First up – she’s the Goop-founding, Door-Sliding, Shakespeare-In-Loving, consciously-uncoupling Hollywood superstar. He’s a retired optometrist from Utah. In 2016, they went skiing. A story of love, betrayal and skiing – where you are the jury.
The other? Well, she’s the People’s Princess
And the return of the sell-out shows Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story
Would you mind giving us a brief insight into what your shows is?
Gwyneth Goes Skiing is a look at the most important trial of all time – the time Gwyneth Paltrow was taken to court for colliding with retired optometrist Terry Sanderson. Full of pop culture references, camp pop songs, puppetry and audience participation – courtroom dramas have never been more goopy!
Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story is a unique celebration of the People’s Princess that is returning to the fringe after a sold-out run last year.
Both shows are full of queer joy, pop culture, multimedia, puppetry and audience participation. Let’s go girls!
Tell us about the creative team and the process involved?
I play Gwyneth Paltrow (obviously) and my creative and life partner Joseph Martin plays Terry Sanderson. The show also features incredible pop music from Leland, who’s writing for Troye Sivan, RuPaul’s Drag Race and Cher. We also have vocals from Darren Criss and Cat Cohen – and a special video appearance from Trixie Mattel. I can’t quite believe it.
For Diana we have added something rather iconic since the last fringe – a video appearance from Broadway Diana: Jeanna de Waal from Diana the Musical. She really is better than a Guinness, better than a wank.
How does it feel coming to the Fringe?
Daunting. Last fringe we received TWO five-star reviews from Corr Blimey (Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story & how to live a Jellicle life: life lessons from the 2019 hit musical ‘cats’) – How could we ever top that!?
There are over 3,000 shows at the Fringe. So, what sets your show apart?
Iconic women, pop culture and queer joy have never been mixed in quite such a ridiculous way before. To quote the amazing outlet Corr Blimey, our shows are “impulsive, ludicrous, camp, serving fierce and bloody good fun.“
Is there anything specific you’re hoping the audience will take away?
I want the audience to leave our shows at least 4 times more queer than they were beforehand.
Your ideal audience is in attendance, who’s watching? Or more importantly – who isn’t there…
We welcome everyone but, in particular, we love to have as many queer people as possible come along. Also, if you spend too much time online you’re likely our target audience.
It’s an intense month, so where you’re able, how do you plan to relax, and are there any other shows you intend to see or want to recommend?
We’re doing two shows, so we’ll save the relaxing until September. We hope to see as many queer, weird and unique shows as we possibly can – one of the ones we’re really excited about is Ascension by our brilliant friends Dan Hazelwood and Max Lindsay.
In your ideal world, how can we improve the Fringe, of performance, and the industry?
Free accommodation and a ban on heterosexuals.
Gwyneth Goes Skiing runs at Venue 33: Pleasance Courtyard – Forth (60 Pleasance, EH8 9TJ)
Runs – July 31st, August 1st-4th, 6th-11th, 13th-18th, 20th-26th
Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story runs at Venue 33: Pleasance Courtyard – Beyond (60 Pleasance, EH8 9TJ)
Runs – August 20th – 24th
Photo credit – Jonny Ruff
Interested in being featured on our Have a Gander page? With many previews and Q&As lined up, we’re always happy to chat about including your show in future articles. Please do get in touch through the contact page to feature in an upcoming ‘Have A Gander’