAR’ HERE

THE EDINBURGH INTERVIEWS 2019

Sukh Ojla: The Edinburgh Interviews 2019

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© Polly Bycroft-Brown
Who? Sukh Ojla
What? For Sukh’s Sake
Where? Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose – Nip (Venue 24)
When? 17:15

What are your feelings as you enter into this year’s Edinburgh Fringe season?

This is the first year I will be performing for the full run so I guess sheer terror laced with excitement. I’m really looking forward to bringing my show to a wider audience as well as seeing a variety of shows and eating lots of jacket potatoes. Of course.

What is the premise of your Edinburgh show this year?

For Sukh’s Sake is about moving back in with your parents at a time when all your mates are buying houses and having babies. It’s about finding yourself crying into a cheese and onion pasty at Rochester train station on a Tuesday afternoon, living a double life, and the extreme lengths I went to in search of happiness.

What is the biggest obstacle you face(d) while putting this show together?

Finances. It was the only reason I ended up applying later than I wanted. I had absolutely no idea how I would pay for it. Thankfully a combination of extreme saving, acting work and the fact that I hate socialising has helped.

Has your attitude towards the Fringe changed at all in recent years?

Not really. I still think the Fringe is inaccessible to people from low income, working class and BAME backgrounds. If I didn’t live with my parents and have an over inflated sense of self there is no way I would be able to go up for the whole month.

Do you have any other Edinburgh show recommendations?

I caught a preview of Tamsyn Kelly’s show, Petroc, which is about her experience of growing up on an estate near Lands End with a dangerous father and a disabled mother.

Where would you like to be in a year’s time?

Not living with my parents.

GET YOUR TICKETS FOR SUKH OJLA: ‘FOR SUKH’S SAKE’ HERE

THE EDINBURGH INTERVIEWS 2019

Kate Lucas: The Edinburgh Interviews 2019

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© Steve Ullathorne
Who? Kate Lucas
What? Is Selling Herself
Where? Just The Tonic at The Tron (Venue 51)
When? 18:20

What are your feelings as you enter into this year’s Edinburgh Festival season?

Fear of so many things – hills, liver damage etc. but I’m looking forward to it. The Fringe feels like exam time for comics. We all have to hand in our work and get marked but it’s so much fun to spend all that time with your peers and be in the centre of what you love. I really love the city, I think it’s beautiful and the atmosphere is great. In terms of feelings it’s like a year’s worth of gigs squashed into one month so all the highs and lows are magnified and it’s a rollercoaster. I cry every year at least once. But that makes sense, if you think about it it’s an insane thing to do. Imagine going to Glastonbury for a month. You’d go nuts and we all do every year!

What is the premise of your Edinburgh show this year?

I’m always told I’m bad at ‘selling myself’ and that I need to think of myself as a ‘brand’ so I decided to take that advice very seriously and auction off all my body parts to the audience. It’s just silly and it’s my way of questioning the influence marketing has on us all. I don’t know how I fit into the age of YouTube and social media but I feel like the lines have become very blurred. Advertising has crept into everything and I’m very suspicious of that. I read an amazing Banksy quote: ‘Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It’s yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head.’ It’s way longer than that but it perfectly articulates everything I feel about advertising and how kind of rude it is. It’s rude to shove yourself in someone’s way and say ‘Do you look old? This supermodel doesn’t. How embarrassing for you. You’d better buy this cream’. It’s kind of about that.

What is the biggest obstacle you face(d) while putting this show together?

This show’s a bit riskier than my last show because there’s more audience interaction so it makes it a bit unpredictable. I mock a particular advert in the show and it just so happened that the man who wrote that ad was in the audience at one of my previews. The odds of that have to be slim but I don’t think I have a fan in that man at all. He does not like me. It’s also tricky doing a musical show and trying to weave in themes because the songs are sort of like self-contained stories in themselves. It’s been challenging but fun to write a show about something I’m quite opinionated about and trying to figure out how to make it silly and not too preachy.

Has your attitude towards the Fringe changed at all in recent years?

Ha ha I had a bit of a tragic/funny moment in the Pleasance Dome last year where I was chatting to a friend saying ‘Is it me or is the Fringe much quieter this year? I feel like there’s less partying and buzz.’ and as I said that a table full of 20 year olds to the left of us burst out laughing at something and it dawned on us both that we’re just old now. I’m more familiar with the Fringe and in some ways that makes it less daunting but even though I’ve been up there a lot, this is only my second solo show so that will add some butterflies for sure.

