Ewan Spence

The Edinburgh Fringe Show 2025 – Ryan Stewart and Tiah Bullock – Kinder

August 14, 2025

Season 21

Episode 13

00:30:46

Kinder is an excellent example of a show taking risks at the Fringe, both for the production and the audience.

There are hints on what to expect on paper – a story of a Drag Queen preparing a “comedy roast” but finding out with an hour to go, it’s actually a booking for a children’s story time show. In that short liminal space, there is some theatrical magic that lifts the story to something powerful, reflective, and vitally important.

It’s the Fringe at its best. I caught up with the team behind the show – producer and performer Ryan Stewart and director Tiah Bullock to find out more.

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The Edinburgh Fringe Show 2025 – Jay Phelps – Miles

August 13, 2025

Season 21

Episode 12

Accomplished jazz trumpeter Jay Phelps debuts at the Fringe this year with Miles. It’s a look back on the life of Jazz virtuoso Miles Davis in general, and the creation of the album “Kind Of Blue” in particular.

It mixes in many disciplines, including the acting talents of Benjamin Akintuyos as Davis, the music of the album, and Phelps’ music talents on the trumpet. Not only that, but Phelps has 20 years of music and performance in his CV, but this is his first move into acting.

I caught up with Jay earlier today to talk about the impact and relevance of Kind of Blue, the influence it has had on his life, and what it’s like to meet your hero on stage.

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The Edinburgh Fringe Show 2025 – Jay Saunders and Nick Cheng – Project Comedy

August 12, 2025

Season 21

Episode 11

0:31:00

Jay Saunders and Nick Cheng are from Project Comedy; a part of Project Recce, which helps Military Veterans and Service Leavers to move from military service to civilian employment.

As they describe it, “military humour is more than just entertainment—it’s a survival tool. It forges camaraderie, boosts morale, and keeps teams strong in the toughest conditions. Now, through Project COMEDY, veterans can harness that same power of humour to improve their well-being, master new skills, and stand out in civilian careers.”

This is the first year that the Project Comedy team has brought shows to Edinburgh. The Fringe can offer more, so I listen to Jay and Nick as they talk about the power of healing that the Fringe can offer, how the Fringe can help introduce the Project to a broader audience, and how this will help build the project for the future.

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The Edinburgh Fringe Show 2025 – Narin Oz – Inner Child(ish)

August 11, 2025

Season 21

Episode 10

00:18:01

As week 2 starts here in Edinburgh, let’s welcome Narin Oz to the pod. Returning to the Fringe with her fourth show, Inner Child(ish) sees Oz looking to reconnect with her titular inner child … through the medium of the Tom Hanks motion picture Castaway.

Her inner child misbehaves, breaks rules, and flips reality around. Behind all this is Narin learning to live in a world of neurotypical people surrounding her neurodiversity. Why live in reality when you can skip over, under, around, and through it?

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The Edinburgh Fringe Show 2025 – Annie Lareau – Fuselage

August 8, 2025

Season 21

Episode 9

00:29:32

Today, we listen to Annie Lareau talk about her life, which she is bringing to the Fringe in the show Fuselage.

Annie was meant to be flying home from the UK with 35 university classmates for Christmas in 1988. They changed to an earlier flight, and Anie, who couldn’t afford the fee, stayed behind, as her friend boarded Pan Am 103. A flight where a bomb exploded, crashing the aircraft into the Scottish town of Lockerbie.

This ensemble piece threads Annie’s life with that of the people of Lockerbie and the scrutiny of the terrorist incident, how Annie faced debilitating grief, panic attacks, and nightmares in the decades afterwards.

It’s also a look at treasuring moments and relationships in an unpredictable and sometimes cruel world.

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The Edinburgh Fringe Show 2025 – Box Tale Soup – 1984

August 7, 2025

Season 21

Episode 8

00:24:15

1984 is a story that has been told countless times and becomes more relevant every time it is told.

Box Tale Soup brings their version of the classic warning to the Edinburgh Fringe this year. I caught up with Noel Byrne to talk about the challenge involved in bringing a classic to the stage. Box Tale Soup has established itself as one of the leading puppetry companies coming to the Fringe over the last few years, and I explore how the company came to that part of the arts world and how they learned their skills.

With that, what can this stylised approach bring to 1984? What different techniques can be taken, and when was the decision on the puppet roles and the human roles made?

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The Edinburgh Fringe Show 2025 – Scout Durwood – Apocalypse Cabaret: Songs for the End of the World

August 6, 2025

Season 21

Episode 7

00:25:51

What if Cabaret, disaster movie, philosophy, and Geri Halliwell? You get Apocalypse Cabaret: Songs for the End of the World!

To learn more about this one-woman cabaret show, I talk with Scout Durwood as she brings this dark delight to the Edinburgh Fringe. With a mix of original songs, standards and a dash of existentialism, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover.

This is Durwood’s first play, which means balancing between sticking to the page and performing for a live audience, and why cabaret thrives with restricted budgets. There’s also the small matter of some of the comparisons in the press release… why Bette Midler?

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The Edinburgh Fringe Show 2025 – Kit Loyd – Frenzy

August 5, 2025

Season 21

Episode 6

00:21:48

One of the delights of the Edinburgh Fringe is finding something that’s just a single step to the side of your average show. It’s in those little side streets where you can find something spectacular.

Kit Loyd is on one of those side streets. He’s brought Frenzy to the Fringe, a delightful and engaging mix of comedy, physical theatre, and mime. It’s also his first full hour at the Fringe.

I sat down with Kit to talk about bringing a debut show to Edinburgh, his expectations, and how he discovered that his forte is mime and physicality.

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The Edinburgh Fringe Show 2025 – Saaniya Abbas – Hellarious

August 4, 2025

Season 21

Episode 5

00:20:18

Today’s guest is Saaniya Abbas. From the UAE comedy scene, she is the first local comic to officially debut a solo show at the Edinburgh Fringe this August.

How do you go from a sheltered upbringing in New Delhi to a sometimes controversial comedy career? We talk about Sanniya’s background and her first steps in comedy, before finding wider acclaim and turning a hobby into a profession.

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The Edinburgh Fringe Show 2025 – Barry Ferns – My Seven Years As Lionel Ritchie

August 1, 2025

Season 21

Episode 4

00:27:57

Some will know him from the dim and distant past as Barry Ferns. Edinburgh Fringe historians will know him as Lionel Ritchie. Others in the comedy scene of 2025 will know him, once more, as Barry Ferns.

And there you have the premise for his Fringe show, My Seven Years As Lionel Ritchie. This strong narrative hour charts the highs and lows of being a professional comic at the Fringe, the lead up to the shows, the many years of “this year is the one”, the debt, the bankruptcy, and the return to the scene.

We touch on many of these subjects in today’s interview to give you a flavour of what all performers face at the Fringe, as well as putting Barry’s work at Angel Comedy and The Bill Murray into context.

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