The 2022 Edinburgh International Festival Fringe promises to be like nothing we’ve seen in decades, or perhaps ever. The first full staging since pandemic restrictions were lifted, there’s been an overwhelming appetite from performers to get back into the maze of pub function rooms, re-purposed cold stores, and for the select few: fully functioning theatres.
In this series of #SNAPCHATZ, I put 3 questions to artists scheduled to appear this year, and ask you, dear reader, to consider each for your August delectations.
One-Man Lord of the Rings/One-Man Star Wars™ Trilogy
📍Assembly Rooms – Bijou
📅 Aug 4-15 (Alternating)
🕖 17:30pm
🕖 Running time (approx.): 1 hour
👥 Created by: Charles Ross
🎂 12+
🎭 Wheelchair Accessible, Wheelchair Accessible Toilet
Who are you/what is your show?
I’m a solo performer blasting through two massive trilogies (The classic Star Wars and Lord of the Rings) and re-enact them with no costumes, sets or props—over the course of 70 minutes.
What sets your show apart from the rest?
The shows are instantly accessible for anyone: families, the geek in all of us, the bookish crowd, theatre aficionados, and newbies. You don’t have to have tattooed the Balrog on your arm or have named you eldest child Obi-wan to follow my shows. You’ll be delighted by what’s in my performance to please either the veteran nerd or the casual “I-maybe-watched-one-of-the-movies, is-Captain-Kirk-in-it?” greenhorn.
Your dream audience turns up to see the show, who’s watching?
NERDS: unabashed, unrepentant, 1% joke-getting geek-a-zoids.
And my grandma— because she loves everything.
Triple Bypass: Three Ten Minute Plays About Living for Death and Dying for Life
📍theSpace on the Mile – Space 1
📅Aug 5-13, 15-20, 22-27
🕖 4pm
🕖 Running time (approx.): 45 minutes
👥 Created by: Deena Ronayne
💰 From £7.00
🎂 14+
🎭 Wheelchair Accessible
Who are you/what is your show?
Deena M P Ronayne, I am the Playwright for Triple Bypass: Three Ten Minute Plays About Living for Death & Dying for Life
What sets your show apart from the rest?
The audience gets to see three plays in one! They are all different in style, genre, and tone, but they have different takes on life and death.
Your dream audience turns up to see the show, who’s watching?
I want EVERYONE to feel welcome at this show. My dream audience is one who walks out with thoughts and feelings in their minds and souls about the art they just witnessed. My ideal audience wants to chat about the show afterwards with other audience members. On a more whimsical/far-fetched note, I do wish family members of Karen Carpenter and Amy Winehouse could see it, hoping I did the middle of the three plays (Close to Black) justice.
The Queen’s Cartoonists
📍Assembly Roxy – Central
📅Aug 3-9, 11-14, 17-21, 24-28
🕖5pm
🕖 Running time (approx.): 1 hour
👥 Created by: The Queen’s Cartoonists (in partnership with Aardman)
💰 From £8.50
🎂 0+
🎭Wheelchair Accessible Venue, Wheelchair Accessible Toilet
Who are you/what is your show?
I am Joel Pierson, Artistic Director for The Queen’s Cartoonists. We are a jazz band that plays music from cartoons and animated films. We screen the films and play in sync with the action. The idea comes from exploring the intersection of the Golden Age of animation and the Golden Age of jazz, but for Fringe 2022 we are also showing a number of Aardman films (starring Wallace & Gromit and Shaun the Sheep).
What sets your show apart from the rest?
We are a multi-media jazz concert, which is almost unheard of in jazz. There’s a bit of comedy as well. The music is both serious and challenging, but also fun and spontaneous. The show is for all ages – literally. Some of the films we show are 100 years old, but children also enjoy our performances. Jazz tends to be stuffy and unreliable…. But not us!
Your dream audience turns up to see the show, who’s watching?
My ideal audience is 75% adults, 25% children, the surviving members of Monty Python, and Obama.
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