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!

Beowulf and Grendel

Location:  PBH’s Free Fringe @ CC Blooms (Venue 171)

Dates: Aug 14th-17th, 19th-24th

Time: 12:30

Price: Free

Ticket Link: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/beowulf-and-grendel

Hello! Tell us about yourself.

My name is Evan Quinlan. I’m a company actor and erstwhile producer with Tawnydog Productions. I enjoy bringing my creative talents to bear in order to help the company’s projects as much as I can. I’m a writer, a sometime programmer and product manager, and occasionally a guy who plays with swords.

Tell us all about your show!

This one came out of a show idea I shared with my wife last time we were at the Fringe. “I’d love to perform some epic poetry or something, like Beowulf,” I said, never suspecting that she would kick the project into gear a few months later. Now she’s producing and directing, and I’m putting together the script and acting.

In the show, I’ll perform 654 lines of the epic poem Beowulf as translated by Francis Barton Gummere, specifically the most well-known part where Beowulf, a Swedish prince, travels to Denmark to face off against a literally bloodthirsty monster named Grendel. It’s a story written in the early medieval period that exemplifies the Scandinavian hero archetype, and it really evokes all the mental images you’d want and expect from something like that. Boats race across foaming waters, men march over cobbled streets with glittering shields, golden mead-halls tower above, and savage monsters paint the floorboards with gore… It’s the full package!

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

Beowulf and Grendel keeps the original name of the epic, but it also indicates that only the Grendel part of the adventure is covered. (There are two parts after that, one where Beowulf fights Grendel’s mother, and another when he fights a dragon.)

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

Beowulf and Grendel will be part of PBH’s Free Fringe, so I’m looking forward to seeing what some of my fellow Free-Fringers are going to get up to. It’s amazing, the gems you find just by picking shows almost at random. One specific show I’ve heard a lot about, though, is Becky Goodman: The Day My Sugar Daddy Dumped Me, so I’ll definitely catch that.

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’ve performed at the Fringe twice, in 2022 and 2023. The most important thing I think performers should know is to expect small audience sizes, on average. It’s easy to think that because you just played to an audience of three people that you’ve failed and your show is terrible… but, in fact, that’s pretty average. There are 3,000 other shows happening! Often times, the biggest win at the Fringe is to get a good review, or to get audience feedback on your production, to help you improve and promote your work going forward. And have fun.

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

Everything revolves around showtime. I wake up, and the first thing I do is make a plan to leave at the right time to catch the bus or the train to my venue. With that done, I plan how I’m going to fill the hours in between. For me, that often means remote work for my full-time job. If I’ve taken the day off, or if it’s the weekend, I look at the list of shows I’ve heard about and see if I can squeeze one in before or after my own. After the show, it might be more remote work, or it might just be hittin’ the pub.

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

Don’t overthink it. Don’t plan too many things to see in advance. Be ready to meet somebody, hear about the wild show they’re doing that you’d never consider going to if you just read about it, and then go to that show. Sure, you might regret it, but chances are you’ll get a completely unexpected memory and learn something new.

Ok, where is your favourite place to eat at the Fringe?

The Piemaker on South Bridge. Got £5? Rushing to get to a show? Get an amazing savory pie. For a sit-down restaurant, I’d recommend Mother India’s Cafe right around the corner.

Best thing about performing at the fringe?

If you go in with the right attitude, you can find yourself being part of a huge family of people who are all putting their egos on the line, exposing their art to the harsh world, and there’s a real feeling of camaraderie. But you can’t get that if you come into it seeing the other performers as rivals.

Top tips for travelling around the Fringe and getting to shows on time?

Plan to be early. The buses are great, but sometimes they fall behind, especially during the Fringe. So, rather than counting on a bus arriving at a stop at an appointed time, expect that you might have to wait an hour for an hourly bus, half an hour for a half-hourly bus, etc.

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

Props, script, wallet? No, I’ll be more creative:

1. Bring excellent walking shoes, so that you can blow off steam by exploring the city.
2. Show-themed buttons. People LOVE buttons they can pin on stuff. Put your poster imagery on a hundred buttons and give ’em out to audience members or people you meet in the pub.
3. Water-bottle. Stay hydrated, folks! Your performance will improve (as long as you remember to hit the restroom first)!

What’s the secret to successful flyering?

It’s not a nice secret: You have to be kind of pushy, and all you can do is try to make it funny or entertaining somehow. One person I saw would loudly proclaim they needed to give away their last flyer, and when someone would take it, they’d quickly produce another for comic effect.

Another person would dress up in a vulva costume and play a banjo on the same street corner every day while their partner waved flyers at passersby. Perhaps the most effective tactic espoused in the common wisdom is to “exit-flyer” shows that are related to yours, i.e. hand out flyers to audience members as they are coming out of that venue.

Whatever you do, don’t kill yourself doing it, especially if you have to perform later. Give yourself down-time. Make realistic goals, like exit-flyering two shows a day or spending an hour a day walking a particular stretch of road.

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

I’m on Instagram @nicepirate121182. To find out about the show, visit our production company’s site, www.tawnydogproductions.com.

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

Mead-halls. Monsters. Magic.