News, Interviews and Previews

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is over for another year which means one thing, Awards time! So before the Fringe fades completely from memory we thought that it's about we time we announced the nominees for this years DarkChat Awards?

So, after much deliberation the 15th DARKCHAT nominations have just been announced. From 17 categories 19 shows are featured and a total of 74 nominations. The most nominated show this year comes courtesy of the Free Fringe, and is "John Robertson's The Human Hurricane" . The results will be revealed on a live Twitter/X event later this month. Watch this space!

Most people think the Edinburgh Festivals are just about seeing shows. Wrong, there is so much more. This year DarkChat made the effort to see a variety of exhibitions. One of our favourites was The Eric Liddell Exhibition at the Scottish Parliament so we were delighted when the CEO of the Eric Liddell Community, John Macmillan spoke to David Cox about the exhibition, and the centenary of Liddell's famous 1924 Olympic win.

DarkChat have been following the career of Luke Wright since 2007 and he has been getting better and better. His latest show "Joy" does what it says on the tin. His festival may be over but he kindly spared us some time for an interview.

We at DarkChat spend a lot of time working out what shows to go see. Content, time, venue and cost are all taken into account. Once we make our selections we start buying tickets or requesting press tickets for reviews. It is very rare to be told that the run is sold out, which is bad news for us but great news for the performers.

So, even though we won't be seeing "The Hundred Year Letter" we contacted Good Wolf People to try to find out the secret to their sold-out success, John Handscombe gave us this stunning and eye-opening interview.

Did you think think the Edinburgh festival was over. Wrong!
On Saturday 30th September the 15th Annual DARKCHAT awards took place. 36 shows were battling in 16 categories with a total of 137 nominations.
Who were our winners? Find out below.

Working out an Edinburgh festival schedule needs a balance of seeing the familiar with the new. DARKCHAT took a chance with " Cheekykita: An Octopus, The Universe 'n' Stuff". We are glad we did as this has proved to be one of the hits of the unexpected hits of the festival. Cheekykita ( Sonja Doubleday) took time out of her ridiculously busy schedule to give us this interview.

In 2019 Darkchat saw and enjoyed TS Crew perform at the Fringe, this year they are back with 3 shows, we caught up with the Andy Lo and asked what to expect from their link up with Hong Kong Soul.

Having seen the amazing 'A War of Two Halves' at last year's Fringe we couldn't wait to see what Two Halves Productions were bringing to this year's Festival. We spoke to writer Paul Beeson about their new show about Hearts legend Bobby Walker 'Never Trouble Trouble (Till Trouble Troubles You)' and his hopes for Hearts this season.

Despite not appearing in this year's Fringe Programme, thanks to an interestingly worded press release we liked the sound of Paul Connell and will be going to see his show "Ace In The Hole" at Boteco do Brasil on Lothian Street. Hopefully, after reading this interview you may join us.

As the Fringe approaches rapidly our latest interview is with Richard Lambert, Producer at LAMBCO Productions, who tells us about the pressure and excitement that bringing four different shows to Edinburgh can bring.

Ahead of this years festival we spoke to the wonderful Robin Ince, who tells us about his history with the Fringe, what to expect from his two shows this year and the (very good) reason why Brian Cox has told him not to mess with time.

Dave choo-chooses to attend his first Edinburgh preview of the year.