BWW catches up with Josh from Say It Again, Sorry? to chat about bringing ...Earnest? back to the 2026 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Tell us a bit about ...Earnest?!
...Earnest? is a chaotic and hilarious reinvention of Oscar Wilde's classic, in which we ask audience members to join us onstage and help us get to the end of the play. What starts as a fairly typical rendition of The Importance of Being Earnest very quickly falls apart when Ernest himself doesn't show up, forcing the hapless director to have to cast someone from the audience. Then, as more cast members drop out, more audience members are required... It's totally real, totally unpredictable, and different every time. We have the absolute best time performing it, and after four Edinburgh Fringe runs, a couple of UK tours and an award-winning run at Adelaide Fringe, we're pretty sure that our audiences are enjoying it too.
Having performed the show before at the festival, do you think you know what to expect from the Fringe?
The Edinburgh Fringe is unpredictable at the best of times, but when you throw a show like ours into the mix, it's safe to say that we have given up trying to guess what will happen and have instead learnt to expect the unexpected. With such a huge variety of people travelling to the Fringe from all over the country, and the world, it means our show is not only wildly different every day, but that something totally mad and memorable will happen at every performance. For example, last year we were halfway through a show when suddenly the amazing and hilarious Rhys Darby was cast and brought up on stage. Where else can you wake up not knowing you'll be sharing the stage with a world-famous comedian a few hours later? It's for this reason, and many more, that we keep coming back. The Fringe audiences are always such a joy to perform to, and there really is nothing else like it on earth.
Should people who have seen it before make a return visit?
We've been performing this show for a while now, and we're always so happy and humbled to hear how many people come back to see it two, three (even tens of) times. It's easy to see why they do, because with a new cast being brought up from the audience every day, you literally never see the same show twice. Those who have come multiple times say that it really benefits from a rewatch, because not only do you get to see how different people react when they are given a starring role in a classic play, but you also get to see just how talented our cast is as they keep the show on the rails in a hundred different ways and keep the audience laughing all the way through. As one of the creators, I've personally seen the show hundreds of times, and I know I'm biased, but all I'll say is that I look forward to every single performance, because I just never know what to expect.
How involved do the audience get?
I can't lie to you, a handful of audience members get about as involved as it is possible to get in a show. And one person plays the leading role! I will assure you though that there's nothing to worry about if you are chosen. Every role is voluntary and we help our audience cast members along every step of the way. We guarantee that you will leave the stage a hero, having had a life-changing experience. We've even had a number of our audience cast members go on to pursue a career in acting, join acting classes or become involved in amateur dramatics, which is lovely! We often get asked if we use plants or if the audience cast are warned in any way, but we're proud to say that it is all genuinely real and as mad as it sounds. It's also worth saying that the show is just as fun from your seat if you don't fancy getting up!
What would you like audiences to take away from it?
We want people to leave ...Earnest? with the belief that they can be a star and that there's no difference between the people on stage and themselves. We started this company wanting to remove the divide between audience and artist, and to connect with the people that make it all possible and worthwhile. We're proud to do that every single performance, and we know that it makes for a hilarious and memorable time for both us and the audiences that we share it with. We also hope people leave just having had a laugh. Now more than ever, we just want to have fun, and to bring as many people as we can along with us for the ride.
...Earnest? runs at Edfringe 6-30 August
Photo credit: Mark Senior
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