EdFringe 2024: Shane Palmer

EDINBURGH FRINGE 2024
Interview

SHANE

PALMER

YOU CAN'T ESCAPE AN

AUSSIE BOY

C ARTS | C venues | C aurora - studio

THEATRE / COMEDY / NEW WRITING

Jul 31, Aug 1-12, 14-25: TICKETS

JULY 16, 2024

'Being President of a footy club is pretty straightforward, right? Sign the best players, sell more beer, and try not to burn it all to the ground!' A loud, obnoxious and darkly humorous dive into the bravado, insecurity and ego of an Aussie Boy's mind, and the intoxicating lust for glory and power they find within the sacred walls of Marydale Tigers Football Club. In a world where it seems any idiot can be president, Dan, Stephen and Tim discover that they might just be the wrong idiots to put in charge.

Hi Shane it’s lovely to talk with you ahead of your Edfringe return, how’s your build up to the festival going?

G’day Niger, it’s coming along really well thank you! There’s a huge amount of jobs to do, lines to learn, scenes to block and promo videos to shoot; but we’re well on track and excited to make our way to the other side of the world, and show You Can’t Escape an Aussie Boy to the world at the Edinburgh Fringe!

You was last at the fringe with Echoes of Villers-Bretonneux, what was that experience like for you?

Echoes was a fantastic experience! I had a really successful season with Greenside, and enjoyed a fantastic reception from the audiences who came along. I had quite a few audience members make a point of coming up for a chat post show, to share their own personal connection to the show and story, through their relatives or family friends that had served in the Western Front in WW1.

It was quite special and humbling to receive that from people I’d never met before, who felt their ancestors were so represented and honoured through that show.

With Echoes of Villers-Bretonneux being a one-man show did that add any additional pressure on you?

Yeah - don’t drop your lines, because there’s no one to bail you out! It was a great challenge, and a unique feeling on stage, and the intimate and stripped back nature of the show invited the audience to be immersed in the storytelling.

While that was a fantastic experience, I’m even more excited for this time round, and travelling over with a company of 4 for Aussie Boy. I’m really looking forward to getting to share the highs of success and challenges of a long season with Riley, Jeremy and Nathan.

What lessons did you take from your last fringe experience and how do you think these lessons will help you this time around?

Go easy on the Wild Berry Cider, stretch the legs every day before and after the endless stairs and steep hills of Edinburgh, and go and see the kinds of shows that you’d never think to check out at home.

From a performance perspective, I think I hit a good balance and pace with the season last time - the three and a half weeks are a marathon, not a sprint! Good food, regular exercise and the odd escape from the city up into the Crags made everything much more sustainable. Oh and keep an eye out for the Edinburgh Buses - they don’t mess about. Or swerve.

How does it feel to be back at the fringe with You Can’t Escape an Aussie Boy, which is also making its European Premiere?

I actually started writing Aussie Boy in the weeks after the 2019 Fringe, when I got back to Melbourne, and after a host of delays, a global pandemic and a short spell in Vancouver, I cannot wait to get back to Edinburgh with another show.

I’m thrilled to be back once again - and with a drastically different show to the last time. I think there’s some key themes I look to explore in my writing, particularly of Australian Culture - the good, bad and bloody ugly - and the idea of what it means to be a man. We’ve got a fantastic 13:10 time slot, so plenty of time for flyering in the morning, performing just after lunch, then enjoying everything the Fringe has to offer afterwards.

Will there be any nerves ahead of You Can’t Escape an Aussie Boy run at C Venues?

I usually expect a few jitters on opening night. There’s always a lot to do, and lot to remember, and always the hope the audience will connect with the show - but we all know we’ve put in the hours and done the work so far, so mostly feeling pretty confident.

What does Edinburgh Fringe mean to you?

The 2019 Fringe was one of the wildest, most satisfying and challenging mountains I’ve climbed - and I can’t wait to do it again. I travelled to Edinburgh in 2013 as a tourist, then 2014 for Hogmanay, and was just blown away in 2019 by the Fringe - the city is literally bursting at the seams with life, colour and every performance you could dream of.

It’s certainly tough to stand out, but as a platform to show off your work I think it’s unparalleled in the arts world. And while it’s a massive challenge even just getting there - and bloody expensive for all - I think there’s a lot to be taken away from that challenge, and so much to be gained out of adapting and improvising.

I loved the sheer variety of performance, genre and experience from last time, and I hope that may long continue at the Fringe. The discourse earlier this year about the financial feasibility of taking a show to Edinburgh, the strain on local resources, the severe housing shortages (for residents and travelling performers) are all huge issues that need to be addressed; but ultimately it is what you make of it. And remembering to enjoy yourself is crucial.

Can you tell me a little bit about how You Can’t Escape an Aussie Boy came about, what inspired you to write this new show?

I’ve always felt there’s a chasm between sport and drama; yet both have a huge cross-pollination of key themes and aspects. Both require discipline, focus and dedication, a love of craft, and are often driven or shaped by a narrative.

