Susan Harrison returns to the Edinburgh Fringe with her new character comedy show ‘Should I Still Be Doing This? This is her sixth solo show, but she has performed numerous times at the festival as a permanent cast member of Showstopper and with Mischief Movie Night.
In this multiple character show we meet a host of characters, all of whom are female and are living life a little bit differently:
Sindy: a Sindy doll who feels inadequate when compared to the more confident and conventionally beautiful Barbie. Since the Barbie film came out Sindy has been especially triggered...
A woman who has swallowed a small girl in a well: One day an unremarkable middle-aged woman was living a normal life, going about her business, feeling independent and free, and the next moment she accidentally swallowed a small girl in a well...
Fleur Delish: a young lifestyle content creator who can tell what someone’s spirit animal is just by looking at them.
Panda: Mancunian Panda is pissed off at the zookeepers, who expect her to mate and keep trying to inseminate her.
Motorola Razr: is an elderly phone from the early noughties. She tells the happy tale of a love story between her and the love of her life, another phone who she met years ago in a Phones 4 You.
Susan trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Her acting credits include shows for the National Theatre, Soho Theatre, Barbican, National Theatre of Scotland and Mischief Theatre on the West End.
In 2024 Susan and her writing partner Lucy Trodd (Susan is 4ft 11 and Lucy 6ft 2 - they bonded over their unusual heights) were commissioned for BBC Radio 4 to write and perform in “Hopping” a sitcom pilot about hop-pickers in Kent which they are now developing for screen. Also, for BBC Radio 4 she was in the cast for Gemma Arrowsmith’s Emergency Broadcast and appeared in The Simon Day Show.
She is a longstanding member of Showstopper! The Improvised Musical and was part of the West End company which won an Olivier Award in 2016. She has regularly performed in Mischief Theatre’s hugely popular Mischief Movie Night and Mischief Movie Night In, and as a highly sought-after improviser has also guested with shows including the Comedy Store Players, Paul Merton and Suki Webster’s Improv Show, Austentatious and The Noise Next Door.
Susan Harrison’s ‘Should I Still Be Doing This?’ is at the Gilded Balloon Appleton Tower Pip @ 7.40pm for the entire fringe. For tickets go to www.edfringe.com
What is the last thing you do before you go onstage (apart from check your flies and/or check your knickers aren't sticking out of your skirt and check for spinach between your teeth)
Check my props. Every time I make a character show I think I’ll be a minimalist, but before I know it, I’m shoving wigs, a bloody bandage, and some ribbons into my suitcase.
What irritates you?
The amount of props I have.
What is the most dangerous thing you have ever done?
I once tried to carry a human-sized egg up the stairs of an inaccessible Edinburgh Fringe venue. Did I mention I have a lot of props?
What is the most stupid thing you have ever done?
See above.
What has surprised you the most during your career in comedy?
That there’s always more to learn and you can get better, and make more interesting shows as you get older. The industry is obsessed with "new", but as well as enjoying the shiny new acts, I also love seeing older comedians who have grafted and got better year after year. Now that I’m older, I tentatively hope that this show might be my best yet. I'm touching wood while saying this, and when I say wood I mean a prop.
What do your parents/children (delete as applicable) think of your job?
They are surprisingly tolerant of my weird life choices. My Mum even helped me make a hedgehog costume for my last show. If you saw that show then thank you for knowing that the clothes pegs represented spikes.
What’s the worst thing about being a comedian?
The thing I struggle with the most is the uncertainty. I do lots of freelance teaching jobs to make up a respectable salary, but it takes a lot of hustling to make ends meet. I do manage it, but it’s stressful, and every year I have a couple of weeks in which I panic and try and work out if there’s anything I could retrain as. At the start of this year I wondered whether I could retrain as a therapist, but I thought it might be weird if a client looked me up and found videos of me being a Sindy Doll, or photos of me dressed as a piece of brie or something. It wouldn't exactly scream “mentally stable”.
I think you are very good at what you do (that’s why I’m asking these questions). What do you think of you?
I am a perfectionist so I find it hard to big myself up. What I will say is that I am happiest on stage and I genuinely love audiences, so my shows are usually full of good vibes. As my director Ben Target pointed out, I am someone who fell in love with play at an early age, and now I do that for a job. There are downsides to this, for example I’m not as good at real life as I could be. Sometimes I wonder if it was sensible to have prioritised this way of life above all else, but ultimately I feel lucky to still be doing what I love, and on a good day I think I do it pretty well.
How much do you earn and how much would you like to earn?
I earn just enough, thanks to supplementing comedy/acting/VO work with teaching improv, facilitating workshops and doing corporate training sessions. I would like to earn slightly more than just enough.
How important is luck in terms of career success – have you had lucky breaks?
Not that I know of! Like most people I know, nearly every opportunity I’ve had has come from relentlessly chipping away at making my own work, whether that’s been through character comedy (doing a free fringe show years ago got me onto CBBC for instance) or improv - doing improv enabled me to audition for Showstopper which has led to other improv work, e.g. at The Comedy Store. It all comes through self-generated stuff. My life has been a nepo free zone! But I feel lucky in general. I feel lucky to collaborate with so many brilliant artists (thanks to improv and comedy) and lucky to have the freedom to live this weird, creative life.
Alan Davies has said that comedians fall into two categories - golfers and self-harmers. The former just get on with life, the latter are tortured artists. Which are you – or do you think you fit into the third category?
I’m in the third category - the netball player: specifically wing attack. I'm fast and scrappy, but ultimately I fear I’ll never be tall enough to reach the goal.
Who is your favourite person ever and why – not including family or friends or other comedians?
Bob Mortimer. No further explanation needed. (BTJ's note, some might think Bob doesn't count as he's a comedian, but as he's also a genius I'll let this one in)
Do you keep your drawers tidy and if not why not? (please think long and hard about this question, it's to settle an argument with my girlfriend. The future of our relationship could depend on your response).
I do not keep my drawers tidy. My drawers are a sock tsunami waiting to happen. My partner (BY STARK CONTRAST) is a stage manager and therefore is incredibly organised. At home I am a jaunty mess. But I can do an impression of a woman who has swallowed a small girl in a well, so at least I have that going for me.
Susan Harrison’s ‘Should I Still Be Doing This?’ is at the Gilded Balloon Appleton Tower Pip @ 7.40pm for the entire fringe. For tickets go to www.edfringe.com
PICTURE CREDIT – MATT STRONGE
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