The Edinburgh Fringe is almost upon us and to get prepared for another Scottish summer Read About Stuff is running a ‘Five From The Fringe’ interview series, where creative teams answer five questions about their upcoming Festival shows.
In this interview, I chat to Miss Frisky about their new show Frisky’s Remix Roulette.
Can you tell me a little about your show and what audiences can expect?
Frisky’s Remix Roulette is an interactive music extravaganza – Miss Frisky (Frisky & Mannish) with a killer four-piece band, will reinvent, restyle, remix your favourite music before your very eyes. Any song. Any style. YOU decide. The show follows on from Frisky’s solo debut at last year’s Fringe (Frisky’s Reshuffle) and continues the chaos. If you missed it, you missed Craig David’s 7 Days as a Ceilidh; It Wasn’t Me as an aria; and a Death Metal Edelweiss. Who needs AI when you have top-flight musicians with musical ADHD, and an internationally-acclaimed diva hurtling towards middle age with zero f***s left to give?! Hopefully, Miss Frisky’s warmth and charm will remind you that the human touch is, almost always, much lovelier. It’s joyful, ridiculous, and characteristically unhinged.
What drew you to this specific story, and why does it belong at the Edinburgh Fringe?
Bringing Frisky to the Fringe without Mannish, after their stellar success during the 2010s, was something I’d been putting off for a long time. I’ve been touring internationally for a decade as a solo act, but something about Edinburgh was very daunting, given my history with it. I realised I was waiting for the “perfect” show, and I’d be waiting forever. In the meantime, I’d started to have fun with messing around with musicians, improvising and switching up styles spontaneously. I realised THAT was when I was having the most fun, and that my not being able to overthink it was probably a big part of why. After almost 20 years making musical comedy, being an MC in 3 languages, and writing/directing shows with a huge array of different artists, I realised all I really needed was to trust myself, believe in those skills that I’ve honed over the years, and let an audience come and have fun WITH me. Last year, mercifully, proved the theory, and so we’re back for more of the same.
What has been the biggest challenge in bringing this production to life?
Honestly? The money!! I join my voice with the chorus of those talking about how unbelievably financially challenging it is right now to tour a band, or get new work off the ground. Grass-roots venues, where you would’ve tried out material and gigged, are vanishing by the minute. Almost none of the gigs I did regularly even a decade ago exist now. Travel costs are extortionate. Venues have insane bills to pay, so they can rarely offer guarantees any more. Ticket prices are creeping up to try and cover all this, but people are just as squeezed at home, and don’t have £25 to chuck at something they haven’t heard of but sounds fun. Especially when you can watch LITERALLY anything you want at home for free! Things have never been more difficult for this corner of the entertainment world, perhaps it’s part of a natural evolution, but if you are someone who does still want to see fun, weird, little live shows, I hope you’re seeing what you can, and shouting from the rooftops about what you’d like to see.
How does the design of your show (set, sound, or lighting) impact the presentation of your story?
Our show is a very simple idea that’s actually fantastically challenging to deliver, both artistically and technically. Our Production Manager, Barry Hilton, has had to design brand new systems to make it possible. As a band, we need to all have the same information – what song are we doing, what’s the structure, what key, which excerpts. The musicians need to be able to communicate without the audience hearing. Alongside musically recreating any style, it also needs the right vocal effects, delays, reverb, pedal effects, samples, and lighting styles. The entire technical team is improvising with us to give the ambience of whatever musical world we’re in, whether it’s techno or early medieval music. Luckily, they’re absolutely amazing at it.
If you could sum up the show in one word or phrase, what would it be and why?
Someone once put it beautifully into one phrase – “A Musical Extreme Sport.” We have no idea what might happen, there’s absolutely real risk (luckily to ego rather than body), but it’s utterly thrilling. And weirdly addictive.
Frisky’s Remix Roulette runs at Bijou at Assembly Rooms (Venue 20) from August 6th – 30th. Tickets can be purchased here: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/frisky-s-remix-roulette
