Think Chaplin meets Tchaikovsky: Spirit of the Fringe award-winners Släpstick return to this year’s Edinburgh Fringe with their show Schërzo. This five-man theatre troupe have toured across the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France and Denmark with shows that blur the line between physical comedy and high-brow classical music. The Indiependent spoke to the team to learn more about their production.
The Indiependent: What is the premise of your show?
Släpstick: In Schërzo, a seemingly high-brow classical concert quickly dissolves into mish-mosh of varieté and absurd musical clownery. The show is an hour of daft jokes, physical humour, and impeccable musicianship, all the while poking fun at the elitist world of classical music with a ‘nothing is holy’ attitude.
What inspired Schërzo?
This particular show is inspired largely by our years of operating at the fringes of the “serious” classical and jazz music scenes. As a group we are wholly enamoured with the great classical works and composers, but equally tired of how the same repertoire is played in the same way, by the same people in the same halls. We were inspired to try and find a way to smash through the cannons of historical music by making a concert-come-spectacle that combines our love of 1920’s style slapstick, absurdist worldview and an extraordinary instrumentarium.
How are you feeling about this year’s Fringe? Are you excited to return to Scotland?
We couldn’t be more excited! Or nervous! But mostly excited! But nervous. Nervously excited. Our last visit to the Fringe was a raging success, which brings a boost of confidence paired with an irrational fear of the “sophomore album” syndrome. We’re pretty sure that anyone who likes music and/or laughing will have a good time at Schërzo, though. Regardless of our own show, we’re dead excited to see what else is happening in the world of comedy/dance/circus/music and can’t wait to throw ourselves into the fray.
What kind of reactions do you usually get from the audience?
The first thing we usually hear is “are your moustaches real??”. But after a moment of facial-hair bewilderment, people are generally blown away by the level of musicianship, and the way the show seamlessly flows between styles and genres: absurd yodelling ventriloquism leads to speed-skating ballerinos, which turns into a five-man symphony orchestra that ends with an inflatable conductor and a
banjo being smashed over someone’s head. We often hear the audience say “there was so much going on, we’ve got to come see it again!”.
Did you face any challenges when creating the show?
The biggest challenge with this show was paring down! Outside of the Fringe we generally play in large theatres, with enough time and space to build up an enormous amount of scenery, lighting, sound equipment, and (believe it or not), even more instruments! It was an enormous challenge to make a show that was as dynamic as what we normally do, but could be built up and torn down in our allotted 15 minutes and fit into Pleasance Beyond!
What’s next for Släpstick after The Fringe?
World domination by means of tuba-powered projectiles and shrieking clarinet mouthpieces! Other than that, we hope to keep building a strong network of bookers and audiences, and possibly cause a stir in the world of classical music festivals and theatres across Europe (and the rest of the world)! This coming year we’ll be playing Schërzo, as well our past shows, in the Benelux, Germany, and France, a Christmas show in our home country of the Netherlands, and even doing a collaborative show in the far north with 150 Friesian horses (seriously!).
Schërzo will be performed at Pleasance Beyond on 2-7, 9-21 and 23-28 August at 3:10pm.
Words by Ellen Leslie
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