Rachel Parris talks about her new show Best Laid Plans.
1 Tell us about your Fringe show
Best Laid Plans is a musical comedy show about what happens when you find yourself starting again in your thirties after a breakup - renting with 20 somethings, labelling milk in the fridge again, being single at weddings and trying to go to the gym just one single time in your life to merit your annual membership.
2 Best thing about the Fringe?
Bumping into everyone you know constantly in all the bars and no-one being in a rush to go home.
3 Worst thing about the Fringe?
Bumping into everyone you know constantly and no-one going home.
4 How many years have you been coming to the Fringe?
This will be my tenth year coming to it, my ninth year as a performer, and my third solo comedy show. Obviously, I'm a fan.
5 Favourite Fringe venue?
The Ballroom at the Counting House. It's where I did my debut solo show, The Commission, in 2013, and also where we did our first two years of Austentatious. I've done lots of other improv shows and guest spots there over the last few years and it still feels a bit like home. It is just a lovely, warm, big old-fashioned room which almost always packs out and the staff at the Counting House are great.
6 Best Fringe memory?
Well... I don't know if it's more of a spiritual discovery or something that you're after but Emma Thompson came to see Austentatious last year and I nearly wet myself. She loved it and took us for a drink afterwards. She's one of my heroes.
7 Best heckle?
I don't really get heckled! I think it's because I might burst into song at any moment and even rude people have a weird respect for not interrupting singing!
8 Craziest on stage experience?
Well... I came up with a sort of neo-burlesque group in 2005 and that involved me getting rubbed in gold glitter mixed with vaseline by topless men dressed as sexy doctors, while I sang "fever". So that was pretty odd, looking back. There was also the time a bird flew in to the Counting House during Austentatious and perched on the technician's head, but that felt more biblical than crazy.
9 What’s on your rider?
Hot water and lemon.
10 How do you wind down after a show?
I like to go and sit in the corner of a bar, ideally a bit hidden away (see "constantly bumping into everyone", above) with some white wine and a crime thriller novel and quietly read, drink and hibernate.
11 What do you love about Scotland?
Mountains, heather, beautiful colours.
12 What do you like about Edinburgh?
The grand oldy-worldy high ceiling town houses. It's like living in a palace but having to walk up six bloody flights of stairs to get to that palace.
13 What’s the most Scottish thing you’ve done?
Carrying a hip flask of Talisker up Arthur's Seat?
14 What kind of jokes do a Scottish crowd seem to respond to?
I think Scottish crowds (a bit like Leicester crowds, where I come from) respond well to you being straight and honest, so anything with a ring of truth to it works well I think, I hope!!
15 Favourite joke?
One of Nick Helm's at the moment: "When should you hug an Italian chef? When he's feeling cannelloni".
16 Favourite Scottish food/drink?
Haggis? Haggis.
Rachel Parris will perform Best Laid Plans at the Pleasance Dome until August 28.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here