Rose Matafeo. Photo / Neon
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival launches on August 4 with 17 Kiwi artists in the line-up. Alice Peacock caught up with some of the stars.
When the trio that make up Laser Kiwi landed in Edinburgh ahead of the Fringe Festival, they had a big job ahead of them, namely, sourcing several kilograms of olives for their show Rise of the Olive.
Promo shots show the beaming faces of Zane Jarvie, 32, his brother Degge, 30, and 28-year-old Imogen Stone, Zane’s partner, seemingly immersed in a sea of pitted green olives. Some are pimiento-stuffed, some aren’t, it’s not clear whether this is relevant.
Speaking to Canvas from the Scottish capital, Zane Jarvie describes the show as a mash-up of circus performance, stand-up and sketch comedy. “It’s all tied together with olives in a way you really need to see, to understand,” he says.
Jarvie says the quantity of the briney snacks required for the photos has been dwarfed by the amount they’ve churned through while touring.
“We often joke with people that we’ve ‘got a guy’, but we really don’t. We’ve just got to go down to the supermarket and hope that they’ve got enough.”
Laser Kiwi, who bill themselves as the world’s only surrealist sketch circus group, have been in the UK for the past two months, having started their tour performing pop-up slots at Glastonbury. They’ll wrap up and head home at the end of August following what will be their second Fringe run, after their debut in 2019.
“Last time, we had an absolute ball. Both times we’ve had really fantastic venues, which makes a huge difference. We expect to be tired by the end of it, but the Edinburgh audiences last time we were here were absolutely incredible.
“I think because it’s such a big festival with a variety of art forms, people are keen to dive head-first into something that’s a little bit different,” Jarvie says.
Rise of the Olive is produced by UK-based production company Gag Reflex, performed with Assembly Venues and supported by Creative New Zealand. The funding has “taken the edge off” Edinburgh’s astronomical accommodation costs - and, of course, the olives, Jarvie says.
“If anyone knows a guy, we’re keen to hear from him.”
The event officially named the Edinburgh Festival Fringe was created as a fringe event to the Edinburgh Festival, aka the Edinburgh International Festival, in 1947. Fringe 2023 takes place from August 4-28 and features more than 3,500 performers and groups spanning comedy, dance, and cabaret to name just a few. Shows are taking place across close to 300 venues.
This year, 15 artists or groups listed under the “New Zealander” category are performing at Fringe, though that’s not inclusive of numerous Kiwi exports such as London-based Rose Matafeo, who is performing a “work-in-progress” show.
It will be Matafeo’s first time bringing a solo performance to the festival since she won the Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Show at the Fringe in 2018 for her show Horndog, picking up a £10,000 ($20,687) prize.
She was the fifth female stand-up comedian to have won the award for a solo show and the first person of colour to do so. The win of what is widely considered the most prestigious comedy award in the world, at one of the largest performance arts festivals, was big for New Zealand and even bigger for Matafeo.
Sully O’Sullivan, 46, is another Kiwi Fringe performer who now calls the UK home. The born-and-bred Wellingtonian started gigging in the UK in 2004 and made the move permanent not long after, settling in Manchester.
In previous years he has performed at Fringe as part of a double act, but this year, his ninth year at the festival, he’s going solo with his show A Complete Idiot’s Guide to New Zealand.
“Being a Kiwi, there are lots of things that we take for granted that other people think are just bizarre,” Sullivan says of the show. “One thing that gets a mention is our habit of skiing down active volcanoes. Every once in a blue moon ski seasons are cut short because the volcano gets a little bit erupt-y, which to people in other parts of the world, is absolutely bonkers.”
O’Sullivan describes the Fringe as a “comedic boot camp” that will see him perform from August 4 to August 27 without a night off.
“It is very much an all-encompassing festival. Every four years, the Fringe clashes with the Olympics, and you find performers that don’t realise the Games are on because they are living in such a bubble.”
This year he’s happy with his lot, performing under the Scottish Comedy Festival umbrella in a middle-of-the-road venue that plays host to comedy gigs year-round. Some performers are less fortunate; O’Sullivan says there is one space he knows “for a fact” is used as a storage cupboard through the year until Fringe rolls around.
On the other end of the spectrum: “If you are performing in one of the premier or more elite spaces, then get prepared to mortgage your house,” he says.
Zoe Frendin, from Hawke’s Bay, has sunk “a lot” of her savings into her show, but isn’t disillusioned about making a profit. For her first run at Fringe, Frendin is performing in the free part of the festival, where shows are either free, unticketed or filled on a “pay what you can” basis.
“I had to save up for it, put the money forward and am not expecting anything back from it,” the 29-year-old says.
Speaking to Canvas from Hawke’s Bay prior to her flight to Scotland, Frendin described a conversation she had with her mum following a recent break-up. “As I was in tears talking to my mum about this guy, I said, ‘The worst part is, this is going to be so good for my show.’”
Frendin’s shtick is the horrors of dating, she describes her show Hi, I’m Zoe … as an honest, heartfelt comedic account of the tragedies of modern romance and heartbreak. “The best comedy comes from tragedy,” she says.
Frendin, who has been back and forth to the UK since finishing high school, is trained in acting but was encouraged to try her hand at comedy by a friend who had listened to her dating stories over the years.
After her Fringe debut she plans to move to London, where she might tour the show around bars - after a few weeks off. Though her first time performing at the festival, she has attended before to spectate and help with a friend’s show.
“I just remember thinking, ‘I have to come back as a performer.’ So this is literally a dream come true,” she says.
Telegraph: Is a transactional relationship ever OK? It's complicated, says Rachel Johnson.