Tell us about your show. Why should we go and see it?
Ah, jeepers… How to praise one’s own work without sounding like an utter nob…? When I started out in this business, someone else wrote the puff pieces, or journalists wrote glowing encomia in the newspapers. Now we must write our own panegyrics which is hell. So, at the risk of the gentle reader thinking, “fuck me, who is this ancient bighead?”, here goes. If you haven’t heard of us before, we are 3 women who sing fiendishly and clever satirical songs. Our harmonies are pretty bloody awesome, we’re very very VERY funny indeed, and frankly, we are still going after 39 years because we are the best. Oh, and we might even make you cry. Now you understand why I hate having to describe the show.
Are you flying solo or are you part of a team?
We’re a team.
What are your hopes and dreams for the Fringe?
I hope the Fringe gets a little smaller. It’s too big now. I hope the international acts come in their usual numbers – I fear the combined effects of Covid, Brexit and the financial fallout from the desperate war in Ukraine may dash the plans of some performers and companies. As for my hopes and dreams for the Fringe that I will personally experience, I hope I get to see a wide variety of wacky and wonderful shows. I hope to run into friends that I haven’t seen for too long (thank you, Covid!) and I hope to get drunk at least once.
What makes you laugh?
I love the unexpected. I hugely admire the work of the gloriously, outrageously inventive director Cal McCrystal, no-one does physical humour like him.
What is it that made you a performer?
Lawks, difficult question… I suppose I would always have done something in the world of music, I started playing piano when I was three so it’s inescapably a part of me. I also had funny bones – I always got the comedy parts at school plays. Then there’s the actor part of me which if I’m honest is a chance to escape from being me – or at least, to present a version of me which is nicer and funnier and kinder than I really am.
How will your audience think/feel differently after an hour in your company?
I can only answer this by repeating the sentiment I’ve heard most frequently over the years, which is that we should be available on the NHS. I have no idea why this is so because the songs are so damning about the state of the world, but people find the show hugely uplifting. It’s a great disappointment to me – I’m always hoping they’ll go home, fetch their staves and pitchforks,rush out onto the streets and start a revolution that overthrows the government. But no, they go home feeling elated and write nice emails to us. Irritating.
Whose show – apart from your own – are you looking forward to seeing at the Edinburgh Fringe?
If Christine Bovill is performing, I shall be there early doors. I adore her voice, her truth and her commitment to song.
What’s the most useful piece of advice you’ve been given?
Two drama teachers. Miss Diana Budd at my boarding school – “Always set off on the upstage foot”. And darling Andrew Neil, who directed me at drama school. “Always lead the audience by the nose. Never let them know what to expect.”
Do you have a favourite Fringe memory?
A Perrier party where my compadre at arms, Adèle Anderson, and I were still drinking and solving the problems of the world as the tent was being dismantled around us the next morning.
Who is your showbiz/Fringe idol and why.
I started this questionnaire by bigging myself up, so I might as well end on the same note. I am most definitely my own Fringe idol, if only because I’m a dogged old cuss who has been coming to the Fringe since 1973. Yep. 49 years. I absolutely love it, and I come up even when I’m not performing. August means Edinburgh, anything else seems wrong. Otherwise, I have a quiet admiration for actor/producer Guy Masterson who has been putting shows on at the Festival for almost as many donkey’s years as I have. He’s an artist and a mensch and his devotion to the Arts is a joy to behold.
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/fascinating-aida
Fascinating Aida 18.00pm
Assembly George Square (Venue 8)
August 3-13, 16-27
