Fringe Q&A: Roisin Crowley Linton

How are you doing and how have you found the run-up to the Fringe? What have the past two years involved for you?

I am doing alright!! I love, love, love Edinburgh. I’m from Newcastle so we would come up to the Fringe to watch the street performers to fill the summer holidays. Edinburgh feels like my capital city more than London so it's bloody glorious to be back in the city!

The past two years have been an absolute whirlwind. When I lost my work in March 2020, I started working for the NHS as a Sexual Assault Crisis Worker as a paediatric specialist clinician. It was a complete turnaround from all of my other work but my past shows have been around sexual violence and young people so it did make sense in a strange way. I needed a job to pay the bills but absolutely fell in love with this work and it’s something I’m really passionate about.

Does Edinburgh feel different to you at all compared to previous iterations of the Fringe?

For me, I’ve come back as a different person. I’m much braver and more sure of my place here, and in the world in general. I don’t feel like I’m apologising for taking up space here anymore. I’m also enjoying the camaraderie of the performers, seeing people I haven’t seen for years knowing everyone's had a tough couple of years. There is a real sense of “Let’s get through this together and what happens".

How would you describe Roisin Crowley Linton to someone totally unfamiliar with you?

Ooooosh, I would say, like imagine your favourite auntie who will tell you the family drama straight, give you a tenner before a night out, and always makes sure there’s snacks and wine in when you come round, but she's made a comedy show where she also strips at the end. Opinionated and kind probably sums it up.

Tell me a little more about Medusa. What can audiences expect? 

It’s comedy, poetry and burlesque but lighter than my last show Teenage Kicks, despite it being made during a difficult period of my life. It’s an update on my life, and entails all the stuff you talk about with your best mates when you’ve stayed up too late putting the world to rights, then all have a little hand hold and a cry and tell each other how much you mean to each other (Everyone's friends do this, right??)

How has your work with the NHS impacted how you approach comedy and performance in general?

For me, I’m not dealing with any serious safeguarding concerns and I haven’t spoken to a doctor, police or social worker in weeks so honestly, how bad can it be to do a show and see your mates? It’s definitely given me a lightness, and a super confidence in talking about much heavier subjects. I was so scared of upsetting my audience or making them feel uncomfortable, but what I’ve realised is that everyone is desperate to talk about the uncomfortable stuff as it affects all of us in some way, but is so taboo in our society. Sexual violence, sex, trauma, heartbreak – we think about it all the time but so rarely are given the chance to talk honestly about it.

Looking at this new show, how would you say it links to your previous work both personally and thematically?

Medusa is my third show, the final in what has felt like a trilogy of growing up through my twenties. All my work is heavily autobiographical as I love to relate to people with my experiences. My first show was about how we prioritise romantic love over all other kinds of love, and the platonic and familial heartbreak that isn’t talked about. My second was about working with young people and seeing my own experiences reflected back to me, and developing an empathy for myself and my experience of sexual violence through that work.

I love people, I love exploring relationships and dynamics and I’m full of love and excitement and fury and pain (I have a lot of feelings). Medusa feels like the big sister of both those earlier shows.

What are your main hopes for August and what do you hope people will take away from seeing you?

I played Basketball Manifestation with my producer Zach the other day, where you say a hope or wish for the month, shoot your shot and if you get the ball in it’s going to happen. I would absolutely recommend. My biggest hope is that I am able to have a really lovely time with whoever turns up to be my audience that night. I hope people feel safe and exhilarated in equal measure. Everyone will take away something completely different and that is the joy of it all!

What’s next for you and how are you feeling about the future in general?

Well well well, what IS next for me? I’ve been able to leave my job in the NHS after (nearly) two incredible and challenging years of working through the pandemic. I have also left my flat in Bristol so the road is absolutely open to me. I’d love to do the Australian Fringes next year as 1: I love an aussie and 2: deserve a bit of sunshine. But I’m excited to be in a position to say yes to things, see new places and live some life! (Slide in my DMs for work offers everyone, I still have to pay for McDonalds hash browns somehow).