The 11 O’Clock Number
Telus Building (10437 83 avenue) August 15, 16, 17, 20, 23, 24
More information: grindstonetheatre.ca
An interview with Byron Martin.
Photography by BB Collective In this photo from left to right: Katie Hudson, David Johnston, Erik Mortimer, Dallas Friesen, Byron Martin, Brianne Jang
Describe your show in five words.
Your life… as a musical.
Okay, now that we’re intrigued… what’s the longer description?
It’s a long form style improv show where we make up a musical comedy on the spot based on your suggestions.
The 11 O’Clock Number is a regular at the Varscona – what – if anything – is different about your Fringe show vs. the regular season?
The fringe is a great opportunity for people to catch the show at a reasonable hour if they can’t stay up till eleven during the season. It’s also different because we won’t have a director role at the fringe, we’ve added some really cool, simple set pieces and we are doing musicals based on the life of an audience member rather than a more broad format we use during the year.
Your show is based on an interview you do with an audience member at the start of the show. Why choose to draw inspiration for your improvised show that way?
It’s a format I saw at the Magnet Theatre in New York last May and I thought it was really fun so thought to try it out. We’ve done it a couple times during the season and through Winnipeg Fringe and we found it to be successful and intriguing for our audience.
Anything else you want audiences to know about the show?
We will be heading to New York in October as we were selected as the only Canadian company to take part in an improvised musical festival.
Bonus question: Any names you want to drop who have been involved in your show (Edmonton arts people or otherwise)?
Well Mary Hulbert just finished with Shakespeare in the Park as the lead in Taming of the Shrew but we have lots of great actors in the show. Brianne Jang and I are doing a new Ken Brown play as well. Many of our regular players aren’t in the Fringe version but are involved in other fringe shows ie Jason Hardwick.
The 33rd Edmonton International Fringe is August 14 – 24. Get your tickets at tickets.fringetheatre.ca.