How it feels to perform at Edinburgh Fringe (and sell out!) - An interview with Ed Morris.
It must feel strange to stand on stage every night, intensely performing the same hour-long show for a month straight. Well that can now count as familiar to one Ed Morris, who took his horror-comedy play, The Grim up to bonnie Scotland to trigger some belly laughs, as well as some gasps.
Life on stage can sound enticing, but I wanted to find out what it’s really like working a month straight at the UK’s largest arts festival. The Grim is a thrilling, hilarious story about two undertakers getting the fright of their lives.
Set in 1964’s London, set to perform at the Red Lion Theatre in Jan 2025 for a 2 week run if you’d like to go see it performed live.
Only blue quoted text is the opinion of Edmund Morris (marked EM) and Aislinn Furlong (marked AF), the rest is my own.
AF: First of all, what’s your initial emotional state now that it is finally over?
EM: Pretty good, I’ve gotten over the initial whirlwind of it. When I got back I was shattered. Now the dust has settled, it felt so worthwhile and artistically fulfilling.
AF: Was there any tears at the last performance? Or was it only tears of laughter?
EM: No, there weren't any tears. But I got a can of tenants for the cast. So when the lights went down we ran off stage and did a toast with the crowd.
AF: How did the rest of the team feel?
EM: Louis had been dying to do theatre for a while so it was nice for him to be able to have a character that he could work on for months. Harry, after five years of dancing, it was a big learning curve and he grew a lot, it was a real bootcamp and he was always so good but on the journey- he was like some warrior king.
AF: All shows have good nights and bad nights, especially on a run as long as yours. What was your best night and why?
EM: It’s hard to remember specific performances. Sometimes you can walk off feeling like you were a bit flat, and then the castmates say that’s the best time you’ve done it. Or on certain nights you don’t get that laugh you always usually do.
AF: How did you find your space? Where were you performing and how did it affect the play?
EM:The theatre was absolutely tiny, perfect capacity. The stage was so bizarre, it was as if it faces away from the audience; the most space you have is offside. We basically just about fit on stage, but once we got it up and running, it was really cool. It helped with the pressure cooker element of the play. Then by the end I got so used to it it felt like we actually had loads of room.
AF: Of course I have to ask now for the worst night?
EM: Worst night was the first night, nothing went wrong, but I just had so many issues in the lead up, juggling lots of plans. It’s kind of like overchecking everything when you go to the airport, you might check so much you might sporadically take out your passport and leave it at home. I did that with my costume, half an hour before the show started I realised I didn’t have my shirt, I ran to Primark, bought 2 then when I got back 15 minutes before the start, I realised they were short sleeved…I fell to my knees.
AF: I’ve heard of a special tuesday where everyone seems to perform really sluggishly, did any of you experience this?
EM: I haven’t heard of it, and luckily it didn't happen. I would guess it must happen the Tuesday after everyone has the day off, you’re sort of just a bit frazzled.
AF: What was your favourite show that you saw when you managed to sneak out of performing?
EM: Gary Star - Classic Penguins. He’s completely naked the entire show apart from a tailcoat and flippers. His aim is to perform all of the classic penguin novels, all in an hour, a brief little snapshot. It’s so unique, everyone is crying with laughter and so joyous. He gets everyone to crowdsurf him, starfishing. And Silence- A musical parody of the Silence of the Lambs. It was so ridiculous and funny. There’s that bit where Hannibal says something gross about smelling her, err, and they turned it into a song.
AF: Did you see any serious ones?
EM: No, not that I wasn’t interested. But just doing a play, flyering every day, your reserves are just quite low. I did one day where I saw 3 shows in a day and I was spent. I couldn’t watch something super gnarly. My brain was just like, I need joy.
AF: You did a preview show at Anomalous, how does the finished product compare to what we saw in the preview?
EM: Well the first notable thing would be that we didn’t have our script in our hands. There were some cuts, because I think that preview came in at an hour ten. It needs to be under an hour to go to the Fringe. The amount of depth, characters backstories, history. It really beds in with you in rehearsal. Then those idiosyncrasies of those characters really start to come through. It went from standard definition to 4k.
AF: How much chopping and changing did you do while you were at Fringe?
EM: There were one or two minor things, mainly from Harry. In terms of the Lancashire dialect that I hadn't noticed. Involuntarily he would say it in the proper Lancastrian way- so I would tell him to keep it. This is the first play where I’ve written in multiple dialects so I think being true to that is a big aim for me. I really want to nail it in the future.
AF: Where would have been your ideal space to perform?
EM: The Old Red Lion. It genuinely is a theatre I’ve admired for a long time. I’ve tried to get in there before and not had any luck. And they’ve got a really good history of play doing really well there and going on and having a life elsewhere. The play really suits an accessible space, so The Old Red Lion is a great spot. So I'm really excited to be performing it there.
AF: What else is next for you?
EM: We were lucky to have a couple of film production companies come to see it. Had a really productive talk about adapting it for TV or film, which was really exciting, so, who knows…There’s so much to explore around these three characters, and I’m working on the pilot and series outline, so much is forming very quickly…
Sounds like Fringe is an intense but worthwhile experience if you’re a writer or actor. Ed’s preview took place as part of Anomalous Social Club: Sharing knowledge and diverse thinking to build a supportive community through care, culture and conversation. If you’d like to be involved with one, shoot us an email to find out how.
Written by Aislinn Furlong