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!

Beautiful Evil Things

Location:   Pleasance Dome – QueenDome (Venue 23)

Dates: Aug 2nd-6th, 8th-13th, 15th-20th, 22nd-27th

Time: 15:40

Price: £14 Concessions £102

Ticket Link: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/beautiful-evil-things

Hello! Tell us about yourself? 

Hiya, I’m Deb Pugh, I’m a theatre maker and movement director from Manchester and I’ve been devising and performing work with Ad Infinitum for over 15 years. 

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

It comes from a description of Pandora, the first ever woman in Greek mythology. Hesiod describes her as ‘kalon kakon’- a myriad of virtues and vices but which is most often translated into English, rather reductively, as ‘beautiful evil’. When we were doing the research for the show we were struck by the enduring power of translation.

Many of the Greek myths we are most familiar with were originally translated to English by Victorian men with very specific ideas of what women were and should be. Through those translations we lost the complexities and capabilities of characters like Penelope, Clytemnestra and Helen until they’re respectively reduced in the collective conscience to good wife, bad wife and beautiful, kidnapped wife. 

Tell us all about your show!

Beautiful Evil Things is the story of the Trojan War seen through the eyes of Medusa. It casts arguably the most infamous female gaze across a very masculine world and sifts through to unearth stories that have been otherwise buried by their familiar tellings. The much-maligned monstrous social outcast Medusa has very little time for gods and heroes, having fallen foul of them both, instead she is drawn to the underdogs, the overlooked and the outsiders. She reviews well-worn myths and finds women at their centre. 

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

Where to start!? I love finding surprises at the Fringe so rarely make a plan but I’m really looking forward to seeing Elisabeth Gunawan in Unforgettable Girl at the Pleasance. Betty is super smart, scathing and very funny so I can’t wait to see what she’s made. The Edinburgh Deaf Festival (11 – 20 Aug) programme is high on my list to check out, they always have a brilliant line-up. If I’ve got friends with kids visiting I’ll be front row at Mog The Forgetful Cat by The Wardrobe Ensemble. I worked with the show’s co-director Helena Middleton on Ad Infinitum’s most recent show, If You Fall – she’s a fantastic director and it’ll be wonderful to see her work for younger years.

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 have! Key advice – bring a raincoat and eat jacket potatoes continuously.

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

I originally trained as a mime so unfortunately the best of my previous zingers would be utterly untranslatable. 

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

Wake up just too late to see that morning show I keep saying I’ll see, eat increasingly elaborate porridge, consult the wall of flyers and bits of torn paper to see if there’s something I can watch before warm up starts. A couple of hours before the show I’ll do a run through, warm up, do hair and make up, make my way to venue, hastily redo hair and make up that has been invariably destroyed by weather, try and find somewhere to pee, do show.

Afterwards, maybe decompress with something nearby and funny or head to Summerhall, drink afternoon gin, catch up with people I’ve not seen all year, make note of the thing they’ve just seen in a shipping container/ abbatoir/ coracle so that it can be added to the wall of papers and spend the evening bumbling from thing to thing to thing. All interspersed with jacket potatoes and delicious Indian food.  

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

Be open, it’s nice to have a base of shows that are safe bets, but the ones I’ve seen on a whim, in a basement, in an impractical time slot have often been the most memorable. I also like to find somewhere that has nothing to do with the Fringe- the seaside/ a hill/ a pub a little further out of town and have a good reset every once in a while so the buzz can stay buzzy, not overwhelming.  

Best thing about performing at the fringe?

It’s really magic to have everyone in the same place for a chunk of time, we’re an industry of people who are always on the road so it can be the only time you get to see some folk. It’s great that you kind of get to live with your audience for a while too- you might bump into someone who saw your show a week ago and they want to talk about it- it’s nice to have chance to have that ongoing interaction. 

The most challenging thing about performing at the fringe?

A month is a long time to go full blast- there’s a lot to say ‘yes’ to, finding a balance of making the most of it and not burning out is always a task. 

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

Comfy boots, coffee maker/ functioning knife for digs and nip into Napiers for some herbal muscle rub- it’ll undo the damage of lugging all your stuff around all day and mask the smell of worry and hard work. 

What’s the secret to successful flyering? 

Get literally anyone other than me to do it- I have zero hustle. 

Who would be your ultimate dream audience member?

My first year in Edinburgh I flyered Jim Bowen who did a very generous job of acting like he was interested in my show. I’d like to imagine him in the crowd looking supportive.

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

twitter.com/TheatreAdInf
instagram.com/theatreadinfinitum/
facebook.com/TAdInfinitum/

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

Fierce. Funny. Bloody. / Be More Gorgon.