Interview with Charles Deane, director and performer

Charles Deane is the director and a performer in the improvisation show "Any Suggestions Doctor? The Improvised Doctor Who Parody".

Interview with Charles Deane, director and performer

Could you first introduce yourself to the reader?

My name is Charles Deane and I am director and performer with “Any Suggestions Doctor? The Improvised Doctor Who Parody” 

How would you describe your show?

Well, as the name suggests, we improvise a brand-new episode of Doctor Who every day. We take a suggestion for a setting and an episode title (usually completely unrelated) and tell an entirely new Doctor Who adventure, with just a pinch of pastiche.

Why do you want to perform at Edinburgh Festival Fringe?

It’s the Fringe. I mean yes, there are numerous other Fringe festivals across the UK and around the world, but when you talk about Fringe theatre Edinburgh is the festival everyone thinks of first. Plus it’s easier to get to than the Adelaide Fringe.

What differentiates it from other festivals?

Proximity to Piemaker. Take that, Adelaide.

What first motivated you to enter the industry? Who were your inspirations?

I’d be lying if I said this was a lifelong dream! I joined my university comedy society with no aspirations to be a performer, I just had a few friends who enjoyed going to shows regularly. The one show that never failed to deliver was the improv troupe, The Shambles. I was amazed by how quick witted they were, and how much fun they seemed to be having. One thing led to another and eventually I auditioned and joined their ranks.

I was hooked by the thrill of performing improv immediately, but for a while it didn’t occur to me that it could be much more than larking about with your mates. Then I saw Showstopper for the first time, touring in Leeds, and I was completely blown away. Not only were they hilarious, but they weaved a compelling narrative, not to mention the genuinely catchy songs. It was then I realised that there was so much potential in the form that I hadn’t considered before.

There are numerous other improv shows and troupes that have wowed or inspired me, but being that improv is so much about play, I think it’s fitting that the two groups that deserve the most credit for my improv passion to are from such opposite ends of the spectrum, from enthusiastic student amateurs to arguably one of the most technically proficient improv shows currently going.

If you didn’t have your current job, what would you probably be doing?

I’m currently working for the Civil Service, so honestly, probably some other sort of mundane admin job.

If you could have any job in the world, what would it be?

I mean, it sure would be nice to make this improv malarkey work out full-time. I sure hope you weren’t expecting my current job to be “Full time improvisational performer.”

What is your earliest childhood art memory?

Potato printing.

If you mean performance art, I remember doing various school plays and shows from a very young age. When you’re a child, enthusiasm and fearlessness usually wins out over theatrical talent, and failing that it’s good to be loud.

I was a loud child.

As I moved to secondary school, play rehearsals would end up clashing with rugby and cricket, so sport won out and my performance ambitions waned. At university, I didn’t find the laddish culture of sports that appealing and started learning into comedy pursuits, where nobody was anywhere near cool enough to be considered a lad.

Do you ever feel any pressure to be a social commentator, or constantly update material to respond to events?

Part of what’s great about doing an improvised Doctor Who is that we can go literally anywhere in time and space. There is almost unlimited potential in the setting! And with the opportunity to visit almost anywhere your imagination can take you, you’d be surprised just how many people want us to cover Brexit or Trump.

Whatever your stance, it’s obvious that these particular topics tend to divide the room, and (thankfully) they typically draw little support from the majority of the room. When people come to an improvised Doctor Who, they tend to be looking forward to an hour of light-hearted family friendly escapism, rather than half-hearted political satire.

Unavoidably, we have dealt with Brexit and Trump in previous shows, but moreso in our early years than recently. I think it’s probably a combination of widespread exhaustion with the subjects and the fact that, if you are desperate to see shows about these topics, there’s plenty of options for you across the rest of the Fringe.

Equally, do you think there has been a shift in public sentiment that has affected your work?

Not particularly. We’re a fairly apolitical show overall. The only vaguely controversial thing about Doctor Who is that the Doctor is a woman now, but we’ve had a female Doctor in our show since 2016.

Describe the last year in 5 words or less?

Christ, the Fringe is expensive

If you could work with anybody, from any point in history, who would you pick and why?

Give me anybody who has ever played the Doctor on TV. We all have our own interpretations of the Doctor, but I’d love to throw a “real” Doctor into one of the mental scenarios we’ve invented and see how they’d handle it. I’ll take any of them! Tom Baker. Jodie Whittaker. Jennifer Saunders. Anyone.

Why would a performer opt to do either a ticketed event or participate in the free fringe? What are the benefits and limitations of both?

I’ll start with the Free Fringe, because the main benefits are straightforward: Cost.

It depends which Free Fringe company you work with, as they all have slightly different models, but whatever the case your upfront costs will be almost certainly far less than if you went with a paid venue. Most of them require some sort of deposit up front, dependent on the size of the venue, while with the Free Fringe you’ve usually only got things like fringe registration and perhaps a nominal admin fee.

With a paid, ticketed venue, you are likely to have better technical specifications in your venue (there are a few free venues that are pretty well kitted out but they’re also in very high demand), more on site dedicated staff to assist you (as opposed to bar staff whose main interest in you being there is how many drinks your audience buy) and, maybe most cynically of all, your audience is more invested from the off.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t have a great audience on the Free Fringe, or that a paying audience will be completely forgiving, but you know that people who have bought a ticket have made an active decision to see you, and will already be invested in the notion of it being a “good” show, as opposed to a free fringe audience who honestly might have come to see you just to fill time.

Generally, I’d say if you’re doing a tech-lite show on a budget, the Free Fringe is definitely worth a look, but if you are doing something more theatrical you’re more likely to find an appropriate space in a paid venue.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to take a show up to the fringe?

Look after yourself. The Fringe is one of the most exciting things I’ve ever done, but it’s also the most physically and mentally exhausting month you can possibly imagine, and things will go wrong.

It can be hard to eat properly at the Fringe, so consider taking multivitamins and drink plenty of water. You can’t possibly see every show you’ll want to, so if you are feeling a bit burnt out there’s no shame in a quiet night in watching Challenge. Try to make regular contact with friends and family who aren’t in Edinburgh to remind yourself the world outside the Fringe still exists. Avoid the temptation to go out late every night, it’ll catch up to you quick. And try not to be a dick to other shows on the mile, we’re all in this together and believe me, they’ll be having just as rough a month as you are! 

When and where can people see your show?

We’ll be in Pleasance Dome (King Dome to be precise) at 19:00 from the 31st of July until the 25th August (but not the 12th)

And where can people find, follow and like you online?

We're @ASDImprov on Twitter and Instagram and you can also find us at facebook.com/asdimprov 


Any Suggestions, Doctor? The Improvised Doctor Who Parody will be at the Pleasance Dome King Dome at 7pm for the month of August for tickets go to www.edfringe.com 

Header Image Credit: Steve Ullathorne

Author

Tom Inniss

Tom Inniss Voice Team

Tom is the Editor of Voice. He is a politics graduate and holds a masters in journalism, with particular interest in youth political engagement and technology. He is also a mentor to our Voice Contributors, and champions our festivals programme, including the reporter team at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

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