Yet each side often looks at the other from the opposite side of the school gym, staring at their shoes. I wanted to make them dance together!

“What if Donald Trump took over a suburban footy club?” was the genesis of the show. When I started writing in 2019, we had Trump, Boris Johnson and Scott Morrison as the leaders of the USA, UK and Australia respectively. These bombastic, obnoxious and insanely self-confident characters were somehow running entire countries, after failing upwards their whole lives. So I wanted to dive into that mindset, and try to unravel the lofty promises and spin, and get to the core of why these blokes are enabled to rise to where they are.

Growing up in a country town in Victoria, the local footy club is the glue that holds the town together - for both good and bad. It felt like a perfect setting for this show; an organisation that tries to do good for the community as a whole; just don’t ask how we’re getting there…

When writing a play like this, how self reflecting do you allow yourself?

I like to ask how I would (ideally) operate in these given situations, and what I’d like to do, what I should do, and what I definitely shouldn’t do. These questions usually spark an interesting path to follow and a curious little adventure in my head.

And when writing characters with the intention to play them onstage, I thrive on the escapism of diving into the shoes of someone nothing like me, and seeing where it goes.

Do you like to create characters from people you’ve met or known or do you prefer them to be fully fictional characters?

I aim to create characters entirely as works of fiction - their words and actions seem to flow out of my subconscious and onto the page. I think the joy of writing about what you know is the sheer volume and history of experience, that can filter into fully fleshed out characters and settings.

There’s certainly moments and beats in my work that are heavily influenced by real life experiences, but as a whole I really try to work with the magical ‘what if’ for each character, rather than copy and paste a mate from school or some bloke I’ve kicked on a pitch at some stage!

"I’ve always been drawn to the unbalanced dynamics between three friends / brothers as well - and how things play out together, who takes the lead within the group, who gets ganged up on, who gets tricked into doing stuff."

If you could describe Stephen, Tim, and Dan in just two words what would they be?

Stephen: Ambitious. Foolhardy.

Tim: Honest. Loyal.

Dan: Realist. Scheming.

Had you always intended to play Stephen and what was it about this character that connected with you as an actor?

Absolutely! The first draft had a much, much darker path for Stephen to go down, which I would’ve relished to play on stage, but I’m a lot happier with the overall shape of the story now - we take the audience on a more interesting ride.

There’s a lot of hype, big dreams and zero idea of execution with Stephen, which is such good fun to play on stage. I’ve always been drawn to the unbalanced dynamics between three friends / brothers as well - and how things play out together, who takes the lead within the group, who gets ganged up on, who gets tricked into doing stuff. We really dive into this with Stephen, Tim and Dan - and I think it’ll really resonate with audiences.

What has the process been like for you working with your director Riley Longworth?

Incredible! We challenge each other, we’re honest and we put ideas through - and everything is for the good of the show.

Riley has a background in screenwriting - he graduated from he Victorian College of Arts (one of the best film schools in Aus) - and is a fantastic storyteller. He’s got a wickedly sharp sense of humour, a great pulse for tone and theme, and has really elevated the script into a wonderful show on stage.

And how important is the creative collaboration between a playwright/actor and director when creating such a unique show like this?

I think the number of future projects we have planned together probably sums it up best! It’s absolutely crucial. We developed a really quick shorthand with each other, and quickly got in sync with the tone and theme of a story we both wanted to tell, which has made the whole process much easier.

We’ve developed a really healthy working relationship of always being open to new ideas, tweaks of lines, omitting bits that don’t quite land, Riley clicked with the script after the first reading, and knew exactly what I was trying to say with the show, which launched us down the garden path together, and it’s been a blast!

Being playwright, producer, and actor can be tricky roles to balance, have you been able to keep the roles separate or do they inevitably roll into each other?

Well I’ve always been blessed / cursed with a big gob… so learning when to offer thoughts and when to shut up is a constant dance! I think it’s lent really well with the collaborative aspects of this show, and I’ve really enjoyed how much it has grown in the lead up to this run at C Arts, with the added input from Jeremy and Nathan.

The goal is always to write the script, and let it be fully interpreted by the other creatives as they envision it. I try to always answer questions about characters, plot and the setting if asked, but not push any ideas or refuse offers from the room - they’ve gotta be allowed to do their jobs too. But there is definitely a degree of compartmentalisation involved, and consciously switching and shutting off the roles that aren’t needed at a certain moment. It’s a fun challenge.

What would you say have been the most interesting things you’ve discovered about yourself in the process of bringing You Can’t Escape an Aussie Boy to the stage?

I’d say it’s always a joy and relief when other people are interested in the world and characters you create - it’s nice on the ego when people want to dive fully in, and a relief that they see it as something worth bringing to life.

I like being able to take ideas and criticism as objectively as possible, where the clear and visible goal is whatever makes the best show; and I feel that’s personally underpinned Aussie Boy - I wrote it, but it sure as hell isn’t all me. And being able to share that journey is by far the best part.