Do you have any other Edinburgh show recommendations?

Oh dear. I hate this question. Unfortunately for me there is a massive abundance of talent at the Fringe. There are so many people I love and I’m bad at choosing. Go and see Alfie Brown, Lou Sanders, Heidi Regan, Bobby Mair, Jonny Pelham. ALL OF THEM. NOW. And then go and get truffle mac and cheese in George Square. I have been mourning that sweet junk food for 10 long months and if the mac and cheese stand isn’t there this year, well, I won’t be held responsible for my actions.

Where would you like to be in a year’s time?

Driving in my car! I’m 30 and I don’t even have a provisional license but I’m going on an intensive course after Edinburgh. It’d be great to be driving myself around to tour my show. I’ve also got some scripted projects in development and I’d like to be moving forward with those.

GET YOUR TICKETS FOR KATE LUCAS: ‘IS SELLING HERSELF’ HERE

THE EDINBURGH INTERVIEWS 2019

Tony Law: The Edinburgh Interviews 2019

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© Storm Davison
Who? Tony Law
What? Identifies
Where? Monkey Barrel 3 (Venue 515)
When? 12:15

What are your feelings as you enter into this year’s Edinburgh Fringe season?

Trepidation then at turns blank coldness. Like life really. Intensely nervous but pretending I’m old and cool.

What is the premise of your Edinburgh show this year?

This will be my 16th show. For 15 I did funny from beginning to end trying to be original. Not worked getting me on TV. So this year no jokes. Just talking with a nice hat on. 2 songs. That’s it. Oddly this is the one I’ve written the most for. Maybe over 100000 words. And threw it all out. Well it’s still there. But I don’t like it. So. No more mister funny. However I’m not doing a structure either. It’s like cheating. University students using their essay skills in Edinburgh. Can’t compete. So just talking and moving. And pretending. Play. 

What is the biggest obstacle you face(d) while putting this show together?

Erm. My tour of my last show went rather late. Also I’m a moron and I find it hard to write. But I got given an old laptop. My first since 2013. So I just wrote 8 hours a day minimum for months. But it’s all Shit. So. See above. 

Has your attitude towards the Fringe changed at all in recent years?

No. I’ve always known it’s a middle class bubble of progressive like minded people. I like that though. I get along very well with the middle classes and many of my interests align with them. The locals rip you off. Upper class men own the venues and make all the money. The posh eating themselves. I try rebel by being as crap at stand up as possible whilst still getting laughs. It is what it is. My friends come see me there. It’s like farming. Edinburgh is my spring seeding and the rest of the year I tour what the festival helped grow.  

Do you have any other Edinburgh show recommendations?

 Phil Nichol. 

Where would you like to be in a year’s time?

 On a holiday. Been years n years.

GET YOUR TICKETS FOR TONY LAW: ‘IDENTIFIES’ HERE

THE EDINBURGH INTERVIEWS 2019

Any Suggestions, Doctor?: The Edinburgh Interviews 2019

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© Steve Ullathorne
Who/What? Any Suggestions, Doctor? The Improvised Doctor Who Parody
Where? Pleasance Dome – KingDome (Venue 23)
When? 19:00

What are your feelings as you enter into this year’s Edinburgh Fringe season?

MANIA. TOTAL MANIA. As ever, we’re all absolutely hopped-up, pepped-up, gassed-up and supercharged for the most exciting month of the year. Indeed, we’ll all be living in a slum, working 22 hours of the day and existing only on beige food, but we have an undying love affair with Edinburgh (as most performers seem to). She can spurn us all she likes with rain, insomnia, and expensive beers, but the sheer thrill of performing daily to audiences made up of passionate creatives and lovers of life will keep us coming back again and again.

What is the premise of your Edinburgh show this year?

It’s an improvised episode of Doctor Who. We’ll take an audience suggestion for both a setting and an episode title, we’ll fire up the on-stage TARDIS, reboot K9, make sure the set’s not too wobbly, take you wherever you like in Time and Space, and have you home in time for tea. We’re joined, as ever, by our live radiophonic workshop, but beyond that… it’s up to you! We’ve been to the Sauce Mines of Heinz 57, an Inter-dimensional Woolworths, and even… Slough. We’ve seen Teletubbies take over planets, The Silence terrorise The Gorbals, and Daleks with a hangover so powerful that it could punch a hole in the universe. We can’t wait to see where you’ll whisk us off to this year.

