A Fringe Quickie (#70) with ‘The Marriage of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein’

Questions answered by Edward Einhorn.

Q1: If you could take just one record with you to survive the Fringe — your ultimate comfort, hype, or grounding track — what would it be, and why?

Do people have records nowadays? Anyway, probably Flood by They Might Be Giants. I have an actual vinyl copy! And on it, maybe Birdhouse in Your Soul would be my track. It has always succeeded in cheering me up.

Q2: If your show sent a drunk text at 3am, what would it say?

This is a text about Gertrude Stein. In this text, the actual author of the play about Stein and Toklas is pretending to be drunk at 3am and wondering whether you consider him to be a genius like Picasso or a near genius like Eliot or at least a would be genius like Hemingway.

Q3: If your show had a safe word, what would it be? And would it use it?

I think the word “genius” is used approximately 100 times in the play, so that seems the obvious choice. Though does that contradict the purpose of a safe word? Should it be a word that no one casually uses? In that case…”bollocks.” Definitely a word we never use.

Q4: If your show walked into a bar, what would it order?

A Hemingway martini. Noilly Prat, 1 part, just enough to cover the bottom of the glass. Gordons, 94 proof, 15 parts, let it balance on the edge till it threatens to tip out with a single vibration. Frozen at 14 degrees below. Some people have God. Hem has his martini. Drink.

About the show