CLINGFILM brings three hipsters… at a funeral to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and your performing background?
We are Plunge Theatre. Unified by a keen sense of the ridiculous and a commitment to disrupting the mainstream, we’ve been making work together for the best part of ten years. We galloped onto the scene as Emerging Artists at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith in 2013. We were then residents at Theatre Delicatessen. Our first show Private View, debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe and then did the rounds, on a UK tour. Our most recent short, SHALLOW got us through to the Musical Comedy Awards and the ‘Commended list’ for Funny Women Shorts Award 2017. Our short film, CLINGFILM gained an honourable mention in the London-Worldwide Comedy Short Film Festival.

Tell me about your show, what it is all about?
CLINGFILM invites the audience into the dark, sparkly and anxiety-ridden world of three hipsters… at a funeral! This accidental musical comedy is wholly unpredictable as it delves into the unique perspectives of three very different women from three very different backgrounds (from the home counties to the roughest borough in London via a grandmother who swears she actually walked here from Poland…).

How long have you been working on this show and what is it that makes it relevant to audiences in 2018?
It feels like we’ve been working on this show for-bloody-ever! But logistically about 8 months.

This friendship and this combination of cultural backgrounds hasn’t been put on stage before – and it’s about bloody time! It’s important for representation, it’s important for women and it’s important for the comedy world. If not the ENTIRE world.

We promise to deliver something totally original – when was the last time you saw a show about a Polish girl, a Turkish girl and a British girl?

Do you have any top tips for surviving the Edinburgh Fringe Festival – both for performers and visitors to the event?
Ours are toilet orientated:
If you need a wee on the Mile, you can sneak into the church through the cafe and use their toilets. (Sometimes you get to hear the choir rehearsing, but they are keen to sign up new members of the congregation so don’t get eye contact if you aren’t that way inclined.)

The toilets of Bella Italia are a great place to meet artistic directors and get booked for London runs… after a few bottles of red and the antipasti platter

What has been the funniest or most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you on stage?
In one show, we had an on stage costume change, which involved Lils passing Tuts her leggings over a bowl of water. Obvs on Press Night, Lils actually dropped them in the water, which meant that Tuts couldn’t put them on, and had to do the rest of the show in her pants. That was bad.

Who are your biggest inspirations in the industry and why?
The Spice Girls, Monty Python and Virginia Woolf. Why not?

Do you have any pre-show rituals?
Izabella always has the shits

What other acts are you looking forward to seeing at Edinburgh Fringe?
We really hope we make it to The Tattoo this year. Also Deborah Francis-White and Guilty Feminist, Hot Brown Honey, Felicity Ward, Funeral Flowers

Why do you think people should come and see your show over the thousands of others on at the Fringe?
Because we’ve blown our budget on glittery sequin flares, but they’re a bit too long for us and make our dance numbers/ just walking incredibly difficult. So that in itself is an enjoyable spectacle to watch… (also it’s an all singing, all dancing surrealist comedy set at a funeral – why WOULDN’T you want to come and see that?!)

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