Our Pick of Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2016 – I Got Superpowers For My Birthday

Start with a puzzle, a brother and a sister were born on the same day, but they are not twins! *

Meanwhile, The Edinburgh Reporter manage to steal some time with playwright, Katie Douglas, in between rehearsals and pre-production for her spanking new Fringe play ‘Superpowers’.

Three nearly teenage reluctant heroes are destined to confront the Dark Overlord who has a habit of transforming anyone and anything to ice! Will light and warmth prevail over the cold and dark? Will this this synopsis maintain an absolute zero amount of Frozen puns?

Is Katie Douglas’ plot about a plot towards world domination just the tip of the iceberg? Are we all skating on thin ice? Is it not time we just chilled-out and got on with the interview?

TER: This delightfully titled play seems to tick all the right boxes as a Fringe show eye-catcher.

KD: I really wanted to write an adventure story, a rollicking adventure especially for kids. I soon had the outline for the plot and then the characters began to fit in. It’s a ball rolling down a hill thing, you set it in motion and things take over. It was important that the characters needed to be well rounded – and great fun!

TER: The title and synopsis suggests you draw on archetypal tropes immersed in Fairy Tales, Grimms and Folk legend.

KD: You are always aware of the ‘classics’, the tropes of story-telling, Good v Evil are so commonplace. But they work, especially for kids and especially when you are not, and do not want to be, trying to do something too fancy.

TER: Forty-five minutes! A lot of story and action and well, just things to cram into so short a time.

KD: There are no breaks so no need for scene or scenery changes. That means, well, the goal is for the audience to become immersed in the show. It’s incredibly fast-paced. Forty-five minutes isn’t very long.

TER: Have you had chance to trial the show before it hits The Fringe?

KD: We’ve shown it to a few groups of kids but not as a full production. We’ll just have to see how it goes!

TER: Given that you will be exploring the archetypal battle between Good and Evil and further, you might well expect your young audiences to be bringing adults almost as bright as them, will you be sneaking in any subversive references to current political turmoils?

KD: (Momentary gasp, hearty laugh) Definitely not! There will be plenty of other shows no doubt redrafting on exactly that as we speak.

*they share the same birthday as their triplet sister!

 

I Got Superpowers For My Birthday

Children’s Shows (new writing, family)

Roundabout @ Summerhall (Venue 26)

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/i-got-superpowers-for-my-birthday