EDINBURGH 2018: BWW Q&A- Excalibow

BWW caught up with Bowjangles to chat about bringing Excalibow to the 2018 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Tell us a bit about Excalibow.

'Excalibow' is the somewhat ludicrous story of a string quartet's quest to find a priceless ancient relic- a mythical violin bow called Excalibow. Originally we wanted to write a show encompassing sketches about various myths and legends which this show certainly does include, but at some point in the creative process we went off on a little bit of a tangent and into our own fantasy world, where we discovered Excalibow.

What sets it apart from other shows at the Fringe?

We are notoriously difficult to describe- we regularly get people coming up to us after a show and saying 'I just didn't know what to expect but I loved it'. I guess what makes us different is that we are the quadruple threat! We all sing, dance and act whilst playing our instruments almost constantly throughout the show- there is no pre-recorded music at all. The show is made up of all different genres of music- we will use whatever music is required to tell our story. Bertie our musical director is a total genius at mashing up diverse pieces- think Wagner, ABBA and Led Zeppelin in the same 20 seconds!

Having performed at the festival before do you think you know what to expect?

The last time we performed at the festival was in 2014 with our show 'On The Box!'. We organised absolutely everything ourselves then and it was wonderful but absolutely exhausting and we really only scratched the surface of what was possible. Saying that we still met lots of people and contacts who have since helped further and develop Bowjangles, sold lots of tickets and had an amazing time. This time around we are coming with an amazing team of people to help us which has already made life a lot easier. This is probably a good thing because in the process of creating Excalibow, 2 Bowjangles babies were born! We are bringing a total of 5 children with us this year aged between 11 weeks and 17 years! So who knows what to expect with that in the mix...

Who would you recommend comes to see Excalibow?

What is great about Excalibow is that it appeals to absolutely everyone of all ages. It is not specifically a 'family' show but kids do love it, as well as adults. Whether you like music, song, dance, comedy or theatre, there is something for everyone. Maybe we subconsciously create shows like this because of our street performer background- we want to please everybody!

What do you hope audiences take away from the show?

A new- or renewed- joy of classical music and instruments, aching sides from laughing so much and an Excalibow promotional tea towel!

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/bowjangles-excalibow

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