Fringe 2024
I’ve applied and been accepted to appear at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this August. It will be my fifth year so I’m now viewed as a veteran. It has still to be confirmed, but I believe I will be back in The Stand Comedy Club. The photograph with this blog post is one I took backstage in the green room before I went on in November last year. As I’ve said before, the green room is not green. The picture I took does nothing to convey the glamour and excitement of these shows. I was informed last time that those great looking red leather armchairs belonged to a casino up the road and they were thrown out the back close due to either some refurbishment or maybe the place closed, I can’t recall now. Anyway, as they had been skipped, someone had the good presence of mind to grab them for backstage. Good call.
Although I could repeat last years show, I’ve decided to do a brand new one. Puts the pressure on me, but it’s too good an opportunity to miss. It has been inspired by the new novel I’m working on and it made sense for me to present on the key themes I’m exploring. Here is the draft blurb for the show. Note that this still has to be signed off.
My Ex A.I. As virtual worlds and deep fakes become a reality, the means to clone ourselves and anyone else on the internet is no longer science fiction. Artificial Intelligence will provide huge benefits, but our data privacy laws could be seen as a barrier to realising its full potential. Are humans ready to give up their sense of self so others can replicate us in our own image? Could we then regain control of who we believe we really are? Cybersecurity expert Garry Scobie (The University of Edinburgh) replies.
I had a hundred words to work with which can be challenging, but managed to come in at ninety. There is also a forty word version. I’m used to writing blurbs and have completed many a synopsis so I’m used to producing summaries. I haven’t written the show yet, but do have an outline.
I’ve put myself forward to appear at The Stand in Edinburgh in March. I’m waiting on confirmation. If accepted, I can do last years show, but I’m thinking of doing a preview of this new one if the organisers are agreeable. I need to get writing.
The Fiction Factory 