Dancing grannies galore! Broadway Baby has a little chat with 50 Shades of Fizzgog.
Our success soared in July 2014, after a Youtube video involving some of our best loved characters, the ‘Dancing Grannies’, went viral.
Tell us about your show
It’s a hilarious, comedy sketch show featuring a variety of established Black Country characters, ranging from children to elderly ladies. The show will also include song and dance as part of the comedy routine, as well as an introduction to Black Country dialect and humour!
Why did you decide to take your show to Space UK this year?
We have been planning a visit to the festival for a number of years and after looking through many venues we found that Space UK was the ideal venue to host our show, particularly with the fantastic reviews it received last year as well as being known for being really supportive and professional. We have already experienced their support with timings and dates for our show. In addition, it is clear that the Space UK has the experience of hosting and promoting unique shows and attracting a fantastic audience.
What are you most looking forward to at this year’s festival?
To finally showcase our work to a new audience, whom we look forward to entertaining and introducing to our brand of humour. As a well-established comedy theatre company from the Black Country, we feel especially privileged to be representing the region. We are also thrilled to be a part of such an exciting festival; experiencing the vibe of the Fringe and the fantastic talent gathered there too.
Why Edinburgh? What’s the attraction?
It’s the best event that a performer can be involved in: the connections, the opportunities and the adventure.
Have you brought a show to the festival before?
No, but we cheekily travelled up in 2014 for a one day to flash mob our ‘Dancing Grannies’ characters dancing in various locations to attract interest.
What makes your show unique amongst the thousands of others at the festival?
We have toured our show for a number of years with popularity increasingly growing year after year. Our brand of humour, dialect and unique characters are proving a huge hit with audiences. Our success soared in July 2014, after a Youtube video involving some of our best loved characters, the ‘Dancing Grannies’, went viral. Currently it has had over 1.6 million shares and endless views on Facebook worldwide, we have been contacted from all corners of the globe with people finding the grannies and their shenanigans hilarious so we know the humour works on a global scale.
What has been the biggest challenge in getting your show ready for Edinburgh?
The main issue has been to raise the funds to attend. Thankfully, with local support we have been overwhelmed with generous donations for our Edinburgh Fringe campaign. Black Country generosity at its best!
How did you create your show?
We have been touring successful comedy shows for a number of years and really wanted to showcase our best work for The Fringe. Consequently, we have ‘cherry picked’ from the very best we have to offer: something old; something new, nothing borrowed and a shade of blue!
What’s the main thing you want to get out of the festival this year?
Exposure is our aim, for as many people to see what Fizzog do and what we are about.
Can you tell us a bit about your company’s background?
We started 15 years ago as a TIE/TIH touring company; after a level of success with that type of work, we started to broaden our vision and moved more into public work: working extensively in museums and public venues. It was at this point, through sheer coincidence, that we moved into comedy and found that we had a natural flair for it. From that point on we have successfully toured a different variety of comedy shows in and around the West Midlands with ever increasing audiences.
Production Company: Fizzog Productions
Venue: TheSpace Niddry St
Dates: 7th – 13th August 2015
Times: 7.00 – 8.15pm
Twitter: @thefizzogs