\u2018We wouldn\u2019t ever do anything for attention!\u2019<\/p>\n
Some people blow their wedding budget in Las Vegas or on Venice\u2019s Grand Canal<\/a>. But the actors and writers Linus Karp and Joseph Martin will be tying the knot at the Edinburgh fringe, walking down the aisle of the Pleasance Grand on Saturday. Tickets to attend are \u00a312 a pop \u2013 and they hope to avoid getting star ratings.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s surprisingly affordable,\u201d says Martin. \u201cWe\u2019d been looking at doing it in London and that was \u2018the first Tuesday of every month at 8.30am, only bookable three years in advance\u2019. Our work is loud, queer and joyous, and this felt like a good way to represent that side of us. It\u2019s silly and ridiculous, but it feels right.\u201d There will be a dramatic entrance and special-guest speeches, but their vows will be real. \u201cWe wouldn\u2019t ever do anything for attention,\u201d deadpans Karp.<\/p>\n It will, however, do no harm in raising the profile of their other show, The Fit Prince <\/strong>(<\/strong>Who Gets Switched on the Square in the Frosty Castle the Night Before [Insert Public Holiday Here<\/strong>])<\/strong>. The show grew out of their binge-watching of romantic films during a bout of Covid and, like their previous tributes to Princess Diana and Gwyneth Paltrow<\/a>, is served with a mixture of camp irony and genuine affection.<\/p>\n \u201cAudiences can tell when you\u2019ve done something with derision,\u201d says Martin. \u201cWe love the films on which it is based, the good and the bad \u2013 and, boy, are there many bad ones!\u201d<\/p>\n As the big day approaches, how are the pre-wedding jitters? \u201cThis is the first time we have debuted a show in Edinburgh so maybe this level of stress will change things,\u201d says Karp. \u201cWe\u2019ll see if halfway through the fringe we still want to get married.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s physically demanding \u2013 you can\u2019t let your partner down\u2019\u2018Opening in Edinburgh has been vulnerable and exhilarating\u2019 \u2026 Isak and Eowynn Enquist. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod\/The Guardian<\/p>\n A double helping of married couples are responsible for the aerial dance show Imago<\/strong>. Created by two former Cirque du Soleil stars, this \u201cepic tragic love story\u201d is now entrusted to another husband and wife. And \u201centrusted\u201d is the right word: nothing symbolises dependency more powerfully than an acrobat holding on to an airborne partner. Using apparatus devised to keep the performers in the air for unusually long periods, this is a show requiring high levels of trust.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is emotionally and physically demanding and we know we can\u2019t let our partner down on stage,\u201d says Gabrielle Martin, who developed Imago with Jeremiah Hughes before she retired from the stage. \u201cThe truth is that gravity is trying to pull us apart. The chemistry and the struggle are real.\u201d<\/p>\n Hughes describes a three-minute sequence in which he would be suspended in the air with his wife hanging on his foot: \u201cAt no point was I thinking, \u2018This feels hard on my body, we should have a break.\u2019 It was: \u2018She\u2019s 15 feet off the ground. There\u2019s no question of stopping.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The couple are now directing <\/strong>Eowynn and Isak Enquist in Imago, which has the dreamlike aesthetic of dance, rather than the shock and awe of circus. \u201cIt\u2019s a cathartic journey for the audience,\u201d says Martin. \u201cAnd it is for Eowynn and Isak on stage.\u201d<\/p>\n For Martin and Hughes, working and playing together \u2013 not to mention bringing up a two year old \u2013 is a natural state of affairs. \u201cSo many of our production conversations are pillow talk,\u201d says Hughes. \u201cThis work has brought a lot of beauty into our life and we\u2019ve truly enjoyed placing it on to these new performers, who have also had to learn how to communicate when they\u2019re exhausted and in the air. I don\u2019t know that it could have happened with two that were not in an intimate relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n Martin adds: \u201cWe know how intense Edinburgh is, having been there once before \u2013 I remember crying my way home every other night.\u201d How are the Enquists holding up? \u201cPeople said it was going to be a whirlwind experience: we now understand what they meant. We have been training for Imago for two years \u2013 opening in Edinburgh has been vulnerable and exhilarating.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s easier to create an hour-long show to express how you feel than say it directly\u2019\u2018Marnina and Micah get along way better than Eric and I\u2019 \u2026 Chris Grace (seated) and Eric Michaud, directors of Couplet: Honey Honey Moon Moon. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod\/The Guardian<\/p>\n A honeymoon comedy set in the aftermath of a calamitous wedding is the work of another double helping of married couples. Created by Los Angeles musical duo Marnina Schon and Micah O\u2019Konis, both fringe newcomers, Couplet: Honey Honey Moon Moon<\/strong> is directed by comedians Chris Grace and Eric Michaud, both Edinburgh old-hands.<\/p>\n Revelling in their own cantankerousness, Grace and Michaud have been energised by the positive vibes of the younger couple. \u201cMarnina and Micah get along way better than Eric and I do,\u201d laughs Grace.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re much better fighters, I guess,\u201d says Michaud. \u201cOr they\u2019re conflict avoidant,\u201d says Grace. \u201cIt\u2019s an ongoing debate about whether we want to model our relationship on theirs or they want to model theirs on ours.\u201d<\/p>\n Heightened comedy \u2026 Marnina Schon and Micah O\u2019Konis, stars of Couplet: Honey Honey Moon Moon. Photograph: Jack Morris<\/p>\n Schon and O\u2019Konis are classically trained musicians who tell the story of their relationship from inception to marriage through songs such as Our Wedding Venue Burned Down. The distinctive nature of their genderqueer relationship is summed up in People Think We\u2019re Straight.