Thursday, March 28, 2024
Entertainment20 OFF THE CUFF with Mara Menzies

20 OFF THE CUFF with Mara Menzies

Deadline at the Fringe are interviewing performers across the month, putting 20 questions to them off the cuff.

Mara Menzies is an award-winning author and performer. As part of the Made in Scotland 2019 showcase, the Kenyan-Scottish storyteller returns to the Fringe with a new form of storytelling. ‘Blood and Gold’ explores the legacy of colonialism, as well as contemporary issues of identity and belonging.

mara menzies blood and gold

1. First impressions of our fair city and, why are you here?

I am one of the lucky ones. I live here ALL THE TIME!

2. Does your time here bring on joy or dread?

JOY JOY JOY!I love the festival time. The city brims with life and the whole world comes to our doorstep! Everywhere you turn, something magical is taking place.

3. How did you travel to the capital, and are you alone or with friends?

I leave Leith and then head for Edinburgh by bike mainly

4. Where will you visit on your day off and why?

I will head up Arthur’s Seat for a different perspective on the world and to get away from the tourists.

5. What Scottish delicacies do you enjoy and, do any of them fill you with fear?

I love them all! Black pudding, haggis and whisky! Even the deep fried mars bar!

6. Which watering hole will you most likely be stopping at?

There are a few. I love The Antiquary and Canny Man’s although they are both a bit out of the way! Otherwise I am likely to wander and follow the sound of live music in the town centre.

7. Which other act would you be most likely to recommend to a friend?

Grave, The Green Knight and WOKE and I’d like someone to come with me to see Best of Burlesque but only if they don a corset and fishnets!

8. Plug your show in three words.

Magical, Emotional, Powerful

9. Are you a newcomer or a veteran?

A veteran. This is my 7th year!

mara menzies blood and gold paint
Photo submitted.

10. What do you love most about the festival?

I love the chaos, the unexpected nature of things, the opportunity to see things that we would never otherwise have the chance to see, every human emotion displayed 24/7

11. What do you hate most about the festival?

The reviewers who tell you how shit you were.

12. What is your biggest fear before going on stage?

I am FEARLESS

13. Quote yourself. What’s the best thing you’ve ever said?

Better get on with it!

14. What does success and failure mean to you?

Success means I have tried to the best of my ability. Failure is when I have not tried at all.

15. What is your worst habit?

My closest friends will tell you I’m judgmental but I don’t need some uppity comments from people who know nothing about the arts!

16. Most embarrassing moment?

When I forgot to take a kegel ball out before leaving the house and it started to slip out in public

17. Where is your favourite place in the world and why?

Arisaig on the West Coast and the Shimba Hills in Kenya

18. Who would you choose to be if you were not you?

I would always choose me

19. What is your greatest ambition?

To bring storytelling magic to everyone

20. How can we bring world peace?

Through storytelling and stop putting rich, incompetent men in power.

 

Related Stories