Edinburgh Fringe Fest - Annabel Marlow

Star of SIX’s original line up and this year’s Pleasance Charlie Hartill Award winning Public, Annabel Marlow makes her solo comedy debut with “… is this okay??” You are invited to a comedy gig of original music, perfect singing (not even kidding), and absolute vibes. It's a cosy, intimate, fun chill vibe but it's also a f*cking concert so get ready.

We couldn’t wait to ask Annabel more about her role as Katherine Howard, that awkward time she had to seduce her sibling and being a finalist in this years’ Musical Comedy Awards.

You played the role of Katherine Howard in SIX at the tender age of 18, what was that like?!

It was a bit ridiculous. Toby (co-writer of the show and my sibling) said the auditions were open, and that if I wanted, I could go. So, I thought ‘why not? I like singing and acting!’

I lied to my friends when I got the train to Cambridge to audition because if I got the role then I wouldn’t be able to go inter-railing with them and I thought they’d be mad, so I lied. It was the first audition I’d done really, apart from school plays. The audition was really fun, I was a lot younger than everyone else so I was super nervous, but I just thought ‘oh well let’s have a fun afternoon’. There was one point in the audition where Toby stood in the corner, and we all had to strut towards Toby and basically be seductive / be super sexy. And I was like ‘Ok. This isn’t my sibling. This is Robert Pattinson (or whatever celeb I fancied at the time). It’ll all be over soon, and we don’t ever have to speak about it again. Go girl go.’ And I dissociated and went ham. The rehearsal process was a lot for me to the point where Toby and Lucy [Moss – co creator of ‘SIX’] thought I had narcolepsy because I was so drained all the time. I had never had a rehearsal period like that ever before and it was a SHOCK. Doing Edinburgh was incredible. After a couple weeks people were coming up to me in the street and asking for pictures, it was so silly. It’s one of those exciting moments in a show where you just know it’s gonna be something, mostly because we saw for the first time how people responded to it and how it felt performing, you just have a feeling. Edinburgh was wild. It was an incredible experience. And I’ve been every year since!

Have you always wanted to be a performer ever since you were little?

No, I was quite a shy child. People always think I’m joking when I say that, but I couldn’t look at adults in the eye. I was just very quiet and scared. And then yeah, I always loved performing. I remember mum seeing me in a school play once when I was maybe 14/15 and after she was like ‘oh you are actually good’ ‘cause she thought I was just wanting to do school plays because my brother did them. She often brings that up and apologises, bless. (I should say she is the most supportive mother I could have ever asked for. We forgive her for her mistakes.)

Your show involves songs, comedy, characters and all-sorts; what’s your favourite bit to perform?

My favourite bits are when unplanned stuff happens, like mistakes or other stories come up, or I’m just chatting to the audience. ‘Cause that’s when I’m like ‘wow I’m very here and enjoying this now’. ‘Cause I’m always so nervous, when there’s moments of just responding to what’s going on and having a little laughing fit or whatever it is, it’s a very good feeling. I also love doing the sad songs cause it’s a very vulnerable moment sharing those stories and thoughts with people and feels really good to share.

What do you hope to do next with ‘…is this okay??’ or just in your career?

To be honest I just want to get through Fringe without getting ill and without crying too much. That’s all I want right now.

How does it feel to be recognised by the Musical Theatre Awards?

Doing the Musical Comedy Awards was so much FUN! Cause I’m fairly new to gigging and doing musical comedy, it gave me so many opportunities to perform my stuff quite regularly (which was very new for me) ‘cause each round you do a gig, so that was great. And the people were all so kind; audiences, Tamara and Ed (the organisers), and Dave doing tech, the other performers. And I’m so proud of myself for placing third. And proud to have performed my own writing in front of 500 people at the Bloomsbury and having that filmed by Next Up Comedy who have also been such a support for me since the competition. I had the best time it was grand.

Annabel Marlow: is this okay…? will be performed at 8.30pm in Pleasance Courtyard (Attic) from2nd – 27th August (Not 16th)

Book HERE