Skin A Cat is on at the Assembly Rooms – The Blue Room, during August. 

Joe Eyre, performer in Skin a Cat, answers our questions. 

  • What is your Fringe show about?

Skin A Cat tells the story of Alana, who discovers as she grows up that the difficult business of sex is a little more difficult for her than for other people. We see her transform from the age of 9 to her late 20s, through the awkward, funny, frightening, fumbling and magical moments that make up her relationships. It's a hilarious and very moving new play by Isley Lynn, about how you deal with the fact that you're a little bit different.

  • How many times/many years have you appeared at the Fringe?

This is my third year performing at the Fringe, and the first time I've been in a show here since 2011. Skin A Cat is the best play I've done here, so I'm very lucky indeed to be coming back with it.

  • What’s your most memorable moment from the Fringe?

I hope it's on its way; every time I've been I've seen utterly fantastic shows, in both theatre and comedy. It's impossible not to get inspired, there's so much I'm looking forward to this year. In 2011 I was in a production of Mojo, with a group of friends before we all headed to drama school and the big wide world. Every now and again, a stranger will tell us they loved that production from seven years ago: that feels pretty special. We were all quite wide-eyed about it at the time.

  • What’s the worst thing about the Fringe?

It can be quite relentless if you don't pace yourself. One year I was doing four hours of shows from 10 in the morning, then a break, then a performance at midnight. I was an Edinburgh-Zombie. On top of that, you're trying to see as much as you can. You have to take time out for the sake of your health (and your bank account).

  • If you were not a performer what would you be doing?

I'd still be a writer; I'd spend more time on that. Like most artists I often have a day-job; the Fringe is a wonderful opportunity but it's not easy to get a show there. Funding is so hard to come by, it can easily become impossible. Exceptionally talented actors can't take a role they might really want simply because they can't afford the time away from their day job, for example, which is crazy. It's very unfair. I admire anyone who tries to do something about that.

  • How do you prepare for a performance?

We're all on for 90 minutes straight once the show starts, so I do all sorts of things. Once the warm-up is taken care of, it's good to check in with everybody, to run over some of the very sexy bits where we really need to be bouncing off each other. I brush my teeth three or four times, and I like to have a little boogie. Then I try to remember the audience hasn't seen it before. And chocolate. I try to remember to eat a lot of chocolate. Preferably dark chocolate, but anything will do.

  • Favourite thing about being in Edinburgh?

The whole city has a smell and a romance about it that I love. Escaping to the Meadows for a few hours is one of the best parts of it. I guess my favourite thing is the camaraderie: if you're with a show with people you admire and like, it bonds you together in an extraordinary way. The whole city is full of exciting, creative people and audiences looking for something different; it's very special to be a part of it.

  • What’s the most Scottish thing you’ve ever done?

I lived in Edinburgh for about a year when I was a kid, so I guess a bit of Scottish-ness might have worked its way in. I once made a haggis dinner for about 20 people to celebrate Burns Night. I like any tradition that involves reciting an Ode to an unidentifiable piece of meat.

  • Favourite Scottish food/drink?

It has to be Whisky. Not necessarily while climbing Arthur's Seat on the last night of the Fringe, but I guess it'll depend on how the show has gone.

  • Sum up your show in three words

Sexy. Brilliant. Come.

Show summary

Every teenager thinks they're the only one not having sex. For Alana, it might be true. Every time she gets close something gets in the way... Follow Alana on a wickedly funny sexual odyssey: from getting her first period, to watching bad porn, to painful examinations by cheery gynaecologists – all in the pursuit of losing her virginity and finally becoming a woman. 

Skin A Cat is on at the Assembly Rooms – The Blue Room, during August. For tickets, please visit www.edfringe.com