EDINBURGH 2016: BWW Q&A - Emma Sidi

BWW speaks to Emma Sidi about her 2016 Edinburgh Fringe show Telenovela.

Tell us a bit about Telenovela

Telenovela is a character comedy show, more or less about the epic drama of TV seeping into the banal drama of these characters' everyday lives. Put more simply, I enact a Mexican soap opera with the audience. It's a lot of death, drugs, duplicity and dancing all with a hispanic soap soundtrack.

What was the inspiration for the show?

'Telenovela' is the Spanish word for soap opera, but with the important distinction that it's dramatic to the point of self-parody. People watch these shows, as it's a way of accessing a sort of cookie-cutter drama that's both neater and more exciting than real life. My characters are all trying to do this with aspects from their own lives.

Do you think you know what to expect from the festival?

It's my second solo show and fifth time going up to the Edinburgh Fringe, so I'm prepared in terms of where to go, how to not go mad, where to get a massive box of noodles (Red Box) etc. Having said that, the fear and excitement comes from not knowing exactly what your show is or how it will be received until you're up there. It's like having baked a cake but no one's taken a slice yet, and I just hope it's moist rather than dry, you know?

Who would you recommend comes to see Telenovela?

I honestly think its appeal is incredibly broad with summat for everyone, but to narrow it down I think this is the show for anyone who is interested in different comedy forms straddling each other. It's essentially stand-up meets theatre meets dancing meets foreign languages meets jokes. And once they've met, we all have a party.

What's next for you after Edinburgh?

I want to go swimming, I've already planned that out. A nice big swim. Aside from that, I have a few sitcom things in development which is good writing practice, as well as looking to making more video content online and few filming things. You just have to keep on creating I think - from my experience, the less I create, the more temp work I have to do and I'd ideally love to avoid that. Making coffees for hedge fund managers is dry work, guys.

Timings and ticket information for Emma Sidi: Telenovela are available on the edfringe website.

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