BSU at Edinburgh Fringe
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Having a laugh: BSU graduates take their shows to Edinburgh Fringe
Wednesday, 31 July, 2024Fans of art and culture will soon descend upon Scotland’s capital city for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world’s largest performing arts festival. Taking place from 2-26 August, this year’s festival includes over 3,000 productions across 262 venues – and several BSU alumni will be among them.
From sketch comedy and improv to reinterpreting Shakespeare, festival-goers will have ample opportunity to see some of the best of BSU.
Upping the Antics
Comedy group Up The Antics, comprised of eight BSU graduates, are making their way to Edinburgh to do their biggest show to date with Antics Joke Show.
The group met at BSU and started off as the Bath Spa Comedy Society. Over ten years of preforming together, they have gained many accolades including creating award-winning sketch show Loco-Motive, making it to the semi-finals of the Leicester Square Sketch Off, being featured on BBC Radio 4 Extra and establishing a sell-out monthly show of comedy variety at the Bristol Improv Theatre.
Talking about his excitement to be returning to Edinburgh, group member Conor Bailey said:
“It feels really good to be going back to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival! This will be our fourth time going up to the Fringe, with our first time being all the way back in 2013 as the Bath Spa University Comedy Society. The fact that we are going back 10 years after our first show is incredible and really puts into perspective how far we have come since starting out at university.”
Conor said each member of Up The Antics is inspired by the joy of performing, harnessing their creativity and making people laugh – but it’s just as much about collaboration and making the most of the skills they learned as BSU students.
Conor said:
“We have completed a range of courses including Creative Writing, English Literature, Business and Management, Psychology, Acting and Education, so we’re able to bring so many different ideas and opinions to the table. It helps us not only to think about the words on the page for each sketch, but also about how to put on a great show, work with venues and other acts, and ensure we're all still inspired and happy to be doing an art form we love. All our courses involved an element of collaborative effort which is essential in maintaining a group for as long as we have, and to hopefully continue into the future!”
Up The Antics are:
- Conor Bailey, BA (Hons) Creative Writing
- Rosalind Beeson, BA (Hons) English Literature and Creative Writing
- Victoria Cansfield, BA (Hons) Performing Arts
- Beth Kerridge, BA (Hons) Education
- Luke Mallison, MA Arts Management
- Waqar Munir, BA (Hons) Psychology
- Oscar Stretton, BA (Hons) Psychology
- Scott Wilson, BA (Hons) English Literature and Creative Writing
Macbeth as comedy?
BA (Hons) Acting graduates Tom Hogan and Gherto Tanzarella, known as The Raymondos, have teamed up with producer and fellow Acting graduate Georgi Bessey for their latest show, MacPlebs.
MacPlebs adds an interesting twist on the legendary curse of the Scottish Play. Following an accident that leaves only two of the cast alive, they realise they can split the profits 50/50 if they reimagine and perform Macbeth as a two-man show. One problem – they haven’t read it!
Talking about how it feels to be going to Edinburgh, Tom and Gherto said:
“It’s great to be heading back to Edinburgh Fringe! Our first time performing there was back in 2019 and it was the most amazing experience meeting fellow creatives and seeing their work, all the while building relationships and a following for our company. The pandemic unfortunately stopped us returning the following year, so to finally go back is fantastic!”
The company finds inspiration in other well-known comedy groups, and adding their own flavour to the comedy they bring to the stage. Studying and performing at BSU was also integral to their success, and Tom and Gherto said their experience has directly led to where they are today:
“Without the course the Raymondos wouldn’t exist. Performing our first show as part of SparkFest showed us that we can create our own work; it gave us confidence to take it to other venues and the tools we learned in our course gave us the ability to create the show in the first place. In our individual careers outside of The Raymondos, the skills we learned at BSU have also been invaluable both personally and professionally.”
Tom and Gherto offered the following advice for aspiring comedians and performers:
“Take risks and create what you would like to see yourself. We didn’t create MacPlebs to be a commercial success and certainly didn’t have notions of going to Edinburgh initially (in fact we thought it would flop!); we created the show because we enjoyed it and we made each other laugh. Love what you do, and others will love it too.”
Find out more about the performances and book tickets on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe website.