Climbing up the Walls: Pippa Evans interview

Pippa Evans is talking bruises.

“So, in 2010, we were in Hong Kong on tour with [improv comedy musical troupe] Showstoppers, and we got stuck there because of the ash cloud. At first we were told we’d be put in a hotel for a week, but on the third or fourth day Virgin told us we might be there for a month, which meant I’d miss my wedding.

“There were lots of other people in the hotel in as bad a situation, though, including a school party – these two poor teachers with a rugby tour of boys – so we tried not to complain. However, on that night, for some reason, they had all-you-could-drink wine for £12. And we went for it.

“I have never been that drunk before or since – world-is-going-to-end style drunk. The next morning I woke up, and my legs were covered in bruises. I had to ask what had happened, and I got told, ‘You wanted to go swimming.’ So I'd scaled a 10ft wall in Ruth Bratt’s borrowed swimming costume. I had a look the next day, and it was high – I would never even consider climbing it normally. I still only have the very vaguest flash of climbing it, and doing a belly flop at the other side. I’m amazed I’m even alive."

Evans is hard to keep up with. She’s just finished teaching an improv class, and is about to drive to a gig in Norwich. In the next few days she's heading to an awards ceremony, a job in Keswick, and a preview of her Edinburgh show in Shoreditch. Exhausting as it sounds, one of her chosen comedic mediums – improv – might be fun for us to watch but to actually perform, for most of us at least, would induce the kind gut-wrenching fear reserved for squeezing through a burning cat flap. Isn't it about as vulnerable as a person can make themselves?

"Actually, I do always think it's like being a footballer – you train, you hone your skills, but then you go out on the field, and you have no idea what the other team are going to throw at you. Yet it's wonderful, because the audience gets to see a show that's been created for them and no-one else.

"I always loved improv, though. At school, my drama teacher would try and get us to improvise. Everyone else would hang back, but I'd be right up there. It would end up with just me and my drama teacher alone on the floor, doing improv.”

As is her wont, Evans has will be bringing three shows to the festival, as well as a one-off Sunday Assembly (the non-religious gathering she founded with fellow comedian Sanderson Jones). Her solo show, Same Same But Different, will play on the Free Fringe at Bannermans.

“It seems like a fairer deal for acts – you just get paid what you’ve made at the end of the night. Even the bigger venues have started doing it now. And it’s very hard to profit on paid shows – because I have the band, lighting, sound needs, I actually lost £7k on Loretta [Evans' grunge inspired alter-ego].

“Besides, people don’t want to pay £14 for a ticket. However, if someone goes to see Donkey and My Ass and enjoys it, they might go for free, but then pay a tenner. I do worry that the Donkey and My Ass shows dwindle as shows get more expensive, and you need those – the shows with some old lady in a bar singing songs she wrote when she was 12. You need to see that colour.”

---

Pippa Evans: Same Same But Different, Bannermans, 6-28 Aug (not 20 & 21), 1:45pm, PBH Free Fringe
The Showstoppers’ Kids’ Show, Pleasance Courtyard (Grand), 3-21 Aug, 11:40am, £6-10
The Showstoppers: Showstopper! The Improvised Musical, Pleasance Courtyard (Grand), 3-28 Aug (not 16), 6pm, £10-16.50