Hot on the heels of finishing the Buxton fringe and gaining an award in the process Tom Crawshaw, Yaz Al-Shaater and Michael Grady-Hall bring Play On Words to Edinburgh. They explain, “The show is all about confusion and the different ways in which it can be interpreted. That’s why we interchange the roles each night” but also Yaz adds, “Truth is, its just really fun as well”.
Not many acts at this year’s festival would even dare to change roles every night “well it gives us variation” Michael says “different things can be funny each night that’s why we like the uncertainty that comes with playing a different role”. Tom comments “people often get stuck in a rut with a show, where as we want to make it as diverse as possible, something that helps challenge us”.
Brining back a show is always a bit of a risk but that does not seem to faze these guys “well we have different ideas this time of how the play should unfold, but we also wanted to try and iron out some of the more difficult and complicated ideas”. Yaz further explains “the first idea was experimental this one feels like a finished product”.
So what are they expecting from the future? Yaz tells us “we’ve all gone separate ways since we grew up together – acting, directing and philosophy – so we all have different aims when we’re developing shows, but most importantly we want to keep the ideas fresh as possible”. And what is their main philosophy? “Audience interaction is so important to us. We want to give them an interactive experience something which they can feel part of”.
Being mini veterans of the fringe doesn’t seem to affect them either “it feels like we come up here with a challenge every year and that is to try and better last year’s show”. Michael says “It’s always enjoyable when you look out onto the audience and people are holding their sides because they are laughing so much” and Tom recalls gleefully, “one of our productions managed to bring them to tears” an achievement they all seem proud of.
IN FIVE WORDS
Favourite thing about your show?
Being drenched in sprite.
Favourite thing about the Festival?
Opportunity to see many shows.
Where can we find you when you’re not performing?
Brookes Bar, Pleasance Courtyard, Sleeping.
What are you most looking forward to once it’s all over?
Next year.
If you wish to cry or laugh along with Play On Words you can catch them everyday during the festival at the Pleasance Dome at 13:20.
Scott McPate
