EDINBURGH 2022: UNWANTED OBJECTS Q&A

BWW catches up with Matt and David to chat about bringing Unwanted Objects to the 2022 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Tell us a bit about Unwanted Objects.

Unwanted Objects is a story and song show. A combination of bittersweet short stories, full of wit, whimsy and warmth, with folk, pop and blues inspired musical melancholia.

So basically David (the bald one) talks and Matt (the tall one) sings.

And the show itself is all about a mysterious secondhand shop full of old teddy bears, abandoned chess sets and ships in bottles - that explores sentimentality, our possessions and the meaning we attach to them.

What was the inspiration behind writing it?

We draw inspiration from a lot of different sources, but at the heart of this was a real desire to delve into the nature of stories themselves. What they mean and why they are important. The idea of storytelling is central to both our respective crafts and pivotal to the art we make together, so it seemed a natural fit.

This was coupled with a really quirky antiques shop we both knew and found fascinating, but which for legal reasons we cannot name - and we must stress that any places that appear in our show are entirely fictional.

Where else might we know you from?

There's a statistically small chance you will have seen us in 2018 performing a show called "A Good Service on All Other Lines", or possibly you will have heard the adaptation of this that was released as a story podcast in 2020. If you haven't you can find it on Spotify, Apple podcasts, Acast...

A link? Why yes we do have one. https://open.spotify.com/show/1ijTqAlfvWXxrLi6i5RdI5?si=WNkcOW3TReCTDuPsTYeNVw

Of course we might also look familiar if you spend a lot of time in hipster coffee shops in South London, where we can sometimes be found staring blankly at notebooks and trying to sound funny in interviews.

Do you think you know what to expect from the festival?

As much as anyone knows what to expect from the festival! We've been multiple times before as both performers and punters... But it's always a different experience and challenge each time.

And of course in a post-pandemic world there's all kinds of unknowns to be confronted.

But we feel prepared. Ish. Maybe.

Why do you ask? Do you know something we don't?!

Who would you recommend comes to see it?

Honestly we try incredibly hard to make our shows as accessible and entertaining for everyone and anyone as possible.

It's equal parts feeling and funny.

So if you have a curious soul, a love of storytelling, a passion for quirky narrative, and enjoy emotionally resonant art we think you'll find something worthwhile in our show.

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