Leo Still Dies In The End - Edinburgh Fringe Interview

In our ongoing Edinburgh Fringe interview series, we are speaking to artists and creatives who are bringing their shows to the Scottish capital this summer.

In this interview, Alice Fishbein discusses their show Leo Still Dies in the End.

Photo by Caeli Smith

What can you tell me in your words about your show?
Leo Still Dies in the End is a one-woman parody re-enactment of Titanic where the scenes are randomly selected by a prize wheel. It’s also a show about never letting go of the things you love, nostalgia for aging ‘90s media, and how we grow and are shaped as adults by media we loved as kids. In the show, I play all the roles but I also play a version of myself watching and commenting on the movie, and I interject with my thoughts, BTS trivia, and some facts (come one, come all, Titanic nerds!). 

Where did the inspiration for this piece come from?
From a little girl who loved a big ol’ boat (me; I’m the little girl). I’ve always loved Titanic, probably a bit too much, and I do make sure everyone around me is aware of it. So when I went to Portugal in 2019 with my sister and our friend, one night at dinner after a long day of travelling (I believe we were in the gorgeous Lagos), my sister said, “Alice, do Titanic.” And so I started doing scenes from the movie, in full, while interjecting my own thoughts, trivia, details about the scenes, and it became a thing we did. We’d be hiking or at a meal and I’d either pick up where we’d left off or they would shout out a scene for me to do (“Do the dancing scene! The sinking scene! The sex scene!”). 

How have you approached developing the show?
Step One: Having all 3 hours and 15 minutes of Titanic on loop in my head for the last 26 years. Easy!

Step Two: Slice that baby in half like a ship overcome with the tilting pressure of sinking until it splits right down to the keel. I knew for a while that I wanted to do a one-woman parody of Titanic, but how does one pare down a mostly-perfect film? Well, lucky for me, I already had a shorter version that I'd created (come see the show for more details on that). The idea of the wheel came to me because that was how I was always doing the scenes for my sister and friends: they'd shout out a scene and I would go from there. Once I gave myself that breathing space of allowing the show to change every time, it was just writing the monologue (stand-up comedy) and picking the most important scenes to do. 

Step Three: Find a director who is ready to get on board with a show as chaotic and ever-changing as this one! Once Ryan Lind, my director, joined the production, it was game over; he immediately understood the show and added theatrical elements into the scenes to ground them which thereby allows me to go wild onstage while holding the audience’s attention. After workshopping it and having a few previews in New York, I cannot wait to debut it at Fringe! 

How would you describe the style of the show?
Much like the inside of my brain: at times, it is focused and yet at other times, there is so much going on at the same time that it almost feels impossible that there’s only one person onstage. To give the reader a picture, when I get the iceberg scene, I believe I am portraying about 50 characters simultaneously and running around from one part of the stage to the other (it's so fun to perform). Ultimately, the show is one big love story to Titanic, growing up, and Billy Zane’s transatlantic accent.

Can you describe the show in 3 words?
Chaotic, ridiculous, freezing.

How do you mentally and physically prepare for a run like the Fringe?
Most importantly, I learned how to dial out of the US and into Scotland. Took an embarrassing amount of time to figure out.

In all seriousness, I mostly did the same things I would do for any show, just amped up because it’s such a thrill to be going to Fringe and because I have never done 17 days of performing in a row: rehearsals with my director, practicing on my own, crying to Titanic. And yes, that last one does apply to any show I would do!

Photo by Caeli Smith

Away from your show, what are you most looking forward to about being in Edinburgh?

A decent pint! I’m very excited to get to live in Edinburgh for almost a full month. I was there for a few days two years ago when I went on a (mostly) solo trip to Ireland and Scotland and I loved the vibrancy of the city. At the time, I was already thinking in terms of bringing a show I’d done a mini performance and one full performance of to Fringe and so I was asking many people about the festival and it just sounded incredible. I even ended up chatting and walking around for a while with a tour guide from one of the free walking tours because he was an actor who had done Fringe and had a lot of great advice for me (shout out to Cameron!). I’m just beyond excited to spend a month in another city in another country being a comedian around other artists. 

Are there any other shows at the Fringe you’d like to recommend?
Lily Blumkin’s “Nice Try,” which I got to see here in NYC, if you want to see an impressive array of characters. I’d also recommend the other shows that received the Keep It Fringe US grant with me - I haven’t been able to see them yet but they all sound incredible! And I haven’t seen the show yet, but I am extremely excited to finally (he wasn’t able to come to the US!) get to see Vittorio Angelone’s show. 

What was the first piece of theatre you saw which had a big impact on you?
Growing up in New York, I was extremely lucky to get to see a ton of theatre, especially because my parents would take me every year to "Kids Night on Broadway.” While I loved everything I saw as a kid, there’s one show that hit me in a way nothing had before that changed my life (I could have been a surgeon if not for this, it was definitely this and not how poorly I did in Biology 101). And that’s the original “Spring Awakening.” The first time I saw it (yes I saw it multiple times, I think we have established that I get carried away when I become obsessed with something) I sat onstage and it was probably the greatest experience of my life. It felt like a show made for me, a 14 year old who loved theatre and rock music and felt a little out of place among my peers, and it was the first show I saw without my parents or grandparents. It also introduced me to Jonathan Groff and what could ever have a bigger impact on a person?!

What do you hope an audience member takes away from seeing the show?
I hope they realize how much I love this movie and recall something they loved as a kid that followed them into adulthood and I hope they take away that feeling of the first time they heard that gorgeous music and saw that ship on the screen. Either of those, or the knowledge that I was, ultimately, allowed to watch the entire movie without my mom covering my eyes during the naked scenes. 

Where and when can people see your show?
Gilded Balloon Patter House (Dram) from July 30th through August 15th at 22:00! Every night! Come say hi afterwards and let me know what song you'd have requested from the band!

Tickets are available from https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/leo-still-dies-in-the-end