BattleActs!: 10 Edinburgh Fringe questions

Improv show BattleActs! answer 10 questions about their 2016 Edinburgh Fringe offering...

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

We started performing together back in 2009, at the Dogstar in Brixton, and come up to Edinburgh every year since 2010 always with the Laughing Horse Free Fringe. Back in London we've played a huge variety of gigs from bars and music venues to theatres and unique spaces like The Vaults in Waterloo.

Highlights have been winning the 2012 Manchester Comedy Improv Tournament, selling out our first run at the Vault Festival before we even opened and playing to packed houses night after night in our last few Fringe runs.

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

1. We once played a gig with a live cat hiding under the seats, it kept meowing, louder and louder.

2. We have a theory that the company is at its strongest when we all have different haircuts.

3. When we played at a music venue a group of ageing music fans turned up as they thought we were BattleAxe, a Sunderland based metal band, reformed now but primarily active in the early 80s.

Describe your new show in exactly 23 words.

It's our unique blend of big energy, smart tongues and unrelenting silliness. Expect lightning quick idiocy and razor sharp foolishness. And probably alcohol.

Any cunning plans to get more punters in?

Well we're performing in a different venue to our usual one so perhaps if people get confused we'll go down the road and flyer at the old venue making out it's there, start a queue for them to get in, then start ushering them through the exit and down the street to the new one.

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

Kiell has a lot of rum with him at all times, a bit Will Ferrell in Elf with the syrup, except it's just really big bottles of rum. So that's maybe game over already.

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

Brixton, our spiritual home. There's only one day when all of us are up at the same time so each other. People's excuses for being late for rehearsal, if they're late for the show we're fucked.

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

Rockeoke at Opium on a Monday night. Seeing all the shows darling, all of them, you know. Museum of Modern Art is always great, chilling out on the Meadows and drinking Kiell's rum (there's enough for you too if you want).

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

We'd love to see some sexy improv from Shoot from the Hip and Austentatious. Some sketch work from The Birthday Girls, Lazy Susan and Lead Pencil. Rachel Parris brings the musical comedy, Colin Hoult holds the joint hostage with some macabre characters and then John-Luke Roberts will help to keep things a bit weird into the night.

We're doing solo shows ourselves, that could fill a venue all by itself, check our Twitter for details!

We like this, can we call it Fantasy Fringeball?

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

Ha ha ha ha. There's a few ex players we'd rather avoid, apart from that... there's a guy who shouted at Chris at a swimming pool in Weymouth when he was about 10. It really upset him, probably not him. Boo hiss to that guy.

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

Because we are the perfect start or end to your night out in Edinburgh (given that we're on a 10pm either could apply to you). Each night we bring complete commitment to raising your expectations of improvised comedy, whether you enjoy clever wordplay, idiots throwing themselves around or fiercely imaginative, leftfield ideas.

'BattleActs!' is at Espionage at 10pm until the 28th August. Listing