It's week three of the Fringe and if you haven't seen at least one show yet you aren't doing it right - I'm talking about you Edinburgh Fringe hating locals. Across the month of August we are going to see a huge variety of the shows on offer to give you a real flavour of what's on.
This week we saw a really special show with a title that doesn't give much away. Olives and Blowjobs is a heartfelt, dark and painstakingly honest one man comedy put on by teen and emerging actor Ollie Maddigan.
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The 20-year-old has just written, produced, directed, and starred in his first one-man show which was brought to the Fringe after a sell-out run at the Camden Fringe touching on his own experience of losing his mum at 15-years-old.
The hour and a half long show tackles a young teens journey through grief, change and growth when his mum suddenly dies and he has to move to London to live with his dad he barely knows. The story is told through the actors real life memoirs and balances a relatable and heart-breaking story with humour.
Ollie captured the essence of his teenage self perfectly, a gross, immature teen boy obsessed with girls but one hiding an excruciating trauma he is not ready to deal with yet. There are many memoirs that are so real and relatable to a lot of us that the audience were groaning in disgust at these flashbacks we thought we would never have to relive again.
Some parts are so painfully honest and relatable that the whole audience was shuddering when the actor brought us back to the cringe-worthy core memories from our teenage years.
The captivating young actor is extremely expressive and uses evocative body language and facial expressions to really engage the audience. There is no sugar coating involved in the show it's just a very real portrayal of a 15-year-old channelling mad hormones, a desire to fit in and appear cool while crumbling inside with grief.
After putting on a facade throughout the show towards the end Ollie allows the audience to see the real scared little boy who has just lost his mum and is craving love and comfort after having his world turned upside down.
When the show finished with some home videos of Ollie and his mum after a poignant and raw portrayal of grief from the perspective of a boy just entering the height of his teenage years, there was not a dry eye in the house.
I still can't believe the star and writer of the show Ollie is just 20-years-old. I am even more aghast that after suddenly losing his mum just four years ago he has been able to process the immense feelings of grief, loss and sheer devastation to creatively channel these feelings into a hit Fringe show.
At just 20. When I was 20 I didn't have a clue what I wanted to do with my life and any feelings from traumatic experiences of loss and grief were packed safely away in a box where I wouldn't have to deal with them, never mind process them and use a creative outlet I am passionate about to put together a one man show at the biggest arts festival in the world.
We caught up with the upcoming star after his show as he explained how he took the life changing moment and turned it into theatre.
Ollie said: "I always had the idea that I wanted to make a one man show about me losing my mum since I was around 16-years-old and I always kept the idea alive but i wrote a scene from time to time but the idea died out.
"In 2021 I broke up with my first long term girlfriend and I was distraught, it was really hard I met her a year after my mum died and when I broke up with her I really didn’t take it well. I fell apart, she was the first female figure in my life after losing my mum.
"I took a long look at myself and my life and eventually I realised I was actually grieving for my mum and it hit me. That's when I knew it had been long enough that I can write about it truthfully, and I have the maturity to tackle it properly.
"I spent five months writing the show, last year then I did it at the Hope Theatre just for therapeutic reasons and to share my story and it blew up and sold out Everyone was saying I have to take it to Edinburgh and here I am."
Taking a one man show to the Edinburgh Fringe is a nerve wracking experience for anyone but many who have seen the show are taken aback at Ollie's age and ability to come on stage and be so vulnerable in front of a room full of strangers, the artist explained after the first couple of shows the experience is actually freeing.
He said: "Lots of people have asked if it is scary coming on stage and being that vulnerable, but it has never been scary - apart from the first couple of shows- it is so freeing to come on stage as a 20-year-old and just speak about everything without holding anything back. Allowing myself to cry on stage and share this part of my life with the audience.
"When I realise how it helps other people as well it became freeing, not having to hold anything back. its made me a better artist but also a better person."
Although the show focuses on the death of his mum, Ollie doesn’t go into the details in the show apart from that it was sudden and he found her body, the actor explained this was to keep the show about grief rather than her cause of death.
He said: "My mum had epilepsy, I cared for her all my life and she had a seizure in her sleep and died. I found her body in the morning. I knew i didn’t want to include this in the show because then it would be about epilepsy rather than grief and I wanted to focus on that."
Some parts of the show when representing his younger self the character can come across as a nasty person but Ollie explained that it was essential to present an honest representation, he explained: "I had to write about the worst part of being 15, I didn't want to write a character that would be liked on stage I knew it had to be a truthful and the story itself benefitted from this.
"I had to show my self in my true colours, grief can make you say hurtful things to people you care about, it changes your life. There are no villains in the show, the villain is that my mum died, all the characters do bad things because they are human, the villain is grief and loss."
He continued: "It's okay to speak about, grief, its okay to feel sad and its okay to go through a tricky situation and not be the best version of yourself for a while. I hope I managed to tell a story that people can relate to, and enjoy a piece of theatre I have poured my heart into."
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The show is described as: " a five-star coming-of age one-man show written and performed by Ollie Maddigan. Taken from tragic and comedic memories from his life, Olives and Blowjobs is the story of a 15-year-old boy who just wishes he could be a man.
"After the sudden death of his mother, a boy is forced to change schools and move in with his, until that point, absent father. A show full of grief, hope, olives and the occasional blowjob, this story is a touching depiction of grief in early adulthood."
You can find out more and buy tickets here.
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