Mary Go Nowhere

The Edinburgh Interviews 2017: Chris Grace

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Chris Grace is going to be a very busy man during this year’s Edinburgh Fringe. He is set to perform as part of improv group Baby Wants Candy, one of the longest running improv shows of the fringe; in Julie Shavers’ comedy play Mary Go Nowhere and also in the Game Of Thrones parody: Thrones! The Musical. 

1) What excites you most about the Edinburgh Festival?

The chance to perform for the best audiences in the world, and see a hundred wonderful/awful/silly/amazing shows.

2) What was /is your first Edinburgh show about?

I first came to Edinburgh with Baby Wants Candy in 2012. It’s a super-fun musical improv show with a full rock band that is still a blast to this day!

3) Does your comedy attract a certain type of audience?

It seems to be a diverse group: we have people that love improv comedy, and hate improv comedy, and people that love musicals and despise musicals!

© Garrett Palm

4) What is the worst experience you’ve had with Edinburgh accommodation?

The time when I thought I’d treat my partner and I to a night in a hotel, which was absolutely lovely and modern and clean, and also had no fan, air conditioning or windows that could open, and we gradually heated up the damp room with our existence, and then we finally fell asleep, and then at 3 AM the fire alarm for the entire building went off so we stood out on Cockburn St with the rest of the patrons of the hotel like sad tourist zombies.

5) What is your most treasured memory of your comedy career so far?

Shepherding “Thrones! The Musical” from an idea in someone’s head to a show that makes people laugh and cry and cheer.

6) What show will you definitely be seeing at the festival this year?

“Domesticated”, a show by my hilarious friend Christine Holt at Paradise in The Vault.

7) What do you hope to gain from the Edinburgh Festival this year?

I’d like to see as many old friends as possible and make as my new ones as I can!

8) What do you imagine your last ever show will be about?

It will probably be a one-man show performed in the cafeteria of the nursing home that I’ll be living in. It will feature a scathing critique of that week’s bland menu and the fact that the older residents won’t let me participate in their mah-jong game. Admission will be free but you have to bring me a newspaper and a medium-sized container of Chinese roast pork.

BOOK TICKETS FOR THRONES! THE MUSICAL AT THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL

THE EDINBURGH INTERVIEWS 2017

The Edinburgh Interviews 2017: Julie Shavers (Mary Go Nowhere)

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© Roman Cho

Julie Shavers writes and stars in Mary Go Nowhere, a comedy play set in LA about a mother desperately trying to keep her foul-mouthed toddler in preschool, where everyone in the neighbourhood seems to be watching her every move. The cast will be performing at the Assembly George Square Studios throughout August.

1) What excites you most about the Edinburgh Festival?

I’m excited to be a part of a vibrant community of entertainers and see what everyone else is making.

2) What is your first Edinburgh show about?

Mary Go Nowhere is about trying so hard to be perfect you don’t notice you’re an asshole. It’s about raising a large angry toddler in a world of strivers with a spouse who just wants to play Candy Crush and take a nap.

3) Does your comedy attract a certain type of audience?

People who love watching masterful actors live in a world that is both bizarre and familiar will like this show.

4) What is the worst experience you’ve had with Edinburgh accommodation?

Every time I book a private property to stay in I spend my whole trip looking for the spy cameras. I’m convinced we’re being recorded. Or that they’re going to sneak in during the night and murder us all in our sleep.  

5) What is your most treasured memory of your comedy career so far?

The first full length play I ever wrote was such a thrill. I was so nervous I couldn’t even watch it. Then standing outside the door as it was being performed I heard the audience howling with laughter. I couldn’t believe it. It was delightful.

6) What show will you definitely be seeing at the festival this year?

I will definitely see Baby Wants Candy and Whose Line is it Anyway because both of those shows feature super talented actors from our cast. 

7) What do you hope to gain from the Edinburgh Festival this year?

Our cast is quite large for a fringe show. Nine actors. All of them hilarious and frenetic performers. I can’t wait to spend an entire month living in this play with them. I hope that we will all grow as performers and the play itself will take on a whole new shape and continue to live on after the Fringe.

8) What do you imagine your last ever show will be about?

I probably should not admit this, but I have always thought I might be a sort of half-baked prophet. I once wrote a play about a man who lost one arm and one leg and during the run I broke my arm and my leg. I wrote and performed a monologue about a woman with boils and got boils. Mary Go Nowhere goes some strange places so I’m being extra careful lately.

BOOK TICKETS FOR MARY GO NOWHERE AT THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL

THE EDINBURGH INTERVIEWS 2017