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!

Bitch

Location:   Jack Dome at Pleasance Dome (Venue 23)

Dates:  Jul 30th -3rd, 5th-10th, 12th-17th, 19th-24th

Time: 14:45

Price: £16 Concessions £15

Ticket Link: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/bitch

Hello! Tell us about yourself? 

My name is Marty Breen, I’m an actor and theatremaker from Wicklow in Ireland. I’m coming to Edinburgh with my first solo show, having worked in theatre and TV for the last 5 years mostly in Ireland. I’ve worked with theatres such as Gate Theatre, Lyric Belfast, National Theatre, Playwrights Studio Scotland, Abbey Theatre, Rough Magic and Paines Plough, and have been nominated for Best Supporting actress at the Irish Times Theatre Awards. I’m also part of the all-women-&-NB improv group Broad Strokes, who have done Edinburgh twice (only once with me!) and last year won the Spirit of Wit award at Dublin Fringe. They taught me how to be funny – come see BITCH to see if it was a success! 

Tell us all about your show! 

BITCH is a tragicomedy fake open mic – it’s a play in disguise. We sold out our first run with waiting lists when it premiered at the Dublin Fringe Festival last year, winning the Best Performer and Spirit of the Fringe award, as well as being nominated for Best Production and Best New Writing.

It’s made with the most incredibly talented team, including Jeda de Brí, HK Ní Shioradáin and Suzie Cummins (if you want to look at their past impressive work), and I’m both incredibly proud of it and terrified to bring it to new audiences. It is a cathartic, dark, hopefully funny exploration through standup, drag and acerbic original songs of punch-down humour, resenting your identity, and what we allow to happen when we laugh.

It’s an open-mic battle: one character through a red-flag laden set, another through a cabaret world at the piano. It came out of having two brothers, and wanting to have the tough, heavy conversations I don’t know how to have with them any other way. It’s silly, scary and ruthlessly honest. I can’t say much more about it, as the whole point is it’s something you go through with our characters, but if you liked Nanette, NATE, or any other interrogatively intense shows posing as comedy, you’ll be well up for BITCH. 

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

I did a reading last year for Karis Kelly’s “Consumed”, which won the Women’s Prize for Playwriting and is showing at the Traverse. It’s a fucking masterpiece about generational trauma and the ugly stuff we hide under the table. The script was so ambitious I cannot wait to see a full production – anyone who can still get tickets, do right now – it’s going to be jaw dropping.

I’m also buzzed to see another brilliant Irish artists’ show, “Don’t Tell Dad About Diana”, written and performed by Conor Murray. I saw Conor’s first show “Just a Minute” in Dublin Fringe a couple of years ago and think he’s a proper powerhouse of a performer – so tender, electrically energetic and heartbreakingly hilarious. If this show is anything like his last, I can’t wait to see it.

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.

This is my first time doing the Fringe on my own, but I’ve been over before for a week with the Dublin all-women & NB comedy improv group Broad Strokes. We had an absolute ball with Laughing Horse, had really wonderful packed houses, and got a taster of some of the best and worst of flyering and free Fringe! But I’ve never done a run this long, or Fringe somewhere like Pleasance, so I’ll be hungry for advice from anyone who wants to give it. 

If this is your first time – what are you looking forward to? 

I’ve already been added to the “Irish at Edinburgh” WhatsApp group – it’s a huge community of us heading over, and I’m looking forward to meeting everyone there, and being part of such an export of Irish new work. With that in mind, I’m really excited the show’s been selected to be part of the Culture Ireland Edinburgh Showcase, and I’m looking forward to that particular event. 

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

BITCH will be at 2.45pm, and I know from our Dublin Fringe run it’s a pretty intense show. So last time, I would walk around St. Stephen’s Green two hours before, listening to my lines from a deadpan recording, just strolling and getting focused. An hour before I would start my makeup, which if you see the show is pretty integral, and would feel quite ritualistic – especially as I would have to do some of it in the dark. (Get your tickets if you’re curious!) Then I’d warm up on the piano and our legend of an SM, Jude Barriscale, and anyone else in the team who was around would have a dance party, shake off the nerves, before getting backstage. 

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

The pirate bar. I have no idea what the food is like. I just know when I walked in there with the Broad Strokes I didn’t stop laughing all night. It’s ridiculous. 

Best thing about performing at the fringe? 

Lots of the inspiration for this show came from the (majority male) comedians I grew up watching, and having to fall out of love with some of them as I got older, to reconsider what I was once laughing at – but at the same time, they all seemed to get their start at Ed Fringe. So it’s always been such a pipe dream for me, something I held in my mind as the place to go and fail and rise and learn. So I can’t believe I’m bringing my first show here based on the contradictions of these comedians. It feels very full circle. 

What is the hardest part about performing at the Fringe? 

The length of the run! I feel like I’ll be at cabaret bootcamp doing this show for a month. Book your tickets early cuz I’m not sure I’ll be human by the end! 

Do you bring anything special from home to make it feel more special whilst you are away? 

I have some pals and some of my amazing team coming and going during the run to keep me company and keep me sane.

What are your best hacks to save money whilst at the Fringe? 

The Broads Strokes and I would do packed lunches before flyering every day, like kids marching to school, and eat them in the square in the sunshine. It’s one of my favourite memories of the Fringe. 

What’s the secret to successful flyering? 

I used to busk in my teenage years, and am surprised by how similar the things that seem to work are: look friendly, stand in busy places, and be willing to chat. Boring your eyes into people’s souls doesn’t seem to be a goer! They’ll run!!! 

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

Follow the show on @bigbadbitchplay 

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

If I can sneak in 4, The Arts Review said of BITCH it was “not to be missed”. Let them tell you!

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