Comedy group Starship Improvise boldly goes to the 2022 Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Starship Improvise's cast of players

JULY 15, 2022 - Comedy improv troupe Starship Improvise is scheduled to perform a series of shows at the 2022 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, taking place August 5 - 29 on the streets of Scotland’s capital city.  The British Comedy Guide caught up with Starship Improvise co-creator Adam Meggido to shed some light on what to expect from the “16 episode run” - all of which is meant to remain “canon” throughout the festival. 

The premise of the one-hour show is relatively simple. Each player is an actor on the long running sci-fi series Celestia 7. With help from the audience, a new episode of the series will unfold, often leading to hilarious moments of what it’s like both in front of, and behind, the cameras on the set of Celestia 7. The group, whose routine relies heavily on the science fiction and fantasy realms, will perform a new live “episode” for each audience, with sixteen performances across the twenty-five day festival.

With an improv show, it’s never the same show from one day to the next. “It's created, enjoyed, and then gone,” Meggido explained, adding, “ We tend not to have much desire to revisit anything, we prefer instead to forge ahead, full warp speed, to the next delightful moment.”

That could be a bit of a challenge at this year’s Festival Fringe. Part of the goal of the cast is to build and maintain the continuity of the Celestia 7 storyline throughout each of the sixteen performances. Across more than two weeks of living real life. Without a script.

How will they do it?

When asked, Meggido said, “No idea! I'm sure audiences will keep track of things for us. [...] The more drama that happens, the easier it will be to build on. I really enjoy the world-building element of these things. I can't wait to see what we and the audiences collectively create as canon for the plucky crew of Celestia 7.”

Meggido also shared that there isn’t much of a background that the crew is working with. They know who their characters are, and what role each one holds on board the ship. “For example,” Meggido shared, “I know that I will be playing Labb Raydor, a highly evolved dog. But that's it!! The rest we will discover as we play each episode.”

Originally hailing from South Africa, Starship Enterprise is quickly gaining notoriety as a powerhouse team of performers across Europe and beyond. The full complement of performers is more than a dozen. Starship Improvise will be appearing at the Pleasance Dome (aka the King Dome) in Edinburgh August 6 - 21, with shows daily at 3 pm GMT. Tickets are £14 (roughly $17). For more information, and to purchase tickets, visit edfringe.com.