Who? Laura Lexx
What? Knee Jerk
Where? Gilded Balloon Teviot – Turret (Venue 14)
When? 17:15
What are your feelings as you enter into this year’s Edinburgh Fringe season?
Excited. I had a really good time last year and it’s given me so much energy to race back in with a really tight show full of punchy ideas and things I’m excited to share with an audience.
What is the premise of your Edinburgh show this year?
I’m looking at fear this year… my own big fears, but also how fear seems to charge people up to behave in certain ways. I’m using the techniques I assembled during my own mental health therapy to try to get to the bottom of some of the root fears that are fuelling the way people react to certain things within society.
What is the biggest obstacle you face(d) while putting this show together?
Nerves about getting it wrong. I think I worry a lot about being complicit through silence on things I don’t agree with, but then I am constantly scared too about trying to be vocal in case I’m not the most informed person on the planet. Hopefully with this show I’ve found a way to speak up and be supportive of things that are important to me.
Has your attitude towards the Fringe changed at all in recent years?
Yes, hugely. I’ve seen through some of the more ridiculous, energy sapping aspects of it and started to see it for what it is: a fun, colourful wonderful playground that only has to feel competitive if you succumb to that pressure. It’s hard to go in focusing forward but you really have to put your blinkers on and go in looking for the highs.
Do you have any other Edinburgh show recommendations?
Jess Fostekew’s show ‘Hench’ and Paul F Taylor’s show ‘Odd Paul’. I saw previews of both of them at Machynlleth Festival and I’m SO excited to see them again once all the fine-tuning is done – they were so good.
Where would you like to be in a year’s time?
I don’t mind as long as I feel calm there.