Why the Edinburgh Fringe is still the best place to launch a new show

Brian Watkins

Brian Watkins is a multi-award-winning writer and the creator of the series Outer Range for Amazon TV which starred Josh Brolin. He is currently writing feature films for Warner Bros and for Steven Spielberg’s company Amblin, while premiering his play Weather Girl, “a dark comedy about a California weather reporter who has a mental breakdown because of climate change” on the Fringe.

“Edinburgh seems inherently against the safe road. It feels allergic to all things mid,” he says. “It's a place that celebrates theatrical risk-taking, something you have to be allowed to do in order to make something original. This play began with wanting to write something for a small audience, something that could be bold because of its intimacy. For all those reasons Edinburgh felt like the perfect fit.”

Weather Girl, Summerhall, 6pm, until 26 August.

Todd Almond

Writer, actor and musician Todd Almond starred in the TV show Gossip Girl, on Broadway in Girl from the North Country, and co-starred with Courtney Love in his own musical, Kansas City Choir Boy. He performs in the world premiere of his play I’m Almost There at the Fringe, part semi-autobiographical love story, part contemporary riff on The Odyssey.

“I’ve worked in theatre at every level and when it comes to the development of my original work I try always to trust my impulses and the impulses of my inner circle. In this case, the impulse came from my husband, Mark, who is not only the inspiration for the show but is also my life co-strategist and manager! He knew that I’m Almost There was unique in my catalogue, and that it wanted to stand a bit left of centre. It doesn’t follow the standard musical theatre or even downtown theatre rules. It wants to develop in its own way, and so it became important to us to let it. Premiering at the Fringe was the most thrilling way we could imagine giving I’m Almost There the playground it wants and needs.

I’m Almost There, Summerhall, 2.45pm, until 26 August.

Richard Kraft

When a failed Willy Wonka Experience in Glasgow went viral earlier this year, Richard Kraft, who has directed and produced shows including The Little Mermaid, La La Land and Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, spied an opportunity for a satirical musical. Working with director Andy Fickman (Heathers: The Musical), an impressive list of Emmy-winning and Broadway songwriters and two of the actors from the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, the musical gets its world premiere as a staged reading in Edinburgh.

“Like most people in our solar system, I was glued to the reports of the Wonka rip-off disaster in Glasgow,” Kraft says. “Since so many of my favourite shows - The Producers, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and The Greatest Showman - are about con men, I thought, “Sing it out, Willy! We got us here a musical!” Not unlike with the original event in Glasgow, the hype on our musical preceded its reality. We sent out a press release before we even had a show. Having thrown my hat over the wall, I needed to follow. I’ve always heard about the Fringe and love many of the shows that have come from there. Since the inspiration for our show was set in Scotland, the deal was sealed.”

Willy’s Candy Spectacular: A Musical Parody, Pleasance Dome, 3pm, 9-26 August.

Adam Rapp

The Sound Inside, by Pulitzer shortlisted writer Adam Rapp, about a creative writing professor who is captivated by a brilliant but rebellious student, was nominated for six Tony Awards in the US including best play. It has its UK premiere at the Traverse this August.

Rapp says: “I first came to the Fringe in 2006 with a play called Finer Noble Gases. We performed at a venue called The Bongo Club and the seven of us had no idea what to expect. I’d just gone through emergency back surgery three days before we boarded the plane. We wound up getting a Fringe First award, my lead actor Pauls Sparks was named Best Actor of the Fringe and I was named Best Newcomer. It was one of the most satisfying artistic experiences of my career. Covid got in the way of bringing The Sound Inside to the UK in 2020. Now, finally, with this exceptional team of artists and producers, is the moment to make that happen, and I can’t think of a better place to launch it than the Fringe.”

The Sound Inside, Traverse, various times, until 25 August.

Jake Roche

Jake Roche is known to many as the son of Shane Richie and Coleen Nolan, the former fiance of Little Mix’s Jesy Nelson, and the lead vocalist of boy band Rixton, who went to no.1 with Me and My Broken Heart. He’s at the Fringe with Neporrhoids, a one-man “sort-of musical” promising to dish the dirt on fame.

“There was a part of my youth that I’d been struggling to put to bed,” he says. “This was probably the only way I knew how to process it in a different light. I also love being up there on a stage because I’m a massive show off! Last year I went to the Fringe as an audience member and fell in love with the city and the festival. I adored how supportive everyone was, that everyone was trying to ‘figure it out’. There’s a lot of room for failure at the Fringe. I think it’s vital that creatives feel that and experience that. I wanted to go up and just GO for it.”

Jake Roche: Neporrhoids, Pleasance Courtyard, 3.35pm, until 25 August.

Cathrine Frost Andersen

Cathrine Frost Andersen is a leading actress in Norwegian theatre whose play about birth, Good Luck, Cathrine Frost, was an overnight success in Norway, playing nearly 100 sell-out shows. She will premiere the English language version at the Fringe.

“Making this show was an instinctive and unstoppable urge,” she says. “I had no clue how it would be received. I'm passionate about embracing openness around the female body and celebrating its incredible strength. I've been to the Fringe many times as an audience member and witnessed some of the most mind-blowing theatre I've ever seen. The Fringe is a melting pot of brilliant theatrical minds and attracts a wonderfully diverse audience. My hope is for the show to have a long and vibrant life across the globe. In Norway, it has contributed to changing the national discourse about female health and births, it would be fantastic if it could contribute to that in other countries too.”

Good Luck, Cathrine Frost, Assembly George Square Studios, 3pm, until 25 August.

Richard Darbourne (ATG)

Major theatre producers ATG are bringing a show to the Fringe this year for the first time, the world premiere of Who Do Ya Love?, the official KC and the Sunshine Band musical. Producer Richard Darbourne says: “When creating a new show, you want creative freedom and ambition to be at its height, and the Fringe is the best place for this. The parameters of performing at the festival creates an equity amongst cast, crew, creatives and producers but also takes people back to the core tenets of storytelling that inspired them to be in the business in the first place.

“The Fringe has always been a great place to create work but it is now more than ever internationally recognised by investors and promoters as a place that breeds invention and quality. Successes like Six have played a big part in that. Who Do Ya Love? is a disco musical that aims to delight and engage its audience and rock everyone in their seats at the same time, and Edinburgh is the perfect place to check it achieves those objectives.”

Who Do Ya Love?, Assembly George Square Studios, 4.50pm, until 25 August.

Queen Angelique-Monet