Rosie Jones: I Can’t Tell What She’s Saying
Image: Jiksaw

Every show begins with an initial spark. What was the original idea, moment or experience that made you create this piece? 

My initial spark for writing my show happened last year when I met two very different strangers who came up to me with very different intentions and I realised that I was a 35 year old single, gay, disabled lady with a platform and that is a very unique position to be in. I get a lot of hate but I also get a lot of love and that can be very confusing at times when a stranger comes up to me and I’m not quite sure where the conversation is going to go.

What can audiences expect when they step into this world? 

The audiences can expect a lot of laughter when they enter my world and my show. I just wanted to create a show where the audience leaves with a sore face and a sore belly cos they’ve spent the last hour laughing and I think I do that very, very well. I’m an incredibly talented lady! I also want the audience to consider for a moment what it’s like to be me and to walk through the world as not only a famous person but a person with a disability.

The Edinburgh Fringe is a place where artists and audiences come together from across the world. Why is this the right place for this show? 

Oh the Edinburgh Fringe is the right place for my show because, I might be biased, but Edinburgh during the Fringe is the best place on earth, it’s so creative and there’s no other city that you can go to and see 10, 11 12 different brilliant shows in one day. I just love being part of the buzz. I love not only performing my show every day but I love the opportunity to go and see loads of other shows and crucially hang out with all my amazing, funny friends and just for us to sit and talk about my favourite thing in the world – comedy.

What is something about the show that the audience might not immediately notice, but you hope they discover?

I do reveal it at the end, there’s a lovely little twist that obviously I won’t tell you now cos you need to come and see the show but some clever audience members might notice the twist before I reveal it.

What has surprised you most about creating this piece? 

What has surprised me the most about creating this piece is I thought I was in a quite a unique position because there are not a lot disabled, gay women comedians with a platform out there but what was surprising me is a lot of the audience come up to me cos they really relate to a lot of the topics in the show, so even though I’ve written it from quite a unique point of view, the topics that I do tackle in the show really are universal.

When your audience walks home, what would you love them to still be talking about?

I obviously want them to talk about how funny I am, and how beautiful I am, but at the same time in my show I talk a lot about the negative side of social media and trolling because I get a lot of hate online. I really hope that audience members will consider this and consider the negative impact of social media cos I think a lot people don’t even consider that there’s someone on the other side of a computer screen who will get impacted by their negative comments. So yeah, I hope it leaves my audience feeling a bit more considerate about how they use social media.

Rosie Jones: I Can’t Tell What She’s Saying
Pleasance Courtyard, Cabaret Bar
16.00
5-30 Aug