Sleeping Trees: The Edinburgh Interviews 2018
Who? James Dunnell-Smith
What? Sleeping Trees: World Tour
Where? Assembly George Square Studios (venue 17)
When? 21:40
Are you prepared for what this year’s Edinburgh Fringe has in store for you?
We hope so! This is our ninth consecutive Fringe so we like to think that we know what to expect these days. That being said we seem to learn something new every year like; ‘I wish we’d known we were going to exclusively eat food from a deep fat fryer all month’ or ‘I wish we’d prepared for incessant bagpipe playing outside our flat’.
What is the premise of your Edinburgh show this year?
It’s called Sleeping Trees: World Tour and it is a sketch show with a story. The premise is the three of us have taken the last 12 months off to go travelling around the world, and the show is what happened to us on our travels. It’s probably our most surreal show to date as we’ve tried to combine action, music and physical comedy into one big beautiful mess.
© Mark Dawson
What was the biggest obstacle you face(d) while putting this show together?
It’s the first show we’ve made that isn’t a straight ‘comic play’, it’s a story within a sketch show so the process has been completely different for us this year and that’s been a real challenge. It’s our ninth show but we’ve definitely been suffering from second album syndrome!
Who would most enjoy your show?
We’ve always had quite a broad appeal, and this show is no different. We appeal to fans of surreal left-field humour as well as more traditional comedy fans who prefer stand-up or slapstick; there is something for everyone in this show. But if we had to choose which demographic would MOST enjoy it, it would probably be the 20-40 age group, largely due to the number of slightly outdated references.
Do you have any other Edinburgh show recommendations?
We do indeed! We’re looking forward to seeing new shows from The Pin, Jordan Brookes, The Delightful Sausage and John Robertson.
What is your favourite thing about Edinburgh as a city?
The macaroni cheese pies. I mean come on. Macaroni cheese, encased in pastry. What’s not to love?
What are your plans for after the festival?
We have a little time off to recover after Edinburgh this year, then we’re back on tour with this show before we crack on with our brand new Christmas sketch show, The Sleeping Trees Nativity!