With the aggressive promotion that is all too common at the Fringe sometimes the creative people involved lack the time to sit back a little and simply talk about the work they’re doing and engage in discussion purely for its own sake. In Pleasance Bytes, a weekly live chat session downloadable as a podcast, journalist and theatre critic Mark Fisher allows various Pleasance performers a space in which to do just that, creating an enjoyable hour of pressure-free chat and interesting, relaxed discussion.
For this edition of Pleasance Bytes, Fisher’s guests were distinguished stage and screen actors Julian Glover, Sheila Reid and Nichola McAuliffe, who together made up the cast of Fringe play Maurice’s Jubilee, a comedy-drama playing at Pleasance Courtyard. As guests the three actors were congenial, always interesting, and deeply respectful of each other and their craft. Much praise was heaped in particular on McAuliffe, who also wrote Maurice’s Jubilee, but the atmosphere was always sincere and never felt self-congratulatory. Fisher was a gracious host who directed the discussion well, asked insightful questions, and never allowed his own voice to swamp those of his guests. As you might expect all the actors had a wealth of stories about their time in the industry which they were only too glad to share, including a touching story from Reid about meeting Mother Theresa.
Much of the discussion was focused on Maurice’s Jubilee and the experience of putting it together, but it didn’t feel fluffy or promotional. Indeed, at Fisher’s request a show of hands indicated that many of the small audience who attended had already seen the play, and when Fisher opened up the floor for a Q&A, more than one person had questions specific to themes or aspects they had noticed in watching it. Though time was limited we also managed to cover opinions on different directorial styles, the strange experience of being in the public eye and the extent to which actors influence one another. If you have any interest at all in the experience of spending one’s life as an actor, I’d recommend downloading the podcast of this show and keeping an eye out for next week’s lineup.
