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!

Lear Alone

Location:   theSpaceTriplex – Studio (Venue 38)

Dates: Aug 4th-12th, 14th-19th

Time: 15:05

Price: £12 Concessions £10

Ticket Link: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/lear-alone

Hello! Tell us about yourself?  

My name is Edmund Dehn. I have been an actor for about 45 years and am a founder member of And Tomorrow Theatre Company. I work on stage & in film, tv and voice over. Highlights have been “Knightmare” (on Anglia TV in the late 1980s), the title role in “The Book of Job” (on stage in Norwich in 1990), “The Judge Minty Fan Film” (set in the world of Judge Dredd 2012) and recently voicing a character in the computer game, “Final Fantasy XVI” (just out and I’m  still not allowed to tell you his name!) 

How did you come up with the name of your show that your taking to the fringe? 

Lear Alone started as a web series created during lockdown. We always promised there would be a live stage incarnation & this is it. The name was originally chosen for 2 reasons: it is a 1 Man version of Shakespeare’s play with only Lear on stage and only his lines spoken. Also it has been created in partnership with Crisis to raise money for them and to highlight the problem of older people experiencing homelessness. It seemed (and still does) to us that few things can make a person feel more alone than homelessness.  

Tell us all about your show! 

This is a one man version of, in my opinion, Shakespeare’s greatest play. Our strapline is “Shakespeare’s King is homeless. Who cares?” Lear starts as a King, with the power of life and death over his subjects. Shakespeare has him become homeless: having done so, he comes to realise the plight of many of his former subjects, a plight he ignored in his days of power: “Poor naked wretches”, he says. The play makes 2 points: firstly, if a King can become homeless, it can happen to any of us; and secondly, if homelessness was an issue in Shakespeare’s lifetime (over 400 years ago) and is still an issue today, isn’t it about time we did something? 

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

I haven’t been to the fringe for a very long time, so I am just excited to see what there is to see! I have friends to support, of course, namely “The Quality of Mercy”, “The Good Dad” & “The Mitfords”, all at Surgeon’s Hall. Aside from that, I will be open to new experience. I can’t wait! 

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.  

Yes, I was last at the fringe in 1979 with a show called “The 7 Faces of Sinbad” by a company called Triad Stage Alliance. They were an Australian theatre company and I was the sole English actor. We played 3 shows on our first day, to audiences of 1 person, 2 people and 3 people respectively and we ended by winning a Fringe First! My experience is so out of date that I would hesitate to advise anyone, but I’d say believe in yourselves and DON’T GIVE UP & don’t forget to get some sleep! 

Favourite one liner you have done in a show and why? 

Probably “To be or not to be, that is the question” because I said it in a pantomime! It was “Snow White and the 7 Dwarves” and I was (in that scene) the straight man to a well-known comedian called Bobby Bennett. He told me to do that speech “as big as you like”! So I did. He cut me off with “Too many Bs for me” and went straight into the Busy Bee gag. I think I am probably the only actor who has ever said those lines in a panto! 

Talk us through your daily routine for a day at the Fringe 

Hardly possible since it’s been so long since I was last there. 

Best thing about performing at the fringe? 

Being part of an explosion of live performance. In a place and at a time when live performance is, for a short while, the centre of the life of the arts worldwide.  

The most challenging thing about performing at the fringe? 

The competition and the time limit! Oh, and exhaustion! 

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

I hope to find out 

What’s the secret to successful flyering?  

I would imagine it is having the ability to be evangelical about what you’re selling. 

Who would be your ultimate dream audience member? 

A convert. Someone who came to the show not expecting to like or understand the language of Shakespeare but who decided, after seeing the show, to give it another try. 

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

@AndTomorrowTC on twitter or look for me on FaceBook! 

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

“Brand new” Shakespeare.