Salvador Kent
Alistair Maxwell is one of Edinburgh’s consistently intriguing playwrights. A regular presence on the scratch night circuit, his plays put everymen into wonderfully strange situations, and the jokes are always great. I first caught 58 To Go at a Balancing Act Scratch night, the last of 2025, and it was received very well there. Now the cast and director from the scratch bring a full length version of the play to the Edinburgh Fringe. I sat down for a pixelated pint with Alistair Maxwell and director Jessie Syme to discuss 58 To Go at this year’s festival…
You can catch 58 To Go at Jade Studio at Greenside @ George Street from 24-29 August at 12.40 (55 mins). Tickets are Available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Salvador: Hi Team! 58 to go started life back at a Balancing Act Theatre Scratch Night last Christmas. How did it get there and how has it expanded since?
Alistair: I was in a beer garden on a beautiful day with two great friends, the sun was shining, the chat was good. I went to get a round in. After only a few minutes I returned to discover that they were both in a deep depression about getting fat and bald. They were a year older than me and I wondered “is this what happens when you turn 27?”. “What if you really fixated on these worries?” “What if you just went completely insane fixating on these worries?” “What if I wrote a short play about a guy who does?”
That Winter the short play made its way to the Traverse Theatre with Balancing Act. Everyone fell around laughing and the team (Jessie, Jordan, Lorna & Gregor) were keen to do more so I went to work on a Fringe sized draft, raising the stakes, elongating the tension, throwing in some twists and turns, writing another twenty pages of jokes and all of a sudden here we are!
Salvador: The show was described as having a “Gently Buoyant Absurdity”, was this a deliberate choice in the writing? Is it a deliberate choice in the directorial style of the piece?
Alistair: Oh yes. I think everything’s gently absurd if you look at it long enough. Take Hamlet, he sees his Dad’s ghost and gets kidnapped by pirates in the same play, it’s absurd! But a good writer knows how to keep all this buoyant, how to keep the audience hooked, how to keep them paying attention to the beauty of the journey rather than the silliness of the vehicle.
The reason Jessie and I clicked as a writer/director combo is that we both believe that comedy should be played like it’s a straight drama. It’s far more effective and let’s be honest, no ridiculous person knows that they are ridiculous. The most insane person you’ve ever met, saying the most insane thing you’ve ever heard, thought that they were making a serious point. And treating them seriously rather than having them gurn at the audience is the best way to keep the whole absurd thing buoyant and the audience enthralled.
Salvador: What will be the first thing the audience sees, feels, and hears as they enter the space?
Alistair: I’m not saying audience members should compare Jordan Monks to David Byrne, the cast to the Talking Heads, or 58 To Go to masterpiece concert film Stop Making Sense. But both do begin with a pretty bare stage.
And they will leave feeling moved, having seen and heard some beautiful, life-changing insanity.
Salvador: Alistair and I have talked before about his plays often having ordinary people in absurd situations. How is that alchemy balanced in this one? Is it something you’re keen to explore creatively?
Alistair: Alchemists of yore spent their lives trying to transmute lead into gold. I’m spending my life turning tragedy to comedy, and comedy to tragedy. Sometimes over the course of a play, sometimes over the course of a sentence. How do I balance it? By treating the characters as seriously as possible and having them face their dilemmas with all the seriousness of an ancient hero. If it’s tragedy I’ll give them a sword, if it’s comedy I’ll give them a balloon animal. But either way blow after blow they will pick themselves up, dust themselves off and fight the good fight.
I don’t think I have it in me to explore anything that isn’t absurd. “What if two adults discussed opposing views on serious issues?” yeah cool fine. “What if a teenager treks across the Borders so she can fangirl outside Lord Byron’s stage door?” Now that’s the kind of absurd but completely human situation that propels me to the writing desk.
But in the end I think all my art comes from the fact I’m haunted/inspired by this Tom Clancy quote: “The difference between reality and fiction? Fiction has to make sense.”
Salvador: Jessie – is this a table-worky play, an on-its-feet play, how have you tackled it as a director?
Jessie: I always like to start with table work as I feel it’s really important for actors to understand what makes their character tick. Having a thorough understanding of your motivations, core values and quirks makes the rest of the rehearsal process go so much more smoothly. The quicker you understand a character, the quicker you can embody them and then once it’s on its feet, the choices you make come far more naturally than going in hitting the ground running. I also find in comedies, especially situational comedies, actors find the comedic timing easier once the characters are real and effortlessly embody the reality of the play. I also find, as a director, the table work process gives me more insights into how each actor works, for example cerebral vs intuitive, allowing me to adapt my techniques to their style which is very important to me as I work from a very holistic, humanistic perspective.
Salvador: With EdFringe now just around the corner, what are you most excited for?
Jessie: A nap! But seriously, I’m always really excited to see what new, grassroots theatre is emerging. Fringe is such a fab opportunity to be exposed to all different types of theatre and see people take risks. In a current theatre climate where most funding is going towards “safe bets” or existing IP it’s so refreshing to just see weird, mad, bold art.
Salvador: Given the themes of Binge Fringe, if your show was a beverage of any kind what would it be and why?
Jessie: A mezcal spritz with blood orange and French vanilla. Off beat, bittersweet but undeniably delicious.
A reminder, you can catch 58 To Go at Jade Studio at Greenside @ George Street from 24-29 August at 12.40 (55 mins). Tickets are Available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Shay Mace
Fringe Classics
