Rosie Wilby's new show, The Conscious Uncoupling, is on at Laughing Horse during August.
1. Tell us about your Fringe show
It's called The Conscious Uncoupling and explores the universal terrain of how we behave in the aftermath of a separation with warmth, fun and poignancy. I liked the phrase when I heard Gwyneth Paltrow using it and heard about the book by the originator of the idea Katherine Woodward Thomas, a marriage and family therapist.
2. Best thing about the Fringe?
Doing a show a day plus several guest slots hones and sharpens performance skills like nothing else. There's no way you can get onstage that many times in a day anywhere else.
3. Worst thing about the Fringe?
Pretty much all performers I know agree that it's about a week too long. Venues are not overly keen on programming short runs. Yet it's crazy expensive to do the full thing and it's a long time for us non-locals to be away from our own bed, partners, pets and so on.
4. How many years have you been coming to the Fringe?
I've been up almost every year for a decade. A couple of times I've done short runs. Last year, I didn't come up at all as I got a place on a prestigious writers retreat in Los Angeles and began writing my book Is Monogamy Dead?, which is published the same day I launch my Fringe show.
5. Favourite Fringe venue?
I enjoyed being at The Voodoo Rooms in 2014 and have always enjoyed guesting at Magic Faraway cabaret in that space. This year's venue The Counting House has sweet memories too. I did my first split show there in 2007 with Andrew Watts and Suzy Bennett.
6. Best Fringe memory?
I guested regularly in 2008 at Liz Bentley's Edinburgh on sea, the only show that year which took place in a swimming pool. I was part of a comedically terrible synchro swimming team. Guests could decide whether or not to get in the water or just stand on the side and perform. Paul Foot did a hilarious set whilst swimming breast stroke up and down. But the most eventful night was when John Hegley performed from the side in crisp white shirt and immaculate trousers. He decided to step into a dinghy and float around delivering a poem. Yet the dinghy capsized. He delivered the poem wandering around the pool dripping wet without missing a beat. My friends who had steadied the boat for him were absolutely beside themselves with fear that they'd somehow been responsible for his drenching. But it turned out later that he'd planned the whole thing.
7. How do you wind down after a show?
In the early days of doing Fringe, I'd get a promoters pass and see as many other shows as I could. These days I prefer to focus on my own performances and go home to the flat I'm renting to cook and watch TV.
9. What do you love about Scotland?
It's beautiful. The air really does feel cleaner and crisper than down here in London.
10. Sum up your show in three words
Honest, Charming, Universal
Rosie Wilby: The Conscious Uncoupling is on at Laughing Horse at The Counting House (Venue 170) from August 3-13 and 15-27. For tickets and info please visit https://tickets.edfringe.com/
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