In our ongoing Edinburgh Fringe 2026 interview series, we are speaking to artists and creatives who are bringing their shows to the Scottish capital this summer.
In this interview, we speak with the team behind ShakeItUp: The Improvised Shakespeare Show.
Shakespeare hasn’t written a new play in over 400 years. Is ShakeItUp a noble act of artistic service, or are you just getting impatient?
Definitely impatient; it's been 400 years now, the world is well overdue some new Shakespeare plays - that's where we come in!
You’re creating a brand new Bard-style play on the spot every single night. For the uninitiated, how on earth does that actually work once the audience shouts out an idea?
We start each show by asking the audience to choose what kind of show they want to see: a Comedy (everyone gets married), a Tragedy (everyone gets dead), or a History (everyone gets married and/or dead). We then get suggestions for the name of our lead character and where in the world we will lay our scene. We also give the audience the chance to write their own Shakespearean-style lines for us to whip out at random moments during the show. What follows is completely 100% made up on the spot; an authentic yet bonkers, and totally unique Shakespeare play. You'll have to see it to believe it...
If Shakespeare were in the audience at the Fringe, what do you think his reaction would be? Where am I? How did I get here? What year is this? How do I get to the Tattoo?
You incorporate live music and songs into the show. What’s harder: rhyming in Iambic Pentameter under pressure, or doing it while keeping a melody?
Rhyming in iambic pentameter under pressure WHILE keeping a melody.
Audience suggestions can range from brilliant to completely unhinged. What’s the weirdest or most challenging prompt you’ve ever had to turn into a masterpiece?
We once had an audience-written line that went "Methinks you are my mother", and the line was delivered between two lovers...so that changed the storyline quite dramatically!
Shakespeare loved a good trope—star-crossed lovers, fake deaths, mistaken identity, comedic fools. Do you have favourite tropes you instinctively lean on when things get wild on stage?
We never tie ourselves down to one particular trope, anything and everything that occurs in a Shakespeare play can happen onstage, along with a lot of things that don't! We have the whole canon at our disposal, we give it a good shake, and see what comes out.
If in doubt, send in the Mechanicals.
Improv requires serious trust. How do you keep from breaking character when a castmate drops a ridiculous Elizabethan-style line out of nowhere?
Turn it into a character choice: biting down on my lower lip while shaking my shoulders up and down uncontrollably and stifling a guffaw is part of my character's physicality actually.
The Edinburgh Fringe is notoriously intense. How do you keep the energy fresh and the imaginations "overactive" night after night?
Much like Shakespeare himself: bawdy nights at the tavern, hanging around in pantaloons, and nicking all of Christopher Marlowe's ideas.
In three words (or one Shakespearean couplet), why is ShakeItUp the must-see comedy show at the Fringe this year?
It's Shakespeare like you've never seen before,
With twists and turns we're sure that you'll adore!
Where can people see the show?
The Gilded Balloon, Teviot, at 12:35!
Tickets are available from https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/shakeitup-the-improvised-shakespeare-show
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