A team of performers heading to the Edinburgh Fringe have spoken up about the challenges they face with their disabilities.
Andrew Slade and Lexi Wolfe are bringing their one woman show After Shakespeare to the capital, where Lexi portrays four different Shakespeare characters - and Andrew handles everything behind the curtain. Both of them have ADHD, Andrew has diagnosed autism and long covid, while Lexi is dealing with fibromyalgia and undiagnosed autism.
The team, who live in London, need accommodation where they can rest, follow a strict diet and a certain schedule which allows them to continue a long run of performances at the Fringe. They’re hoping that they can prove that with certain conditions and disabilities, it doesn’t mean you’re unable to achieve and be successful.
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Speaking to Edinburgh Live, Lexi (37) told us: “I could rock up and stay in a tent and deal with it, but my health would take a nosedive and that’s probably going to mean cancelling shows - which I really don’t want to do.
“What we need to do is make sure we’re in stable accommodation where I’m not interfering with anyone else, and vice versa. I also need to follow a strict kind of diet.”
Andrew, 48, added: “In order to try and survive a full run at Edinburgh we need to make sure we have somewhere that is almost like our own little bubble.
“Since we’re both neurodiverse, we both have a certain amount of social anxiety. We need to make sure we’re not staying in a hostel for example, because the noise of other people around us for example would be overpowering.
“While we work and live together, we’re not a couple. So we both need our own space. We need quiet and seclusion, so we’re not overly stimulated.”
During their show, Lexi is on stage for the hour - and while she loves the spotlight, it can completely drain her energy. She told us: “One thing about fibromyalgia is it’s an energy zapper.
“I’ve put things in place to make sure I’m on top form and giving every single person in the audience what they’ve paid for.”
Lexi and Andrew took After Shakespeare to the Buxton Fringe, where Lexi won Best Actress for the show. They were also nominated for Best Production, and Best New Writing.
Lexi continued: “If it hadn’t done as well in Buxton, I might be a bit more hesitant, but now I’m just rearing to go.
“I just have to make sure my health is okay and I can keep doing it for the entire run.”
Andrew added: “We only did a week, kind of as a trial because Edinburgh was always the goal.
“We were very tired though, because we were staying with friends and when you’re not on stage you were socialising. It took it out of us.
“When we’re in Edinburgh we need somewhere we can shut off from the world without feeling guilty that we’re being rude and messing with social etiquette.”
Lexi told us she feels exhausted after social interactions often, because she is ‘masking’. This is something the autistic community know as a means of hiding or disguising parts of themselves, in order to fit in better with those around them.
She continued: “To be perfectly honest, we spent the last half hour getting ourselves ready for this conversation and we’ll probably have to go for a lie down after it.”
Andrew and Lexi's dog, Mark, brings the duo a lot of reassurance. Speaking on the pups importance, Andrew said: "He brings us a lot of reassurance and support when he's with us.
"He often comes to the venues we perform in and sits with us after, or he'll sit with me in the technical area. That's something we're talking to the venue about at the moment, which would make a huge difference for us."
We asked the duo why they push through their struggles for their art, which Lexi said was to ‘fulfil a lifelong dream’. She said: “Since I went in 2009 it’s been a dream.
“I’ve never known anything quite like the Edinburgh Fringe. The amount of creativity I’ve seen at it.
“It’s actually where I was inspired to do a one woman show. When I first got diagnosed with fibromyalgia, I went, ‘Oh god, how am I going to do it?’
“But I’ve learned to manage it, and I’ve got this internal bucket list to do.”
Lexi’s condition, which she describes as an ‘invisible illness’, leaves her suffering ‘quietly, but intensely’. She feels taking to the stage for the Fringe will prove to herself, and others, that it is possible.
She continued: “I want somebody who might have something similar, this kind of struggle, to remember that it is possible.”
Andrew and Lexi have launched a fundraiser to help them achieve their goals at the Fringe, which you can find here. You can also pick up tickets for After Shakespeare here, which runs from August 4-12 and 14-16 at theSpaceTriplex.
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