EDINBURGH 2017: BWW Q&A- Robert White

Tell us a bit about InstruMENTAL.

My opera was created on a broken laptop that the composition finally finished off. After that came a borrowed studio, a mic fixed with cello-tape and a realisation that I can't play the piano or trumpet as well as when I was 20. My music is influenced by neo-romanticism and a fusion of classical and popular forms [I cried when I realised George Gershwin had died, even though it was 40 years before I was born], and I am also using 'reference' in this piece for purposes of parody, comedy and all that shizzle. There is also an unstated melody running throughout which is that of a song I wrote in prison.

The story is that classic tale of a shy, young un-diagnosed autistic man, after struggling with various issues in childhood and adolescence, realising at 19 that he is gay. Not wanting to be gay, he gets into a relationship with a girl, which he sees as a 'rescue' for him, only for that girl, who has issues of her own, to turn into Satan.

The situation pushes him to breaking point and, whilst he does eventually leave, it brings him to a totally absurd mental breakdown. Not having sufficient skills in communication to square the circle of the insane situation, he comes up with a totally loopy autism fuelled idea to play a practical joke, whereby he decides to dress up as a comedy armed robber, go to the shop where his ex works and say 'music stand and deliver'. Although he sets out to do it, he actually doesn't go through with it but, on walking home, due to characteristically awful luck, he gets noticed dressed-up like an idiot and in a split second realises he's basically in deeper doodoo than Dungy the dung beetle whose dung house has been demolished by a cow pat tsunami. He ends up in Wandsworth prison and it's then that things really go arse-about-face. {A totally true story.}

Why bring it to Edinburgh?

Doing Edinburgh, in a way much different than before, is what I am to understand is the next logical step in my comedy career, and my comedy career came as the result of me failing in every other job for a multiplicity of reasons. So I am coming to Edinburgh basically because I need a job. Fingers Crossed !

What sets it apart from other shows at the Fringe?

I think there is so much at the fringe that there is bound to be cross-over between me and someone else in almost every aspect of what I do, but I think it is in the combination of the elements that you may find me unique. For sure if you find another self-penned, self composed, computer orchestrated, one-man, one-act comedy opera based on a 'crazy 'beard' relationship'/ 'autistic-meltdown practical-joke criminal conviction' TRUE coming-of-age story, I'll eat my trumpet.

Who would you recommend comes to see you?

I think my show is ideally suited for people who are humans. I know it's always risky to limit an audience or describe a show as a niche affair, but I still will do so just from the point of autistic integrity. Anyone who is not human just will not understand the show and this is why I put in such a restriction.

What's next for you after the festival?

Sitting on my own in my room in complete silence.

Robert White: InstruMENTAL comes to the Gilded Balloon 3:15pm 2nd - 27th August (except 14th) as part of the Edinburgh Fringe

To post a comment, you must register and login.