What is the biggest obstacle you face(d) while putting this show together?

We’ve put everything into the show for 2019. That means having sets built, props made, music written, tech ordered, and, logistically, all of that can be tough. However, we all love doing the show so much (and more often than not end rehearsals rolling about on the floor laughing) that any administrative bits and bobs are always completely worth it.

Has your attitude towards the Fringe changed at all in recent years?

It’s a source of comfort that the Fringe is always there. Every August. One glorious month. It’s a constant, a lone bastion for silliness, joie de vivre and creativity whilst everything else in the world seems to be pulling in the opposite direction. Our attitude to the Fringe hasn’t changed, but perhaps we need this wonderful festival now more than ever. Come one, come all to the Edinburgh Fringe! A wonderful tonic! Forget the worries of Brexit and house prices and climate change and ease your mind with some comedy, or be inspired by some new writing to go out and change the path we’re on. And, most importantly, come to the Pleasance Dome every night at 7pm – it’s just what The Doctor ordered.

Do you have any other Edinburgh show recommendations?

I’ve asked every member of the company to recommend one show for 2019. (I regret this, the resulting debate and therefore response time was painful). Here’s our list:

Tom Taylor: Is the Indie Feel-Good Hit of the Summer
Baby Wants Candy: The Completely Improvised Full Band Musical
Diane Chorley: Modern Love
Tom Elwes and Ali Woods
The Silliad: Improvised Myths and Legends

Where would you like to be in a year’s time?

Exploding out of Jodie Whittaker’s face in a burst of golden light. Although that would mean no more Dr Jodie, and we love her. We’ll happily be a companion. Or get inside a Dalek.

GET YOUR TICKETS FOR ‘ANY SUGGESTIONS DOCTOR? THE IMPROVISED DOCTOR WHO PARODY’ HERE

THE EDINBURGH INTERVIEWS 2019

Njambi McGrath: The Edinburgh Interviews 2019

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© Steve Ullathorne
Who? Njambi McGrath
What? Accidental Coconut
Where? Just The Tonic at Marlin’s Wynd – Just The Wyndy Room (Venue 296)
When? 16:05

What are your feelings as you enter into this year’s Edinburgh Fringe season?

It’s always exciting when I hear the thud at the door and the directory lands on my welcome mat because that signals that Edinburgh is nigh. This is my annual ritual. I wait for a sunny day because there is nothing I love more than sitting in my garden with a cup of tea looking through all the shows. It’s always the same every year as I get halfway slowly panic sets in, that my show needs polishing, and that I need more previews. This year is no exception. I am excited, and nervous at the same time.

What is the premise of your Edinburgh show this year?

My show is about identity hence the title Accidental Coconut. It bothered me that someone took the trouble to find a racial slur that describes a brown person who thinks white and my show questions the notion whether a black person can truly be of independent mind given the hijacking of the black narrative from slavery and colonialism. This is in juxtaposition with Brexit as the British people wrestle with identity and how our two worlds collide having being born in an ex-colony. 

What is the biggest obstacle you face(d) while putting this show together?

Getting enough previews to do the whole show is always problematic.

Has your attitude towards the Fringe changed at all in recent years?

The issues still remain the same, every year for rentals get even more expensive and every year affordability becomes even more questionable. I guess this is still my view.

Do you have any other Edinburgh show recommendations?

I do. There are a few Africans at the Fringe this year so go see Daliso Chaponda and Loyiso Gola.

Where would you like to be in a year’s time?

Doing a Netflix special.

GET YOUR TICKETS FOR NJAMBI MCGRATH: ‘ACCIDENTAL COCONUT’ HERE

THE EDINBURGH INTERVIEWS 2019

Patrick Monahan: The Edinburgh Interviews 2019

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© Steve Ullathorne
Who? Patrick Monahan
What? Started From The Bottom, Now I’m Here
Where? Gilded Balloon Teviot – Nightclub (Venue 14)
When? 20:00

What are your feelings as you enter into this year’s Edinburgh Fringe season?

Excitement, hunger, sleeplessness, and tiredness. But this is all because we’re moving house just before the 2019 festival. Which is probably one of the maddest things you can do at this time of year. Normally a couple of months before Edinburgh Festival I’d be travelling around doing previews, and getting myself rested up ready for a month long marathon in Scotland. Instead i’m moving around boxes of notes and comedy ideas for my new show from one house to another. It’s actually a great way to distract yourself from worrying too much too.

