So, the Edinburgh Festival’s five weeks away, r u looking forward to it?

Yeah, for sure.

The show’s ready?

Er….it will be.

Ah.

Did u know there r 36 ways to say the word “Ah”? That is a classic no.11. My favourite is no.19. “Did u get that special cheese loaf I asked u to get for me?”. “Ah”. “Well, where’s the fiver I gave u to get it?”. “Ah”. (no.20)

You’re avoiding the question, Graham.

Yes, I know. I’m doing a couple of dry run through’s in front of a few selected friends in July, to test run the material and after those, I guess the show will be finalised. I’ve never written a one-man show before, so it’s all new to me. I’ve got a script, but it isn’t till the thing is actually performed that it’ll all fall into place.

What can people expect from the show?

A rollercoaster ride! That’s what it was like when I was living the story. That’s what it’ll b like telling the story and that’s what it should b like for the audience.

What d’u mean by “living the story”? Is it all autobiographical?

Well, it’s based on the journal I kept when I….er….

….took a sabbatical, I’ve seen it described by one journalist……

….yes, I liked that. Took a sabbatical. So, there are events in the show that actually happened. And then there r some parts where I play with reality a little; blur the boundaries, as it were.

That’s something u like doing in your work, isn’t it? Playing with reality.

Yeah, I guess. There’s some of that in the show, for sure. King Solomon will help with that.

Your Guardian Angel?

Hmm. He turns up from time to time. The king of nihilists. Before punk, before Nietzche, before De Sade, before them all was King Solomon. He was the original nihilist.

If u had to sum it up for us, what is Beat Freak?

A surreal philosophical comedy. ‘On the Road’ for a post-911 generation. ‘Heart of Darkness’ for heads. The Fisher King meets Ken Campbell. I dunno. Will that do?

Yes thanks. What r the plans after Edinburgh?

That kinda depends on how it goes really, but we’ve finally got the London shows sorted for Writers’ Block – we’ll be doing those in September. The promoter wanted to wait until after Edinburgh, which made sense. They are gonna b special. The wait seems to be adding to the interest for them, so I’m looking forward to those. Then the plan is to tour both shows to as many places as possible throughout the autumn. There’s a lot of things in the pipeline. I’ll keep u up-to-date with stuff when I know.

How did the show at the Isle of Wight Literary Festival go?

Great. Pretty much a sell-out. It seemed to go down well and the cast are really settling into their performances. It was nice to b asked to open the festival. Recognition from where your from is cool.

Who else was performing?

Kate Adie was on after us, with her one-woman show. That was bizarre. And there was a few interesting authors doing book readings and stuff.

Finally, just confirm how long your run is at Edinburgh. There’s been some confusion about that.

I’m performing from the 7^th till the 27^th. Three weeks. It was originally gonna b just two weeks, but the promoter at the venue offered me an extra week for free, so, its now three.

Thanks for your time, Graham.

No worries.