Kat Mokrynski - Page 3

Recently, we had the opportuinty to talk with Glen Ballard and Oliver Tompsett about the upcoming production of Ghost the Musical in Concert. We discussed the creation of Ghost the Musical, what it is like to be returning to the show after time away and what they hope audiences take away from the concert!

Have you ever been sitting on a stool on a stage, being asked to load a confetti cannon with five containers, one of which containing push pins, that will be shot into the unguarded face of a drag queen? Not many will be able to say they have, but those who attend Ginger Johnson Blows Off! may have the opportunity. 

If you’re afraid of flying, this may not be the right show for you. Flight, one of two Darkfield shows playing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2024, originally ran in 2018 and had been performed at the Fringe in 2022.

Murder, She Didn’t Write is an improvised murder mystery show that has been welcoming audiences for the past ten years at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. As someone who has a love for both improvisational comedy and murder mysteries who had yet to see the show, I was very interested in seeing it at this year’s Fringe.

Written by Matt Chiorini and Travis Newton, Kafka's Metamorphosis: The Musical! With Puppets! is pretty much what is written on the tin - an adaptation of Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis told using songs and puppets. Audience members are greeted by a performer sitting on stage, facing away from them towards artwork of a cockroach.

Imagine this, if you will. Scientists have discovered that they are capable of cloning humans, giving them the ability to bring deceased geniuses back through new life. They have chosen to clone Mozart, but, in a twist, the hair retrieved from Mozart is actually his pubic hair, leading to the clone being a much more immature version of the man.

Ania Magliano: Forgive Me, Father begins with a bit of relatable comedy - stalking people on Instagram you aren’t able to follow. For Magliano, the person she stalks is her partner’s ex, and she tells us about the different posts she has seen from her.

Celya AB: Of All People begins with a topic that some might see as taboo - money. Celya declares that she is going to be very open about money. In keeping with the themes of money and value, Celya guarantees the audience 100 jokes throughout the show, each one worth sixteen pence, though she warns that some may be more valuable than others.

Amy Matthews: Commute with the Foxes begins with a surprising topic for a comedy show - conspiracy theories. And the one Matthews chooses to focus on isn’t one of your typical theories. Instead, she tells us about her belief that Francis Bourgeois, a viral trainspotter, is a government plant.

Spy Movie: The Play!, written by Matthew Howell and Jack Michael Stacey, is “The Greatest Spy Movie (n)Ever Made.” The show has quite the interesting (and meta) concept - what we are going to see is meant to be seen on the silver screen but, due to financial reasons, we are going to be seeing it staged as a play.

While living in New York, I was first introduced to comedy shows through 2/3rds of A Threesome (and Friends). The show is hosted by AJ Holmes and Caitlin Cook, two singer-songwriters who created the duo known as 2/3rds of A Threesome. Holmes and Cook have brought along their “friends,” fellow comedians who are performing at the Fringe.

Have you ever seen someone in a gingerbread costume give the drag performance of their life? No? Well, you should definitely consider seeing it sometime. Swamplesque, the Australian “ogre-inspired burlesque and drag parody,” arrived at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this year in the iconic Assembly Hall.

BriTANick: Dummy, a self-described “nonlinear, freeform sketch show” is performed by Brian McElhaney and Nick Kocher, the two members of BriTANick who are most well-known for their online sketch comedy as well as being writers for Saturday Night Live and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Paul Williams: Mamiya 7 has a description that leaves much to the imagination. All we are told is that “Paul bought a second-hand film camera last year and it turned out the previous owner had left a used-up roll of film in it” and that this will be the theme of the show. And indeed, the description is not lying.

Eddy Hare: This One’s On Me begins on the topic of male pattern baldness, with Hare explaining that he first had a bald spot at the age of twenty, promising to reveal it to us by the end of the show, which had already been requested by one eager audience member. But, we soon delve into the main subject of the show - uncles.

Jake Roche: Neporrhoids certainly has one of the more interesting show starts of the Fringe. Roche kneels in front of a keyboard on the stage, pulling down his trousers and simulating having an orgasm while staring directly at the audience member in front of him.

Operation Mincemeat, the winner of the 2023 Olivier Award for Best New Musical, has been taking the Fortune Theatre - and the West End! - by storm with its incredible musical tale of the real-life Operation Mincemeat. Now in its second year, the show has had a cast change, with some new actors coming in and previous covers taking on the roles.

We had the opportunity to chat with Gavin Lee, who returns to the role of Monsieur Thénardier after playing him on Broadway from March 2015 to May 2016 in the most recent revival. We discussed how Lee first got into the world of theatre and what it has been like to return to the role of Thénardier nearly a decade later!

Walking into Michael Kunze: Infinity Mirror, audiences are greeted by Kunze himself, who is standing on the stage making sandwiches. After taking a few orders from audience members, he then begins some audience participation, tossing slices of fake ham into the audience and encouraging them to throw them like a Frisbee onto the slice of bread.

As someone who has seen versions of Stamptown in both Edinburgh and London, I was very much looking forward to seeing the show at the 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe in the Pleasance Courtyard - Grand, a 750-seat venue.