A Fringe-tastic Time Durham Student Theatre took 7 shows to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2018! Here’s what some had to say about their time at Fringe. Alice and I co-directed ‘Crave’ by Sarah Kane this Edinburgh Fringe. The play is tricky to describe. Generally, though, it concerns love, loss, trauma, abusive relationships, paedophilia and mental illness. That being said, the play is about a lot more than just the sum of those themes. The four interlinking monologues reverberate and echo off each other, producing a highly rhythmical and emotional effect for the audience member. My favourite element of the play’s run in Edinburgh was watching the audience reaction to both the exceptionally talented actors and Sarah Kane’s words. All of the reviews highlighted Owen Sparkes’ outstanding monologue. It is this monologue which caused Alice and I to choose the play in the first place, so having people react to it so strongly proved satisfying and strangely cathartic. Overall, the Fringe was a great experience and a steep learning curve for everyone involved. Hopefully we’ll be back there next year!
-Helena Snider
KEITH. is Durham’s newest sketch troupe, created to expand the comedic opportunities available to Durham students. Their inaugural Edinburgh Fringe Festival show, KEITH. presents KEVIN., ran for two weeks as a free show, and we were thrilled to receive great critical and audience acclaim, including two four-star reviews from EdFringe Review, who praised the “silly, surreal and undeniably sharp” sketches, and called the performers “brilliantly ridiculous”. Mungo, Alex and George worked tirelessly to put the show together, and I am so glad that they received the full recognition they deserved. Aside from our show, for us the best part of the festival was the easily accessible comedy - spending time with funny people and appreciating their material is so important in bettering your own. You should always remember, though, that the Fringe works on word of mouth. A shared favourite show of ours, Electrolyte, was billed as a spoken-word/music piece. Without personal recommendations, we wouldn’t have gone, and would’ve missed one of the best shows of the Fringe. Trust the opinion of your friends! -Andrew Cowburn
Having people react so strongly proved satisfying and strangely cathartic. Marsistan is a short play I wrote last year for the Durham Drama Festival. It focusses on the relationship between two British-Pakistani sisters, Nasreen (Anusha Persson) and Aysha Malik (Layla Chowdhury). Their differences alone make their relationship tense, and this isn’t helped when Aysha is selected for a one-way mission to Mars. I’m extremely happy with how successful our run has been at the Fringe. Though our audiences have been on the small side, the play really seems to have sparked conversation between those who have come to see it. Critics have also been very complimentary of the script and performances which has been highly encouraging given that Marsistan is my first play. I’ve loved working with my assistant-director and producer, Anna Haines, who has been an invaluable member of our team. Layla and Anusha have been fabulous to work with and their performances have been authentic and heartfelt – so much so that some audience members have thought they were real sisters! I’m very excited to see where we can take Marsistan next! -Hamza Adam Rafique 4
Photograph: Taken by Katie O’Toole, Hamza Rafique, Andrew Cowburn
