Jake Mace
East London Drag icon Curly is making their EdFringe debut this year with genre-bending musical comedy piece C U Later, Simulator. The show is set inside a surreal life simulation game that sees Curly play the game of life – from speaking tongues (or Simlish) to a crowd of thousands in the evangelical church, to questionable early queer experiences, to searching for purpose in a ‘late-capitalist hellscape’.
We caught up with Curly to find out more about what inspired the show and to see what they’re looking forward to as they head to Edinburgh next month.
You can catch C U Later, Simulator from August 13th to 24th at Just the Tonic at The Subway at Just The Tonic Legends from 16:30 (60mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Jake: Hi Curly! Your upcoming show C U Later, Simulator is described as a genre-bending musical comedy set inside a surreal life simulation game. Tell us about how you came up with that concept.
Curly: It’s a bit of a mouthful of a concept isn’t it? I’ve been performing in the drag and cabaret scene as a musical comedian since 2023, mainly doing 5-10 minute slots on other people’s bills. It was last year when I looked back and realised I had this big back-catalogue of songs that I’d written that I could do something long-form with. I got booked for some longer work-in-progress slots and started exploring how I could tie different songs together. My first WIP was just a series of songs with a bit of stand-up and audience interaction in between, which was fine, but didn’t feel true to who I am as a performer. My sense of humour is a lot more abstract and surreal.
I love to do character comedy and have character arcs and storylines, and it was getting a director on board, the brilliant Eliza Beth Stevens, who helped pull this out of me and into the show. We went through so many different ideas for narrative frames for C U Later, Simulator until we landed on the video game concept. It’s a fun and playful way to explore the trials and errors of life as a queer creative, and as a writer and performer it’s great because there’s no restrictions – in the world of a video game, the possibilities are endless. In terms of the genre-bending, that’s something I’ve been doing since I first came on to the cabaret scene in 2023.
I’m a bit of a chameleon performer, I love to pastiche different styles and genres, which allows me to move as an artist between the drag, comedy and nightclub scenes. I never want to be known for just one thing. I love the whiplash of cutting from a country song to an operatic ballad to a hyperpop club banger.
Jake: Tell us about what the audience can expect coming into the show, and what they might not expect about the show.
Curly: The entire creative team on C U Later, Simulator has ADHD, which speaks volumes about the show. It’s constant and fast-paced, it’s got life anecdotes, satire, enemy-fighting, ageing, pushing, failing… live, laugh, loving. It’s a real journey and there’s so much crammed in. One moment I’m singing about my stint in the Evangelical church as a teen (and how I spoke in Simlish to a crowd of 10,000 people) and five minutes later I’m reciting a poem from my (thankfully) brief time as a spoken word artist. So you can definitely come expecting a silly, farcical time, but people might not expect all the little details and intricacies I’ve added into the show.
For example, all of the tracks you hear have been written and produced by me, and I’m really proud of the level of production I’ve been able to achieve for a first-time, low-budget fringe show. Musically, the show moves in so many different places, from acoustic singer-songwriter moments to full orchestral arrangements to the catchiest EDM song you’ll ever hear about a double-ended dildo. The small details of the costuming, the fact that the songs are captioned, the complexities of the video game’s world… I think this attention to detail may take people by surprise.
Jake: What are you hoping the audience might take away from the experience, if anything?
Curly: I’ll try my best to explain this without giving too much away. As the show progresses, the video game and its characters become less of a cute, fun presence and more of a push on me – Curly, the video game character – to be constantly levelling up, constantly pushing and progressing and trying to achieve more, which in the end I start to fight against. And what I’m fighting against are the never-ending, unachievable standards you have to meet to survive under capitalism, which sounds very deep and intellectual, but the whole thing is still incredibly tongue-in-cheek and light-hearted – it’s literally expressed through puppets and pop punk music. I think this is probably relatable to most people’s inner monologues, but especially to creatives and freelancers.
There’s an expectation that in order to be successful at the fringe, or with your art form in general, you need to be on a constant grind to network and push and be better. It’s something I’ve struggled with a lot as an artist, but learning to be kind to myself, take breaks and stop comparing myself to others has allowed my creativity to flourish in ways it never did before. So to go back to your question, I hope people leave knowing that being yourself and making the art you wanna make is enough.
Jake: With Edinburgh Fringe 2025 just around the corner, what are you most excited for?
Curly: Now I’m just excited to be there amongst the buzz of it all. Buying overpriced food from vans, trying and failing to catch all the shows on my radar, wandering around the Bristo Square handing out flyers while dressed as a Sim, you know, just the usual things. And, to be real with you for a sec, taking my own show to Edinburgh has seemed like the most unattainable pipe dream for the longest time, but now this year I actually have the support to make it happen.
I feel incredibly fortunate to be working with Eliza Beth Stevens and my wonderful producer Jennie Haines, who’ve both been with me every step of the way, as well as the financial support I received from the Keep it Fringe fund, which has been massive in allowing me to make this dream a reality.
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?
Curly: Did you ever as a kid play potions in the bathroom, and just chuck a bunch of different shampoos and lotions and stuff in the sink to see what happens? I think my show is like that. It’s a bit sparkly cause you put a glittery bath bomb in there, a little bit of tea tree oil has gone in which is making your eyes sting and you’re not too sure about the fumes it’s emitting, but it sure looks pretty and you’re fully enticed by it. Does that count as a beverage?
You can catch C U Later, Simulator from August 13th to 24th at Just the Tonic at The Subway at Just The Tonic Legends from 16:30 (60mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
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