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Jello Biafra

Can you help me with this audition? It won't take long. I'd really appreciate it. BAFTA and Olivier-award expectee Graham Dickson (Austentatious, All My Friends Hate Me) presents his eagerly anticipated, deeply personal and revelatory one-man show. Or something like that... An existential comedy about the cost of dreams, the burden of fear and the fragile line between performer and audience. This hilarious and unpredictable show will be different every day, but always the show you deserve.

 

Hi Graham, thank you for chatting with TNC ahead of the Fringe, are you excited to head bringing your new show to the festival?

 

I’m very excited and a little bit nervous to be bringing a new solo show back to the Fringe. I’m usually at the Fringe doing lots of improv, but it’s 6 years since my last solo show, so this year will feel different. 

 

Do you ever get nerves before a EdFringe run or is it all water off a ducks back now?

 

I certainly do get nerves, especially with a new solo show. There is simply nowhere to hide when doing a solo show, and lots of aspects of your work are displayed/exposed, i.e. acting, writing, sweating, not passing out. 

 

What makes Edinburgh Fringe such a special place to perform?

 

The sheer breadth and depth of creativity on display across the whole month is never not inspiring to me. I love it so much. This will be my 15th Fringe. Despite it being an incredibly draining exercise at times, I always leave feeling more full than empty. I doubt whether I would still be an actor or a writer if not for the Fringe.  

 

How did No One Deserves This More Than You come about, what was the inspiration behind your new show?

 

The show was initially conceived as a hate-letter to the Acting Industry™, but is actually (I hope) a more optimistic look at finding the courage to give up on your dreams and find something beautiful on the other side. Another dream perhaps? Moths also figure prominently. 

 

When bringing a show like this to the Fringe do you allow yourself much flexibility with your material, do you allow yourself with the material, is it always evolving? 

 

There’s a lot of flexibility in my show for sure. My background and my biggest passion is improv, so I try to honour that by making sure the show feels immediate and responds to the audience. Every show should feel different, so in that way yes, it is always evolving.

 

Have you always had a passion for performing?

 

Mostly yes, but at various points, this passion has been mixed in with dread and anxiety. I think this is common for a lot of performers, but it does still seem psychotic when you read it written down… 

 

How formative was your training at UCB Theatre in New York?

 

Enormously. I would say it’s the most formative experience of my life. Discovering improv turned a light on inside me that has guided almost every step of my artistic career since (for better or worse…mostly for better)!

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What have been the biggest changes you’ve noticed about your writing and performing since your debut show?

 

The debut show felt like the easiest, for sure. Which is frustrating in many ways. You expect that things get easier the more you do them, but what i’ve found is that every show presents brand new challenges, and what’s more, you are always comparing yourself to previous yardsticks. The first show, in hindsight, was liberating. There was so little pressure.