Adventure Quest: 10 Edinburgh Fringe questions

Richard Lovejoy, the man behind Adventure Quest, answers 10 questions about the show.

Give us a quick overview of your comedy career so far. Are you happy with where you're at?

My career started in 1995, when I played a checkout clerk in a Kurt Vonnegut play. My first line ever was "What the hell is going on here?", so I've pretty much stayed where I started. Careers in arts (particularly in America) tend to come with feelings of failure baked right in, but that aside I am grateful to be where I am.

I moved to New York City the summer of 2001 and immediately entered the independent theater world, where I've thrived (toiled?) ever since. Adventure Quest first premiered in 2009 and I'm delighted that it still has resonance today. Though I love theater, I also make forays into film and TV. Recently I got my first feature, The Widowers, produced. It took ten years - making a movie is really hard!

Tell us two truths and one lie about yourself (but mix them up, keep us guessing!).

1. In college I convinced a number of professors that I was a card carrying member of the Flat Earth Society.

2. I used to do burlesque under the name Dick E. Lovejoy, which is really just a version of my actual name because my actual name is a burlesque name.

3. My national TV debut was a soap opera, where I played the chief chemist of a perfume company who gets fired for refusing to create a poisonous perfume.

Describe your new show in exactly 23 words.

Adventure Quest is a play in the style of an old school computer adventure game, complete with retro EGA graphics and existential angst!

Any cunning plans to get more punters in?

As the operative word in that question is "cunning" I'll have to go with no.

What's your plan for trying to eat - and drink - healthily during the Fringe?

We've established now that none of my plans are remotely cunning. I tend to do best when just making choices in the moment, so I'm going to wing it and trust that my body will want me to seek out greens. It'll work out perfectly and I'll have some greens, or it won't and I'll subsist on whiskey and pastries. Either way I win.

What will you miss most while you're away from home?

Danger.
. .
. .
. .
. SPOILER: Danger is my cat.

Aside from performing, what else are you looking forward to doing in Scotland's fine capital?

I'm looking forward to seeing tonnes of performance and exploring the many nerdy game shops that seem to be all over Edinburgh!

If you took over programming a Fringe venue, what would your perfect line-up of comedians be?

I'd want to get a small number of comedians, and make them perform 24-7 with no breaks. Those comedians would be Charlie Todd, TJ Miller and Megan Melnyk. Maybe I'd get a good comedy band like Reformed Whores or Fantasy Grandma in there to give Charlie, TJ, and Megan a slight break. Maybe.

Name the one person you'd rather not bump into during the festival.

There is this guy running for president of the US and he has absolutely saturated the news to such an extent that my current favorite thing about Scotland is that he isn't here and doesn't make the front page or invade every TV screen. it has been an absolute delight not being in the US so I don't have to see his face or hear his name.

Why should audiences pick your show over the 1,800+ other Fringe offerings listed on BCG this year?

There are obviously a ton of incredible things to see here, so I think it is important to put up an offering that speaks to a very particular niche, but is also accessible for people outside that niche. Adventure Quest is a play done in the language of video games, specifically the Sierra On-line and Lucas Arts graphic adventure games.

If you ever played a King's Quest then this is play is for you. It'll push all of your nostalgia buttons in the right ways. If you didn't play those games but are familiar with gaming, it is also for you as the DNA of adventure games can be found across all gaming genres. Finally, if you are unfamiliar with games, this is a still a show for you, as it is a fun, fast comedy with a striking visual language and performance style. There are many shows to see at the 2016 Fringe, but none of them will be quite like Adventure Quest.

'Adventure Quest' is at Just The Tonic at the Caves at 7:55pm until the 28th August. Listing