EDINBURGH 2026: Lorna Rose Treen Q&A

BWW catches up with Lorna Rose Treen to chat about Now That's What I Call Characters

Tell us a bit about ‘Now That’s What I Call Characters’.

NTWICC is a ‘best of’ show of some of my characters. A big handful of ones I really like performing. Is it audacious to do a ‘best of’ when you’ve only done two shows? Yes. Do I care? Yes, I care very deeply about you coming to see the show and think we will have a very nice and stupid time.

 

Where do you get the inspiration for some of your characters?

Underneath my bed lives an old hag who, when the clock strikes 4.48am, clambers out and whispers inspiration into my ear. She then retreats back under the bed and stays there for the following day. She’s got a pretty sweet set up under there! She’s got a PS4!

 

Having sold out three Fringe runs, do you think you know what to expect from the festival?

Yes, I know everything that will happen. But that’s not because I have had three sold-out runs - which I have had - and that’s not because I got 5 stars from the Telegraph and the Observer and 4 stars from the Times - which I have had. It is because I was born with the gift of magical foresight. As a child, it was a curse - knowing what was going to happen all the time - I grew up in a town as boring as all hell, so it was mostly what time the bus was actually going to be outside rather than scheduled. And whether the train was going to be delayed. It was transport-related mostly. Now it's much more interesting and it tells me we’re all going to have a really good time at my shows and not to wear sandals on the streets of Edinburgh because my feet will get wet.

And you have a second show as well?

Yes, I have three shows actually. I’m doing a brand new completely new, new, lot of material for my next show (Work In Progress from Aug 26-30 at 12:05 at Monkey Barrell) and a one-off play reading that I’ve written on 19th, 15:15 at Shedinburgh. 

I’ve also been helping Jonathan Oldfield with his debut ‘Exquisite Corpse’ which is running every day at Pleasance Courtyard at 21:40! I can’t wait for people to see that.

 

What do you hope audiences take away from Now That’s What I Call Characters?

Would be cool if they laughed so much that they injured themselves permanently. 

Lorna Rose Treen: Now That's What I Call Characters runs at Edfringe from 17-23 August

Photo credit: Mark Stronge

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