It is festival season and that means that in the next month there is so many great comedy festivals to look forward to! This month we are looking at some of the great shows that you can see at the Edinburgh Fringe. So take note because we are going to give you all the information you need for just a handful of some of the great shows happening this year!

The Great Ruckus

Location:   Pleasance Courtyard – Baby Grand (Venue 33)

Dates: Aug 2nd-13th, 15th-28th

Time: 14:00

Price: £11.50 Concessions £10

Ticket Link: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/great-ruckus

Hello! Tell us about yourself? 

Hello I’m a writer and performer Izzy Tennyson and this year I’m taking up The Great Ruckus to the Fringe. 

This is the third professional play that I have written. I took my first one-woman show ‘Brute’ up to Edinburgh which won the Ideastap/Underbelly award and it transferred to Soho Theatre in London. I put on my second show ‘Grotty’ on at the Bunker Theatre in London, which I also starred in. 

Although I think of myself mainly as a playwright, I love getting up and performing my own work, although this time I’m producing, directing and drawing most of the artwork too! So, no pressure! 

I don’t like to be pigeonholed as a writer of comedy or drama. There is always a lot of comedy in my pieces but there is serious stuff in there too. I have to say I am often drawn to the dark side of human nature, but like to present it in a humorous way. 

I basically like to put on a bloody good show that people want to see and are going to enjoy watching. 

Since ‘Grotty’ I have been mainly working on TV projects, but with theatre opening up after COVID I really wanted to do something in theatre again and I am really looking forward to coming back up to Edinburgh. 

How did you come up with the name of your show that you’re taking to the Fringe? 

It is a line in in the show. And I think it conveys the mad energy the play has. 

Tell us all about your show! 

‘The Great Ruckus’ is about two sisters trying to navigate their way through their mum’s funeral and all the family madness that that entails. My mum did die a few years back, and the funeral did provide some inspiration, but I have used it as a springboard to develop some fantastical and exaggerated characters. Basically, everyone in this play behaves incredibly badly, the two sisters included. 

I have always loved Ralph Steadman and Ronald Searle cartoons and the absurd characters in novels like Thackery’s ‘Vanity Fair’, and that is how I have drawn my characters, both in terms of the script and quite literally because the show will be accompanied by drawings and cartoons mostly drawn by myself which will be projected throughout the performance. Two of us will be multi-roling a whole cast of characters, so the artwork is designed to help us to do that. 

Death and grief are serious subjects but life doesn’t stop being funny when people die any more than it stops being serious when you laugh and ‘The Great Ruckus’ embraces that. 

What other acts are you looking forward to seeing at the Fringe? 

Anything to do with the late Adam Brace, if you see his name on a poster, that’s a sign of a brilliant show. 

Have you done the Fringe before? What are the key pieces of advice you have been given or would give to new groups or people performing at the Fringe. 

I did have a mentor once, after having a small meltdown about something going wrong, which it always does…Anyway I think he found me rather tedious and huffed “it’s only theatre darling” and with that left. 

Which was quite right I say! So, I’m now passing on that wisdom on to everyone else.  It’s only theatre darling. 

What have been some of your favourite shows to date and why? 

Alan Bennet Talking Heads, Jack Thorne’s Stacy, Michaela Coel’s Chewing Gum Dreams, Philip Ridley’s Dark Vanilla Jungle and Posh by Laura Wade.  All are/have great monologues. 

What have been some of the most unique and different comedy shows you have seen this year and why? 

I’m going to be completely honest here. I’ve not been to see very much, if not anything really since Covid. Not out of not wanting to, I’ve just found being spontaneous difficult and now I find you have to book everything very ahead of time, it feels like everything is always sold out. 

Also the prices have gone up. It’s very sad because prior to Covid there I would normally bump into someone at some claustrophobic theatre bar and then the conversa]on would go “I’m seeing this, it’s brilliant” or there would be some mild threat of “You are coming to see my show aren’t you?” and there would be a couple of tickets left and you would be bullied into it. Which now looking back out, was great, you always ended up having a lot of fun. 

Anyway, this is a terrible answer. 

What is the best way to enjoy yourself at the Fringe? 

To quote Madame De Stael (I actually heard it from a character in the Sopranos so I actually don’t know much about Stael).

But as Madame De Stael once said. “One must choose in life between boredom and suffering”. 

Good thing about the fringe, you’ll never be bored. 

Best thing about performing at the Fringe? 

I think seeing the piece come to life. It’s always different to what you imagine it to be, but somehow it’s always better. Which is probably because I’ve been very lucky to with people much more talented than myself.

The most challenging thing about performing at the Fringe? 

Every show will have some low audience days. I remember Wednesdays being particularly bad for everyone years ago. So I think persevering through on days like that is the most challenging. 

What would be your top three items every performer must take to the Fringe? 

1) I normally arrive with my sanity but around a week in it deserts me.
2) Nets and Traps to capture audience members.
3) Snacks. 

What’s the secret to successful flyering? 

Nets and traps

Who would be your ultimate dream audience member? 

Someone who doesn’t struggle, who just submits to their fate. 

But seriously also someone who likes story driven plays, that is driven by the characters rather than a message. It’s an observational piece. But I’d also like to hope that anyone that walked in would enjoy it. 

If people want to find out more about you, where can they follow you on social media? 

My twitter is @izzytennyson And the company twitter is @etchtheatre

Etch is also on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/etchtheatre/?hl=en-gb 

And finally, in three words – Why should people come and see the show? 

It is great!