What is the premise of your Edinburgh show this year?

It’s a very personal show this year. Each year I always try to reveal a bit more of my upbringing and life, flashing back to my immigrant roots and comparing it to today’s world. This show looks at how we not only were immigrants, as outsiders, we were also poor immigrants coming from the Middle East as kids, growing up in a small working class town in the north of England, living in a caravan for most of my teenage years. I could probably make about 10 separate one hour Edinburgh shows out of just this part of my life. 

What is the biggest obstacle you face(d) while putting this show together?

When you start to open up and reveal more of yourself to the audience you have got to be careful that you don’t scare or alienate them. But I think we’re so lucky in the UK that we have the best comedy savvy audience that they love to hear about every aspect of life. Also, it’s important when you’re doing a show like this at the festival that you get the balance right between observational comedy and personal routines. 

Has your attitude towards the Fringe changed at all in recent years?

No, the Fringe does a great job, in that it allows performers to bring a new show and let it live and breath and take shape amongst one of the greatest audiences in the western hemisphere.

Do you have any other Edinburgh show recommendations?

See as many shows as you can. Theres no point spending hours on a train, and £100’s on hotels and food and only see one show. But don’t try and see more than 5 shows a day or you’ll be heading to the festival on a train and leaving in an ambulance.

Where would you like to be in a year’s time?

I’d love to be settled in my new house, with all my new notes of my new show neatly organised in folders in my filing cabinet instead of in crates and shoe boxes in the back of a truck or warehouse, which is where they are today.

GET YOUR TICKETS FOR PATRICK MONAHAN: ‘STARTED FROM THE BOTTOM, NOW I’M HERE’ HERE

THE EDINBURGH INTERVIEWS 2019

Mr Twonkey: The Edinburgh Interviews 2019

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© Steve Ullathorne
Who? Mr Twonkey
What? Twonkey’s Ten Year Twitch
Where? Just The Tonic at The Caves – Just the Wee One (Venue 88)
When? 16:10

What are your feelings as you enter into this year’s Edinburgh Fringe season?

Climate change seems to the big issue that everyone is focusing on this year it seems. I am covering that but in my own way. I think what’s coming around the corner for the whole world is really going to hurt but let’s have fun before the devil takes the wheel, in fact he’s already at the wheel so lets hide in the hold together and make merry.

What is the premise of your Edinburgh show this year?

Its kind of a piss take on conspiracy theories, its about the idea of fake weather being produced by a sinister cake decorating shop in the Dordogne. At the same time its just framework for me to hang my loons and larks with puppets and props and diddlysquats. I use a fair number of wigs this year.

What is the biggest obstacle you face(d) while putting this show together?

I’m ten years into doing this so sometimes the hardest person to please is myself. Often I get bored with myself, which can be a nightmare, as you can’t really escape yourself but wearing a wig helps. Sometimes a long fast run around the docks helps clear the air. A guy four doors down has an old chow chow (like really super fat bear but in dog form) that always needs walking so I sometimes take that for sniff about and I’m dyslexic which means a get on well with dogs and it takes my mind off the Twonkeyverse.

Has your attitude towards the Fringe changed at all in recent years?

Yes it seems to get more and more fierce and cutthroat but you can’t really let that into your mind. You just need to get on with your small corner and make sure your show and yourself are in the best place possible to make the most of it all. I still get joy from it and I’m always finding new ways of sucking huge amounts of nectar from the giant Fringe flower.

Do you have any other Edinburgh show recommendations?

Enjoyed these two shows at the Prague Fringe this year: Isa Bonachera: The Great Emptiness; An Audience with Yasmine Day

Where would you like to be in a year’s time?

Crystal Caves would be lovely, it’s a cave in the British overseas territory of Bermuda. It is located in Hamilton Parish, close to Castle Harbour. The cave is approximately 500m long, and 62m deep. The lower 19-20m of the cave are below water level. That would be wonderful, I could have a wee rest down there.

When and where can people see your show? Twonkey’s Ten Year Twitch, Just the Tonic at the Caves – Just the Wee One. 16:10 August 1-11,13-25.

http://twonkey.blogspot.com
https://www.instagram.com/twonkeyverse/?hl=en
https://twitter.com/twonkeys

GET YOUR TICKETS FOR ‘TWONKEY’S TEN YEAR TWITCH’ HERE

THE EDINBURGH INTERVIEWS 2019