I’m taking Between Us to Edinburgh Fringe for the first time this year, so I wanted to hear from other seasoned improvisers about their Edinburgh experiences. I caught up with producer Elly and co-directors Marie and Jordan of Improvisers Assemble! from Shellshock!, the Durham University improv troupe.

Rachel: We are venue buddies! Tell us about your show.

Jordan: It’s an improvised superhero movie, made of largely unstructured narrative longform. 

Rachel: Fun! And what do you love about Edinburgh?

Jordan: The people! So many different people go to the Fringe festival, and our audience is so different to the usual university students. And it’s so great, being able to see and support other university groups.

Marie: That feeling of a happy “ooof” every night getting back to the flat and flopping down onto the couch.

Rachel: And what do you struggle with?

Marie: The frequency of performances paired with the flyering. There’s barely any time to let the shows I’ve just performed settle before doing the next one! It does mean that I sadly forgot a lot of the shows at the Fringe I’ve performed in.  Then pair that with the feeling that I need to make the most out of being at the Fringe and watching lots of shows. It’s so intense and so hard to keep track of it all – it’s difficult!

Elly: Around May, all I had to show for four months of work was the venue we’d be performing in. It was like every morning I woke up and had a big long list of things I hadn’t done yet (flat, promotional stuff, props, costume, tech, etc.) and would seemingly never get done. Producing is one of those things that’s a marathon, not a sprint, and it’s really easy to get burned out from it.  

Rachel: What tips have you got to share for anyone bringing an improv show?

Marie:  Set a different aim for each performance. Focus especially on physicality for a night, or on mime, or on voices.

Elly:  Focus on the performance, and not the audience or reviews. You can’t control how many people will come and see your show, but you can control how good it is. Much better to leave a great show feeling good about what you’ve made, than to be worrying about the numbers of butts in seats. 

Rachel: And how do you warm up to make sure you do a good show?

Elly:  We like to get each other’s backs. We just pat each other on the back before a show to remind ourselves to make our partners look good, and that we’re all working as a team up there. 

Rachel: Tell us about your best ever Edinburgh performance.

Elly: Last year, midway through the performance, the fire alarm went off, and we had to evacuate the building – all seven performers and about 20 audience members. So, being stuck on the side of the road for the foreseeable future, miraculously with all our audience members with us, we all just said, “Well, the show must go on!” and kept at it on the side of the crowded road as fire trucks pulled up. It was very noisy, and we were all yelling, but the audience members were still stood there laughing at us, so I count it as a win! 

Rachel: I have some good friends who are ex-Shellshock! so I know the answer to this one. Tell us about how you promote your shows.

Elly: By far our favourite thing to do is stick a cast or crew member to a pillar on the mile and have them scream promotion for our show to the high heavens. It has the added bonus of being a great selfie opportunity, and is free advertising! 

Rachel: Here’s some more free advertising! Where can we see you?

Jordan: Improvisers Assemble! Is at theSpace on North Bridge at 9:35pm from 2nd to the 17th August.