Welcome to The Carrot Show.
Following the smash-hit success of Shitbag and the burnout that followed during increasingly disastrous political times, Hayley Edwards turned to making a giant paper-mâché carrot.
How would you describe your show to someone who knows very little about it?
The Carrot Show is a carrot-themed exploration of survival during personal and global adversity.
While our world melts, we are all finding ways to survive.
A lot of this includes distraction, which can help. Until it doesn’t.
A part of how I survived the past year was by making a giant paper-mache carrot.
What makes it stand out and why should people see it?
There’s a giant paper-mache carrot onstage!
I want to make people feel happier, then question and feel deeply about things, and then end with hope and silly-ness.
How long was the process from idea to writing to stage? Any challenges along the way?
I first dreamt up The Carrot Show during the end of my first season of my first show ‘Shitbag’ in 2024. ‘Shitbag’ was a solo comedic drama about Crohn’s Disease, mental illness and sex and after all of the trauma in the themes, I ‘just wanted to do something silly, like be a carrot onstage’.
It’s not completely silly anymore, in fact it’s quite heartfelt and actually just as personal (with a shimmering layer of silliness on top).
The piece is still being constructed at the time of writing which is wild and not my usual timeline or process.
Hopefully pressure will make a diamond-(shaped carrot).
What attracts you to Fringe?
I’ve always been drawn to Fringe and Comedy Festivals.
I think it’s a brilliant way to hear from new and under-represented artistic voices.
And it’s a brilliant way to feel supported in producing, creating and performing your first show(s).
Performing ‘Shitbag’ in 2024’s Melbourne Fringe really helped me to find and establish my artistic voice.
Finding an audience who really enjoyed and related to the work I was making was also very thrilling.
I’m excited to return with something new.
I keep reminding myself that the beauty of Fringe settings allows you to play and explore and make mistakes.
It can also make little pieces of brilliance and magic.
How would you describe your relationship with the audience and what do you love the most about live performance?
Live performance is really crucial, I think.
So many of us feel more isolated than ever and being in a room with other people, all gathered for the same purpose or event is magic.
There’s a massive sense of community between Fringe audiences and artists.
Who would you say have been your biggest inspirations?
Nathan ‘The Carrot Man’.
And my grandma Iris Whitehurst.
And her parents Jean and Tom Webb who ran a puppet theatre for charity in the 1950’s and 60’s.
And my friends and colleagues who are making brilliant theatre in Naarm at the moment.
Some of which include: Bloomshed, Voice In My Hands, Pummel Squad, Patalog Theatre Company, Polyglot, Lemony S. Puppets, Golden Scissor Puppets, Snuff Puppets, Rawcus, Puppet Rats and Bonkel Theatre.
Oh and a show called ‘Slugs’.
We shared a venue during The Edinburgh Fringe and are sharing a venue again during Melbourne Fringe at the Meat Market – Stables.
What are three things that would surprise people to learn about you?
I guess it depends on who the people are!
What do you love to most about performing at Melbourne Fringe?
Connecting with people I know and haven’t seen in a long time.
Hopefully making a work that means something to someone (and hopefully, to multiple someone-s).
What comes after the Fringe Festival for you?
I’m really not sure. I think I might only do one season of this show. I’ve been re-evaluating a lot of what I used to think success means. I’ve decided to try not to chase awards or stars or programming.
I will probably have a rest, search for future collaborations that are fun and lovely and continue to work at the kid’s hospital in a job I adore.
In this joyfully absurd new work, Edwards reunites with multi award-winning designer and dramaturg Justin Gardam (Bloomshed, Shitbag). Together, they combine cardboard, projection, fragments of an old puppet theatre from Edwards’ maternal great-grandparents and Melbourne’s Carrot Man to ask how artists can keep making work in an increasingly unstable world.
October 6 – 17
melbournefringe.com.au