<\/p>\n \u201cWith Eric and me, it\u2019s pretty obvious if we\u2019re holding hands that we\u2019re gay,\u201d says Grace. \u201cMarnina and Micah present as heteronormative. We were both at their wedding earlier this year and when family members gave speeches they used correct pronouns, which was a big milestone for them.\u201d<\/p>\n The show sees the funny side of all this. \u201cThey quote a line from a New York Times interview<\/a> that says there\u2019s nothing they can\u2019t sing and laugh their way through \u2013 and that\u2019s really true,\u201d says Michaud. \u201cRather than fighting, they\u2019ll sit down and write a song. They\u2019ll harness those feelings and create something out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re probably like us in that it\u2019s almost easier to create an hour-long show to express how you feel than say it directly,\u201d says Grace, who is also creating a new standup show every afternoon in 27 Hours<\/a>. \u201cThere\u2019s a heightened comedic sensibility to their show but there\u2019s not a ton of artifice.\u201d<\/p>\n Michaud agrees: \u201cThey seem unshakable as a couple, which is inspiring.\u201d Grace quips back: \u201cThey have a joie de vivre that, as middle-aged men, we do not share.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018<\/strong>We go to each other for solace\u2019Abigail and Shaun Bengson, stars of Ohio. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod\/The Guardian<\/p>\n If you want to know what love at first sight feels like, just ask Abigail and Shaun Bengson. Eighteen years ago, Abigail was invited to join Shaun\u2019s band. Straight away they wrote a song. Three weeks later they were married.<\/p>\n \u201cSince then it\u2019s all been making art together,\u201d says Shaun, arriving in Edinburgh from the US with his parents and two children. Having met through music, they find it impossible to distinguish between their creative life and any other aspect of their relationship. \u201cWe were fired in the kiln of being musicians,\u201d says Abigail. \u201cWe go to each other for solace.\u201d<\/p>\n Their show, Ohio<\/strong>, a music-theatre hybrid, is autobiographical in a way that both find exposing. It is about Shaun\u2019s inherited degenerative hearing loss, their movement away from religion and their coming to terms with mortality. They call it an \u201cecstatic grief concert\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe stage is where I feel the most unmasked and the most free,\u201d says Abigail. \u201cIt is a vulnerable place to be but it\u2019s also a place of power. Shaun and I are both disabled and our situations are degenerative. We\u2019ve thought of it as a bummer, but mostly because it\u2019s new and scary. We\u2019re making this to get less afraid and more free about what it means to be a person moving into disability.\u201d<\/p>\n A few days in, the couple have tackled their fringe debut with characteristic enthusiasm. \u201cIt\u2019s been gorgeous,\u201d they say. \u201cWe\u2019re entering the review maelstrom so we\u2019re holding each other close: as autistic folks we\u2019re used to being misunderstood and underestimated. What matters most is what happens in the room, which is when we feel most joyful.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018We\u2019ve been too exhausted to talk to each other\u2019<\/p>\n They met through comedy, working together on student sketches at the University of Bristol, and when lockdown put everything on hold, Ada Player and Bron Waugh simply carried on improvising. With a relationship like that, it is little wonder that their debut fringe show, Ada and Bron: The Origin of Love<\/strong>, is a compendium of offbeat skits on a theme of intimacy.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re characters we\u2019ve been improvising since university and they all ended up being doomed romances and weird couples,\u201d says Waugh, whose work on television with Player includes the short Channel 4 comedy Peaked. \u201cWe\u2019ve taken tiny nuggets of our relationship, timesed them by 10 and made them into these cartoonish love stories,\u201d says Player.<\/p>\n \u2018The whole show is done in our pants and vest tops\u2019 \u2026 Ada Player and Bron Waugh, stars of The Origin of Love. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod\/The Guardian<\/p>\n How is their work\/life balance? \u201cYou can make rules about not talking about the show in the evening, but sometimes it\u2019s fun to do that,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s a constant back and forth. But it has made our stress around the show low, because if it\u2019s our whole life, everything has to feel fun, light and energetic.\u201d<\/p>\n Waugh looks uncertain about that, but stressful or not, working from home has given The Origin of Love its distinctive quality. \u201cWe made the show in this closed space,\u201d says Player. And even the costumes reflect the lockdown theme. \u201cThe whole show is done in our pants and vest tops,\u201d says Waugh, although pianist Ed Lyness will be in a tux. \u201cThat would normally be something we\u2019d be shy about, but because we\u2019ve made the show in our bedrooms, we\u2019ve not thought about what it would feel like in front of people.\u201d<\/p>\n Are there any tensions between Ada and Bron after their opening gigs? \u201cOur show is at 11pm so resetting our body clocks means we\u2019ve been too exhausted to talk to each other, let alone fight,\u201d says Waugh. \u201cOnce we have settled into a rhythm we will have more energy to have a proper domestic,\u201d says Player. \u201cHonestly, can\u2019t wait!\u201d<\/p>\n The Fit Prince \u2026<\/a> is at Pleasance Courtyard until 25 August. Imago<\/a> is at Assembly Roxy until 24 August. Couplet: Honey Honey Moon Moon<\/a> is at Assembly Rooms until 24 August. Ohio<\/a> is at Assembly Roxy until 24 August. Ada and Bron: The Origin of Love<\/a> is at Pleasance Courtyard until 24 August.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2018We wouldn\u2019t ever do anything for attention!\u2019 Some people blow their wedding budget in Las Vegas or on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346389,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,1102,4884,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-346388","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-edinburgh","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-scotland","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115032514005733768","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}