EDINBURGH 2023: Sophie Zucker Q&A

BWW catches up with Sophie Zucker to chat about bringing Sophie Sucks Face to the 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Tell us a bit about Sophie Sucks Face.

Sophie Sucks Face is your standard musical, if all the parts were played by one person and the pivotal action was a girl hooking up with her cousin. It’s a show about family, but it’s not really “family friendly.” It’s part autobiographical, part total fiction. It’s mostly comedy with a hint of heartfelt sentiment about what it means to love someone forever. It takes place at a funeral, but it’s not about death. It’s a lot of fun! And the songs will be stuck in your head for days, if you’re into that kind of thing (you can listen to the album wherever you listen to music!). It’s also a fair amount of work and it keeps me up at night, but that’s irrelevant to you guys. Oh, also, it’s about a Jewish family, but you don’t need to be Jewish to enjoy it. Some of my biggest fans are Catholic. 

Why did you want to tell this story?

Initially, I just wanted to tell a story about a girl who kisses her cousin, thinking she’ll never see him again, and then does so unexpectedly. I thought it would be funny and disgusting and horny (which it is). But as I wrote more, the show evolved into my fears over choosing one person to be with for the rest of your life. The questions I ask and try to answer in the show are universal ones - how do I know if he’s the one? What if I fall for someone else? Does my cousin think I’m hot? That kind of stuff. The show is kind of a “worst case scenario” of what you can do when you’re in a serious relationship, and it’s been very cathartic to perform that on stage so that I don’t act it out in real life. JK. Unless… It’s also been rewarding to see how the show resonates with people - turns out I’m not the only one who’s had an unrequited crush that’s made me do unspeakable things to get their attention. More of us are showing up to our grandfather’s funerals in thongs than you think!

Where else might we have seen you before?

If you were a fan of Dickinson, the anachronistic Emily Dickinson comedy on AppleTV+ starring Hailee Steinfeld, you’d have seen me (and my writing) on all three seasons. I played Emily’s frenemy and local idiot Abby Wood. I wore little glasses. Or if you’ve been watching The Daily Show on Comedy Central this most recent season, you’d have seen my writing. Other than that, you could’ve seen me in small parts on Law & Order, The Marvelous Ms. Maisel, and The Other Two - but if you blinked, you would’ve missed me.

How has the show been received so far?

The show has been pretty well received! I’ve performed all over New York and a little in Los Angeles and sold out almost all of those venues. Adam Sandler was backstage at one of the shows and he said he liked the finale - that felt great! When I perform it, I do feel like most people really understand what I’m trying to do - taking a sort of taboo topic like incest but turning it into an introspective piece about love. They’re on the journey with me. There was a really kind review in Theatrely that talked about how the show was much more than a “navel-gazy ode to Millennial tedium and self-importance,” and that felt good to read. I am trying to do something new! 

With this being your Edinburgh Festival Fringe debut, do you think you know what to expect from the Fringe?

No!!! Haha. I’ve tried to gather as much information about the Fringe as possible, but performing 25 nights in a row in a foreign country at the world’s largest theater festival is something I’ll just have to experience in order to truly understand. I’m excited for a new audience to get to know my work and of course worried about how everything will go, because I’m a worrier. I hope people like it and I hope I don’t break my ankle walking on a cobblestone street (that’s a new Edinburgh anxiety of mine). I do know it’s going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience and for that I am thrilled and grateful. Please come see my show!

 

Sophie Zucker: Sucks Face will be performed at 22:15 in Underbelly -Bristo Square from:  2nd – 28th August

Tickets: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/sophie-sucks-face

Photo credit: Ethan Hardy 

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