A Song of Bucephalus by Jeremy Park and James Odin Wade
August 18, 21 – 24, 27 at Venue #4: The Academy at King Edward School (8525 101 street)

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An interview with James Odin Wade.

Describe your show in one sentence.

The story of Alexander the Great’s horse using the time-honoured tradition of Two Person Horse Costume.

Okay, now that we’re intrigued… what’s the longer description of your show?

James and Jeremy have shown up to the Edmonton Fringe to tell the story of Alexander the Great’s horse, Bucephalus, until they realize they have both brought the same end of the horse costume. As they struggle to save the show, they must reckon with their friendship, careers and the Soviet Union. Ryan is also in the show.

The premise of A Song of Bucephalus sounds absurdly hilarious. Where did the inspiration for this show come from and why did you want to run with it?

I had this vague idea about two actors walking on stage wearing the ass end of a horse costume. I told this idea to Jeremy when we were at a party. Long after I had forgotten about it, Jeremy asked if I had started writing the show and asked I’d be interested in developing it as a team. It grew from a small cabaret piece to something bigger, funnier and weirder than we ever predicted. We just kept having fun and the show kept growing.

Red Phone Theatre previously produced Helmut’s Big Day at the 2015 Edmonton Fringe – it seems like you like to put on shows rooted in historical time periods. What is it about setting a story in a historical time period that sparks your creativity?

With Helmut’s Big Day, the vague ancient setting helped me remove the story from having any exact historical parallels. With A Song of Bucephalus though, the historical reference of Alexander the Great allowed us to treat the story of Bucephalus with a kind of un-serious seriousness that we imagined our characters would have.

Anything else you want audiences to know about the show?

Ryan delivers a blistering manifesto about the two person horse costume being the perfect metaphor for the main flaws of capitalism and the way he does it is truly something to behold.

The 36th Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival is August 17 – 27. Get your tickets at tickets.fringetheatre.ca starting August 9.