Dandy Darkly's All Aboard! is on at Underbelly, Bristo Square - Daisy, from August 4 - 27 (except 13th).
- What is your Fringe show about?
At it’s pulsating heart, Dandy Darkly’s All Aboard! is a show about a train, The Gaybird Steamer. She’s a tacky, old locomotive at the end of her glorious run, like some perfume soaked madam in saggy fishnets. A Halloween derailment alters the lives of the characters who call Gaybird, Georgia home — the cruel Colonel obsessed with secrets, his malformed sons hidden in the family bunker, a curious girl who works for the Colonel and an army of “Lollibots” that become America’s retail obsession.
I present my spiraling stories alongside a bespoke soundtrack of exquisite music, classical piano paired with jackhammer percussion. Eclectic sound effects help create an immersive atmosphere in which I draw audiences into my modern Southern Gothic tall tales, leaving them utterly spent after an hour of cabaret storytelling.
- How many times/many years have you appeared at the Fringe?
This is my fifth year at the Fringe! I’m a masochist, but thankfully the lovely lads at Civil Disobedience are here to share my spanking.
- What’s your most memorable moment from the Fringe?
So few of my “Fringe memories” focus on individual events, but rather the glorious slog of it all — show after show after oh-God-another-mothertrucking show. The Fringe is collaborative, if you’re doing it right you’re seeing so much incredible, inspiring work, but also terribly competitive, your little jewel is but a tiny fake gemstone among an ocean of sapphires and rubies. It’s a good thing I shine so bright.
- What’s the worst thing about the Fringe?
The rain! As a dainty, painted dandy of darkness, nothing curdles my milk quicker than strutting from my flat into a blustery deluge of freezing Scottish rain. Whisky helps.
- If you were not a performer what would you be doing?
Good question. Most likely photocopying endless insurance forms trapped within some fluorescent corporate dystopia? Far scarier than any of my stories, but just barely.
- How do you prepare for a performance?
The “clown face” is our meditative process to prep for the hour of precision patter and glamorous, gory storytelling. It’s my war paint.
- Favourite thing about being in Edinburgh?
Experiencing this idyllic Fairytale city for a month of sheer stress and utter exhaustion.
- What’s the most Scottish thing you’ve ever done?
Two years ago I tripped tipsy on the sidewalk and literally rolled down a hill in full costume. I wasn’t wearing a kilt, but I certainly cussed like a proper Scotsman! (In that no one could understand me, but it sounded painful.)
- Favourite Scottish food/drink?
No doubt a full Scottish breakfast! It helps to soften the edges when you’ve drunkenly rolled down the street the night before.
- Sum up your show in three words
Cheeky. Beautiful. Oh-so-fearless.
Show summary
New York City's critically acclaimed satirist and cult horror raconteur, Dandy Darkly, returns to the Fringe for another horrific, hysteric, late-night frolic. Join Dandy aboard the infamous Gaybird Steamer for the smartest, sleaziest ride of your life. Enjoy a drippin' earful of Southern Gothic grotesquery – country fried robots, spider gods, beauty shops and inbred freakery – also trains, trains, trains!
For tickets, please visit www.edfringe.com
You can follow Dandy Darkly on Twitter at @dandydarkly, visit the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/dandydarkly and the official wesbite at www.dandydarkly.com
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