Jake Mace
Stuart Laws’ upcoming EdFringe comedy hour Stuart Laws is Stuck is billed on an intriguing premise – a bad break-up leads to a character becoming a Puffin island caretaker, who becomes implicated in a puffin murder. With plenty to ask about, we caught up with Stuart to find out more about his stand-up comedy/theatre hybrid show.
You can catch Stuart Laws Is Stuck from the 30th of July to 24th August (not on Fridays or Saturdays) at Monkey Barrel Comedy (The Tron) from 15:00 (60mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Jake: Hi Stuart, your upcoming comedy hour is billed as being about your time as a puffin island caretaker. Tell us about that and what inspired the show.
Stuart: You know that classic situation where you go through a break up so to prove you’re comfortable being by yourself you apply to be the caretaker of an island of puffins in the North Atlantic and then one of them goes missing so you make it your life goal to solve the mystery and become the hero to all the puffins? Oh, and the puffins can talk to you? Yeah, so the show is a dramatic reconstruction of that. It was born of my love of isolated places, of birds, of spending time alone and being away from the constant hum of admin, work and technology. It’s also something I don’t get to indulge in very often because I have to pay bills and I also like seeing friends and going to Pret. But when I do it, it feels magical – Iceland, The Cascades, Norway, remote Scotland, upstate New York, a cabin in Eryri. So this show is me giving myself a chance to bask in that, an excuse to take trips to small islands off the coast of Scotland in the name of research and to spend time online reading about puffin migratory patterns.
Jake: Tell us about your process for writing comedy.
Stuart: I love to research loads of things that go into the show, to figure out all the small details that I think the show is about, to sometimes write essays about what I think the show is about and see whether that crystallises anything for me. I actually read Rebecca Solnit’s book The Faraway Nearby to inspire and guide where I wanted to point the show – it’s an incredible collection of essays and writing exploring imagination’s power to make you feel connected to the world. Then it’s very important to actually perform it in front of people, no matter how early on – to see how it feels, where the lulls are, where it’s obvious no one knows what you’re talking about. Then to keep writing ideas, exploring what the show is about, writing new jokes or lines of dialogue that are more relevant, more specific now you know more what the show is about until suddenly: BAM. You know exactly what the show is about and it really starts to explode – then you can take the show apart, hone each section, brutally cut sections you like because it’s not related to what the show has turned into. Then speak to people you trust, get their thoughts, their criticisms. Do more previews, cut more stuff, replace it with better stuff until eventually time runs out and you have to perform it and hope you’ve worked hard enough.
Jake: What are you hoping the audience might take away from the experience, if anything?
Stuart: I think it’s a really interesting show and feels like a unique exploration of my experiences of the world. I think it will connect with a lot of people, well I hope it does because it is a vulnerable, exposing show, I discuss personal issues that I think a lot of people will have experienced or been in the room for. It’s something I’ve been doing more and more recently with my stand up shows so to take a step into theatre to tell this story and to try and maintain the heart of it being a comedy show and my life as a stand up comedian has been interesting. I get also that it might be a tough sell: a theatre/stand up hybrid about a guy on an island of puffins and it’s a murder-mystery but with a subtext? I dunno Stuart, maybe you’re pushing your luck this year.
Jake: Tell us about what you’re most excited about ahead of EdFringe.
Stuart: Aside from Stuart Laws is Stuck, and the exciting chance to be working with Kate Hammer, who is co-starring in the show (playing all the puffins) and is a fantastic comedian and actor. On Fridays and Saturdays I am doing a straightforward stand up comedy show that will be different every day because I won’t be planning it, I’ll react to the audience and see where they lead the show – it might be that I end up doing loads of material I’ve done in clubs up and down the country, it might be that I end up in fun crowdwork or that I talk about brand new things on stage – a preview I did at the Cambridge Fringe ended with me telling the story of when I was Batman for a small village for a year. I’d never discussed that on stage before and it was such a fun, spontaneous development.
Jake: Given the themes of Binge Fringe, if your show was a beverage of any kind (alcoholic, non-alcoholic – be as creative as you like!), what would it be and why?
Stuart: A big old bottle of sea water with an unexpected twist.
A reminder, you can catch Stuart Laws Is Stuck from the 30th of July to 24th August (not on Fridays or Saturdays) at Monkey Barrel Comedy (The Tron) from 15:00 (60mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Image Credit: Matt Stronge
