The Wonder Jam: The Edinburgh Interviews 2019
Who? Lorna-Rose Treen, Belinda Anderson-Hunt, Dougie Baldwin and Rose Maher (Director)
What? The Wonder Jam
Where? Heroes @ Black Medicine – Basement (Venue)
When? 00:00
What are your feelings as you enter into this year’s Edinburgh Fringe season?
Excited. Nervous. Terrified. Delighted. Eager. Funny.
What is the premise of your Edinburgh show this year?
It’s a late-night clown comedy party. It’ll be a new show every night where we’ll be improvising, working on characters, and clown numbers. It’s basically an experimental workshop to develop material for future shows with an audience. We believe the best way to write and find stuff is with a live audience. We’ll have fantastic guests every night trying out new material too. It’s exciting because we could do literally anything. The show is a safe space for new clowns to incubate and grow as performers. We inherited the show from Luke Rollerson, Christian Brighty and Tom Curzon this year (the team behind Planet Earth III – SOHO Theatre, ★★★★★ Ed Fest Mag), and in a few years we hope to pass it on to other young clowns.
What is the biggest obstacle you face(d) while putting this show together?
As we inherited the show, we’ve really tried to make it our own, and put our own twist on things. We have no MC, and we’ve tried to nail down a format which works for us, our guests and our audiences. The show is framed as a party, and our aim is to have as much fun as possible.
Has your attitude towards the Fringe changed at all in recent years?
Lorna: I’ve been doing the Fringe for the past six years. I went to university here, so first got involved with the student scene. I then joined the Improverts, Edinburgh’s longest running Improv group and a Fringe staple, and you really get to see the inner workings of the fringe by doing a half-midnight show, every night. The Fringe has changed a lot since I first came – there’s much more recognition for women and clowns (two sections of humanity which I love).
This will be Belinda and Dougie’s first year here, but Bel is quite familiar with the Auzzie scene. She says that Edinburgh feels huge, full of history and magic. She’s been on two ghosts tours already. Dougie loves Harry Potter.
Do you have any other Edinburgh show recommendations?
I Just Want Someone to Know I Was Here, as part of A Play, A Pie and A Pint. It’s a beautiful story telling show about life and death, and you get a bloody pie! 12th-16th at McSorley’s (venue 280). 12:45.
Privates: A Sperm Odyssey: Luke, Christian and Tom’s hilarious show. Saving Private Ryan meets a sex ed talk. They’re insane. Heroes at Boteco’s, 17:20.
Luke Rollason’s Infinite Content. Luke’s a genius idiot. Monkey Barrel 4, 12:00.
Where would you like to be in a year’s time?
Dougie: To have at least an hour of character material I feel confident in! To be smarter too! I want to be smart!!
Lorna: To be in the position to start writing a solo show that I’m excited about. Also to have loads of money. LOADS. I want too much money.
Bel: I want to be free of this flesh vessel.