There's Big Trouble in Little Monkey’s Daycare at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Name: Benjamin Leach (cast)
Name of Edinburgh show: Big Trouble in Little Monkey’s Daycare
Venue: theSpace on the Mile 39
Performance time: 6:20
Show length: 45min
Ticket price: previews, 3rd – 5th August: £5 (£3 conc.)
6th – 11th August: £7 (£5 conc.)

Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and your performing background?
I have recently graduated from Newcastle University with a law degree, but the law’s an ass, and theatre has provided welcome refuge. I have been in several Newcastle University Theatre Society (or NUTS) productions during my time at university, but this is my final hurrah, and my first Fringe!

Tell me about your show, what it is all about?
Our show is a spoof detective noir set in a Daycare. The kids, fuelled by E-Numbers and apple juice aplenty, must get to the bottom of an extremely tricky mystery. Expect drama, betrayal, intrigue and crazy straws. Will Tommy and Bobby discover the truth? Only time will tell.

How long have you been working on this show and what is it that makes it relevant to audiences in 2018?
Personally, I have been working on the show for two weeks. I know what you’re thinking – THAT’S NOT VERY LONG! However, you are wrong. It has felt like months. Jokes aside, this is a show that I am proud to be a part of. Its relevance lies in how dire the world has become, so come and experience some first class escapism – Love Island’s over, stop being in denial.

Do you have any top tips for surviving the Edinburgh Fringe Festival – both for performers and visitors to the event?
No. I’ve never been here. Tips welcome. But here’s a tip from the show – if you feel like you need to go, you need to go. And when it comes to Big Trouble, you need to go.

What has been the funniest or most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you on stage?
My mother still calls me ‘pigeon lungs’ to this day – because of an unfortunate performance where she claimed she couldn’t hear me.

Who are your biggest inspirations in the industry and why?
Hannah Jayne Leek. Watch this space.

Do you have any pre-show rituals?
I like to sit in a dark room and clear my head of negative comments my mother has thrown at me. Jokes aside again, I find it really useful to create a neutral headspace in which my characters can play.

What other acts are you looking forward to seeing at Edinburgh Fringe?
Christopher Bliss’s play I Spy With My Little Eye Something Beginning With Why You Have Been Sleeping With My Wife. He was Pay What You Feel last year, and good to see that he’s now rightly charging people for his time. Also, I think the joy of Fringe is discovering new things on the Mile and not being too strict about what you see!

Why do you think people should come and see your show over the thousands of others on at the Fringe?
Because I have a vested interest in people coming to my show! For the last time, jokes aside, it’s a slick, funny, merging of genres that is sure to please all. Everyone will find something they enjoy in the show, and I truly believe there’s nothing else like it at the Fringe. Let me know if there is, I’d love to see it.

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