Q&A: EDINBURGH 2024: Derek Mitchell on DOUBLE DUTCH

BWW caught up with Derek Mitchell about bringing Double Dutch to the 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

How did you first get involved in the world of comedy?

In 2014, I worked as a bartender at Boom Chicago, an American-style improv theatre in Amsterdam. The cast was incredibly talented and I decided I wanted to give it a go. It wasn’t long after that that I came to the UK to study – with the aim of becoming a comedian and actor, and my way in was sketch comedy.

Can you tell us a bit about your show, Double Dutch?

Double Dutch is an hour of standup, characters and sketches about navigating culture, people and languages as an immigrant. And how so many of the important things that symbolise culture, people and language are actually also just gibberish - but we feel very deep things for them! And this is so funny (to me, and hopefully to you, too). I’ve learned about this in my experiences navigating both Dutch and English societies.

What was the creative process like for Double Dutch?

This past winter, I did 44 work-in-progress performances around the Netherlands in a single month. The first one was just me and a notebook working out some ideas out loud. By the last one, the blueprint for what the show’s ultimately become had mostly taken shape. I have been performing loads since then and have been quite surgical in my approach to honing the material and figuring out how to make things work for audiences from all kinds of backgrounds.

How do you create each of your characters?

Usually, a character is born out of a single inflection, mannerism or association. And if it’s a character with real comedy potential, then other associated elements will follow naturally and usually quickly. If I try to force this process, the resulting character is usually boring and not very funny. When it truly works it’s totally effortless and feels like cheating because (I think?) my subconscious just does it all for me.

What is it like creating comedy for online sketches versus full shows?

Two different art forms. I genuinely believe this. Being funny on the internet in a way that resonates with people is hard, and being funny live is hard full stop. Both are legitimate and both demand totally different tools and approaches.

What is it like bringing Double Dutch to the Edinburgh Fringe and making your Fringe debut?

It’s the most exciting thing! I’ve been working towards this for a long time and it is a dream come true to be debuting with Double Dutch, as well as my other show, a dark narrative character hour called Goblin, at the 2024 Fringe.

What do you hope audiences take away from Double Dutch?

We all use familiar categories like nationality, gender, language (and so many others) to explain to the world who we are. I believe many people operate on the assumption that these categories are neat and easily defined. In my experience, they’re anything but. I think we’d all be better off if we operated on the assumption that who we are is always a bit of a grey area.

How would you describe Double Dutch in one word?

Clogs.

Double Dutch runs from 31 July to 25 August (no performance on 13 August) at Pleasance Courtyard - Baby Grand at the 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

 

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