Our Edinburgh Fringe expert talks to Rebecca Tully about her new show
BY KELLI DUNHAM, IMAGE BY REBECCA TULLY
This is part of a three-week nearly everyday series wherein polyamorous ex-nun nurse nonbinary queer comedian Kelli Dunham explores all the queermost edges of The Edinburgh Fringe, performs her own hilarious and hopefully hopeful show, annoys and confuses people with her gender, and drags you along for the ride.
Fringe Day 9: A Bru-ing Conversation About the Apocalypse
I’m not a big drinker, except in Edinburgh, of Irn Bru.
As anyone who has so much as put a toe down anywhere in the entire country of Scotland will be made aware, Irn Bru is a soda produced out of Glasgow that tastes like liquid Juicy Fruit gum. And sunshine peeking through grey clouds. And hope.
It is also the only local soda in any country that sells better than Coca-Cola. At least this was what the adorable and trendy folks who tend the bar at CC Blooms (my show venue) told me.
Do trendy people like to be called adorable? Perhaps not.
What the adorable trendy folks did not tell me (and indeed it was in no way their responsibility) was that Irn Bru is chock full of caffeine.
However, after six days of consuming it whenever anyone around me was consuming alcohol, I was relieved when I was informed of this. I thought my continuous rapid heartbeat was evidence of a middle-aged onset anxiety problem when it was really just I Don’t Read Directions Syndrome.
So Irn Bru – in moderation now – is one of my daily Ed Fringe pleasures, as was this perfectly queer response to how Rebecca Tully came up with the idea for her show, Apocalypse Kapow:
After standing for parliament in 2015 against a guy who was dismantling the UK’s welfare state, I started to go slightly crazy. I decided it might be an idea to write my experience down. That hasn’t yet materialised, but in amongst it all I started doing stand up and now I’m talking about my other favourite topic, the apocalypse.
We went on to chat more:
How are you preparing for your show?
It’s my very first Edinburgh and I’m starting on the 15th for two weeks – so I’m currently running around living a normal life watching other people posting about full rooms, empty rooms, PA’s not working and all sorts) and it’s totally weird.
Who likes your show/who is it for:
Anyone who likes to laugh, and isn’t expecting a barrage of one-liners!
Anything you want to confess about what you’re doing to get bums in seats?
I have a prop for the show of Jeff Besos’s rocket, made out of paper mache and I’m thinking that I will try and fashion it into a hat.
What would you be doing this August if you were not doing this?
Well. If I’d have been more successful in [my attempts at politics], I may not have made it up here at all!
What do you always bring to the potluck:
Stir-Fried Greens! And I live in an intentional community so this really is a weekly occurrence
Anything else to add:
The slight passion I have with being a woman in stand-up is that I like to talk about all of the things, as well as the female things. So there’s a spot of menopause in there, but there’s also capitalist greed and Neapolitan ice cream.
Find Rebecca Tulley on Instagram.
See Rebecca Tulley’s Apocalypse Kapow, described as “If Victoria Wood wrote Black Mirror. Dystopia has never been so uplifting.” For multiple dates and multiple venues, check PBH Free Fringe website for details.
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