Tickets are now on sale for a special one-off benefit performance of Alex Edelman’s award-winning JUST FOR US on Saturday 26 August at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in honour of the show’s director Adam Brace (Liz Kingsman’s One Woman Show, Leo Reich’s Literally Who Cares), who died suddenly earlier this year, aged 43. All profits will go to an Award that will be set up in Adam Brace’s name which supports talent in the way Adam did, with details to follow.
This singular theatrical experience is an exploration of identity and our collective capacity for empathy —and it’s also “belly-laugh funny!” (The New York Times). In the wake of a string of anti-Semitic rhetoric pointed in his direction online, standup comic Edelman decides to go straight to the source; specifically, Queens, where he covertly attends a meeting of White Nationalists and comes face-to-face with the people behind the keyboards. What happens next forms the backbone of the shockingly relevant, utterly hilarious, and only moderately perspirant stories that comprise JUST FOR US.
Edelman says: “My collaboration with Adam started at the Fringe in 2012. Our first show together in 2014 gave me the ability to be a comedian. And I think it’s appropriate that, after such a long journey, this show should have an Edinburgh goodbye - in his honor - at the Festival that was Adam’s favourite place. And mine.”
Alex Edelman will conclude his JUST FOR US Broadway debut run where it all began for him as a comedian, at Edinburgh Festival Fringe. With just over a week of its six-week Broadway run left, JUST FOR US has performed to acclaimed runs in London, Edinburgh, Melbourne, Boston, and Washington D.C., as well as a six-time extended off-Broadway engagement across three venues in New York City, which earned a “Critic's Pick” from The New York Times, a 2023 Obie Award, and Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations. The New Yorker raved that Just For Us is “Uproarious & tremendously entertaining! Edelman skewers to perfection, and has an exceptional eye for the absurd.” The Washington Post proclaimed, “It’s the summer of Alex! The superb Just For Us has been chiseled to diamond-cut perfection. It’s a joyous, uproarious 90-minute show from one of the funniest minds of this generation – or any generation.”
The New York Times described the show as a “cultural phenomenon,” and “a brisk, smart provocation of a monologue,” and Time Out hailed the show as, “A portrait of the entertainer as a young Jewish man in a polarized society…without pulling any punchlines. Despite the incendiary issues lurking at the edges of his tale, JUST FOR US is focused on comedy. The laughs are plentiful.” The Guardian deemed the show “Exquisitely crafted and deliciously funny,” and the Telegraph exalted that Edelman is, “one of the most distinctive comic voices of his generation. This is funny, often charmingly self-deprecating writing, delivered with infectious confidence and exuberance and building to a real cracker of a last line. Highly recommended.”
In May it was announced that JUST FOR US’s director Adam Brace’s had died following a short illness at the age of 43. Adam was a director (including of all of Alex Edelman’s shows), co-creator, dramaturg, script editor and writer. He was a unique talent of our time, working with artists all over the world across theatre, comedy and performance. Adam was fiercely proud of all of his shows and the artists he worked with, he loved working with them, and everyone loved working with him. A festival staple, Adam’s presence is very much missed at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival by family, friends, colleagues and collaborators, with performers talking about his influence and impact of his loss on stage in their shows.
Alex Edelman said, “My collaboration with Adam started at the Fringe in 2012. Our first show together in 2014 gave me the ability to be a comedian. And I think it’s appropriate that, after such a long journey, this show should have an Edinburgh goodbye - in his honor - at the Festival that was Adam’s favorite place. And mine.”
Artist, venue and producers have waived their fees for this very special one-off performance of JUST FOR US at Pleasance Courtyard (Grand), 11pm Saturday 26 August 2023 (85mins). All profits will go to an Award that will be set up in Adam Brace’s name with the aim of supporting talent and work in the way Adam supported talent, details to follow. Donations can also be made to the Award through Soho Theatre’s website https://sohotheatre.com/adam-brace-award/.
ALEX EDELMAN is a comedian, actor, and writer. He is known both for his solo shows - three, all award-winning, sell-out hits in London’s West End and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival - and for his TV writing. His first solo show, Millennial, won the 2014 Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Newcomer, the first American show to do so since 1997. Edelman has appeared on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," "Late Night with Seth Meyers," and "Conan," and written on shows like “The Great Indoors” (CBS) and Jenji Kohan’s “Teenage Bounty Hunters” for Netflix. He is the creator of PEER GROUP – a show about young people – on Radio 4 and his special LIVE FROM THE BBC is available on Netflix internationally. At the start of the pandemic, he served as the head writer and executive producer of Saturday NightSeder, a star-studded 70-minute special, posted on YouTube, that has so far raised $3.5 million for the CDC Foundation (COVID-19) Emergency Response Fund. His comedy album "Until Now" was named one of the best comedy albums of 2020 by NPR’s Bullseye. He has two differently sized feet.
ADAM BRACE (Director) was Associate Director at Soho Theatre, London where he worked across Comedy, Theatre and Performance Art, and in roles spanning dramaturg, director and writer. In comedy, he developed a varied range of work including eight Edinburgh Comedy Award-nominated shows, two Herald Angel Award-winners, two nominees for the Melbourne Barry Award and two Southbank Sky Arts Awards. Directing credits include all of Alex Edelman's shows, most recently Just For Us (2023 Obie Award winner, 2022 Drama Desk & Outer Critics Circle Nominee); Leo Reich’s Literally Who Cares?! Off-Broadway, Haley McGee’s Age is a Feeling (Fringe First 2022, Soho Theatre); all of Sh!t Theatre's multi-award-winning international shows. Other credits include Ahir Shah's HBO Max special Dots and Creative Supervisor on two series of “Soho Theatre Live” on Prime Video UK. Previously, he was a playwright and was produced by Almeida Theatre, The National Theatre and The Donmar Warehouse; his plays are published by Faber and Faber.
Alex Edelman, Soho Theatre and Pleasance present
JUST FOR US
Written and directed by Alex Edelman
Directed by Adam Brace
11pm, Saturday 26 August
Pleasance Courtyard, Grand
85mins
Tickets £20 / £18 (conc)
Tickets: https://sohotheatre.com/events/alex-edelman-just-for-us-edinburgh /
Picture: Matthew Murphy
