Sam Ward is one half of YesYesNoNo, with producer Rhian Davies. On their website they state that they: ‘make live performance pieces. Most people call our work theatre. Some people don’t’. 

This begins to reveal how Sam and Rhian play with expectations and use the theatrical form to match the story behind the work.

Five Encounters on a Site Called Craigslist – their 2017 debut– helped them to win the Total Theatre Award for Best Emerging Company.

This was followed by shows including The accident did not take place and We were promised honey! They will be returning to the festival in 2024, taking their new play Nation to Summerhall.

1983 Mark Fisher performed at the fringe, returning to work in the Fringe office in 1986 and has been a part of every Fringe Festival since.

He is currently a theatre critic for the Guardian, as well as contributing to other publications like the List and The Scotsman.

He has also written and co edited several books including ‘The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide: How to make your show a success’ and ‘How to write about theatre’, as well as contributing to books on the landscape of criticism, David Greig, and the arts under the SNP.

https://www.edinburghfringesurvivalguide.com/

Katie Posner is the joint Artistic Director at Paines Plough, a touring theatre company that develop new writers and share their work with audiences around the country. Since its inception in 1974, Paines Plough have worked with over 300 British playwrights and tours to somewhere in the region of 40 places each year. 

Katie took over artistic leadership of Paines Plough, alongside Charlotte Bennet in 2019. Before joining Paines Plough, Katie was Associate Director at Pilot Theatre, as well as having a varied life as a director.

In this episode we chat with three of the people we interviewed pre-fringe, to find out what their experience of fringe 2022 was like. First, we speak with Pollyanna Esse (Director of 20 Minutes of Action) about expectations and the effect of a verbatim play. Second, we speak to Julian Spooner (Co-Director of Rhum + Clay) about what you can learn after a decade of making fringe theatre. Finally, we speak to Fergus Morgan (Theatre Critic) about the number of shows he saw, and question just how successful this year's fringe was.

Lauren-Nicole Mayes is a Blackpool born and bred actress currently living in Manchester. She was awarded a full scholarship to Italia Conti Academy where she studied musical theatre for three years. Shortly after graduating, she started working in musicals on cruise ships, before returning to the UK and starting work in TV. She played Gina King in The Bay, and Chantelle Wilder in Coronation Street.

Now, Lauren is taking her one woman play ‘Dear Little Loz’ to the Edinburgh Fringe. The play started life as a monologue for Burn Bright, before being developed into a one act play. Dear Little Loz explores love, and the price we are willing to pay for it, it is a poetic exploration of love – love for the scabby boys in Blackpool, dodgy dates with Dave and the desperate need for a daddy-daughter connection.