Great was the excitement on the festival’s opening weekend when Phoebe Waller-Bridge – the go-to recent example of a fringe-made megastar – photo opp’d her way around town. But there’s another Edinburgh success story just as close to hand, who’s actually performing here this year. Step forward Rose Matafeo, creator and star of global hit Starstruck – and mere ensemble member of Snort, a collective of Kiwi improvisers making stuff up nightly.
It’s a lovely way to encounter Matafeo back on the fringe, suggesting as it does humility and general good egg-ness in the face of stardom. She both hosts and participates in tonight’s show (it has a rotating cast; she’s not always in it), which finds these eight New Zealanders playing hobbits, Elvis impersonators, and chimney sweeps who charge 20% extra for cockney charm. These scenes are prompted by three off-the-cuff monologues improvised by three guest performers (tonight: Heidi Regan and both halves of sketch duo BriTANick), prompted in turn by random words volunteered by the audience.
