EDINBURGH 2022: THE ANNIVERSARY Q&A

BWW catches up with writers and performers Clare Bartholomew and Daniel Tobias to chat about bringing The Anniversary to the 2022 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Tell us a bit about The Anniversary.

The Anniversary is a largely non-verbal physical comedy performed by long standing duo Clare Bartholomew and Daniel Tobias. Dan and Clare play 'Jim' & 'Barb' - an elderly couple who are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.

Their party preparations are meticulously executed under the watchful eye of Barb and in the tradition of farce everything that is 'set up' completely unravels with devastating but extremely funny consequences, and embarrassingly all in front of their guests. The only words that Jim & Barb say are each other's names, and the names of their pets; Fluffy the rabbit and Tiddles their cat.

The show is a wonderful combination of farce, ridiculous slapstick, absurd puppetry and cartoon horror.

What would you compare its style to?

The tagline for the show is, 'It's Mr Bean meets The Shining' because it combines tightly choreographed clowning and physical comedy with splashes of slapstick horror, all set to a beautifully composed score by composer Steph O'Hara. As well as Mr Bean and The Shining it has also been compared to The Poseidon Adventure, Slava Polunin's Snow Show, Hitchcock's The Birds and Samuel Beckett's Endgame.

Where would we know Salvador Dinosaur from?

Salvador Dinosaur are Clare Bartholomew and Daniel Tobias, together they have been performing at Edinburgh Fringe since 2009, and around the world for the last 17 years with their multi award winning pop-punk cabaret act, Otto & Astrid from the band Die Roten Punkte. They have written four full length shows featuring Otto & Astrid as well as collaborating with Circus Oz in 2018 on a circus rock opera called Rock Bang directed by Rob Tannion. They also co-wrote a children's musical called Sunny Ray & the Magnificent Moon and created Dan's solo work, The Orchid and the Crow. The Anniversary is their first non-verbal physical comedy.

Why bring it to Edinburgh?

Edinburgh is a meeting place for hundreds of artists, presenters, producers and audience goers from all over the world. It is the ultimate showcase for new work and somewhere we love to return to with brand new stuff. As well as being a brilliant testing ground to see how the show fares with an international audience, it is the place for future presenters to see your work and hopefully present your show in their home-towns and cities. Sometimes we go all the way to Edinburgh to have local Australian presenters see us for the first time, such is the drawcard of Edinburgh!

Who would you like to come and see it?

We would love anyone who is looking for some release, a good belly laugh, and some joyful absurd fun to come along to the show. We made this especially for you!! It has been described by audiences post show as a 'rollercoaster of a ride,' and 'completely unexpected' and 'so very funny.' You might recognise your grandparents, parents (and possibly even yourselves) in the long-term partnership dynamics that are played out by Jim & Barb. People who enjoy character comedy and physical slapstick will really love this show.

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