EDINBURGH 2025: Fly, You Fools! Q&A
Fly, You Fools! runs at Edfringe from 31 July to 25 August
By: Natalie O'Donoghue Jul. 03, 2025
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BWW catches up with Kristin McCarthy Parker of Recent Cutbacks to chat about bringing Fly, You Fools! to the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Tell us a bit about Fly, You Fools!
Fools is a live, "shot-for-shot" parody of the most epic fantasy film of all time, performed by just three actors and a Foley artist. It uses mime, live sound effects, shadow puppetry, and very simple props to create impressive and hilarious visual sequences, all in under an hour. It's been a fan-favorite for years in NYC and we're so excited to have its UK premiere at Fringe.
Why bring it to the Fringe?
After the success of our show Hold On To Your Butts last year, we knew we had to come back with something new. This year, both Fools and Butts will run at Pleasance Courtyard in the afternoon, and we're hoping audiences will make a double-feature of it. Fools is a perfect Fringe show because it's incredibly compact and simple on the surface, but loaded with theater magic and humor. It's a lot of mime, a couple of wigs, and handmade sound effects, but it all comes together in these tour-de-force performances.
How do you compress 178 mins of cinema into just 60?
Cut the fluff, focus on the important/funny stuff! We try to build our shows from the perspective of "what do we remember about the movie?" rather than beat-by-beat what happens. The audience's imagination does the rest.
Would people who haven't seen the film still be able to connect with this show?
Absolutely! We get this question a lot, but over the years we've had a lot of people see our shows without knowing the film and they LOVE it. Our storytelling is designed to be accessible to audiences of all experience levels, the cast is hilarious and so so talented. Aside from the parody part, it's also just an incredible feat of physical theater and live sound. We aim to have everyone leave the theater feeling joyful and inspired to make their own work.
Who would be your ideal audience member?
Our ideal audience member is a lover of comedy and theater, bonus points if they're a fantasy fan. We've had people come to our shows in cosplay and it's our favorite thing. We hope it happens at Fringe!
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