EDINBURGH 2017: BWW Q&A- Harry

Tell us a bit about Harry.

Harry is a comedic two-hander about two university students, Caitlin and Sophie, who meet at university and bond quickly over their shared infatuation with One Direction heartthrob Harry Styles. The play charts their friendship throughout university, as the obsession that originally united them starts to drive them apart. It's an incisive and relatable look at female friendship, the pressures of your early twenties, and a toxic Twitter culture where the line between fantasy and reality is increasingly blurred.

Why make it into a show?

We had a friend who was on The X Factor last year and we watched with a mix of pride and horror at his growing social media following, idolising a person who they didn't even know, but thought they did. It led us into conversations about various online 'fandoms' and the pros and cons of the fact that our lives are becoming more dependent on the online world. We wanted to tie that into a story that we, as non-One Direction fans, would relate to and want to watch, so we focused it on female friendship and university life. It was important for us to have that grounding: to focus on the girls mainly, and not the icon of the title.

Why bring it to Edinburgh?

I think the Fringe is a perfect place for the show. Normally it's where you see theatre that doesn't have a huge budget but has a really important or absorbing story at its heart. I think Harry is a good example of this: the production values aren't West End level, but it's a show that's fun enough to spend an hour of your day on when you're up in Edinburgh, whilst also hopefully giving you food for thought about the way you spend your time online. We've been doing the show in Fringe theatres in London for the past year, and now we think it's ready to be unleashed north of the border.

What sets it apart from other shows at the Fringe?

Well, for a start I'm fairly confident we'll be one of the only shows with Harry Styles' big face on the poster. But on a serious note, it does have that hook: he is a pop culture phenomenon, and has been since we started developing the show in late 2015. I think it tackles the problems inherent with social media and online fandoms in a non-cliched way, but also it's just two young women and their friendship for the majority of the hour. I think that's really something to be celebrated. Plus, you'll get to find out what Harry Styles' hamster is called, which I think is worth the ticket price alone.

Who would you recommend comes to see you?
I think the show has a really wide appeal. There are lots of people who might be put off by a 'show about Harry Styles', but we're not fans, and this isn't a love letter to Harry. It's a funny, relatable look at female friendship during a strange and often dislocating time in your life. It's for anyone who's been through university, been obsessed with a pop culture phenomenon (from any era), or had a friend who they considered closer than a sibling, who now, ten years down the line, they never even think about anymore.

Timings and ticket information for Harry are available on the edfringe website.

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