Interview: Isabel Renner, ‘Wyld Woman: The Legend of Shy Girl’

Ahead of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024, we’re chatting with a range of creatives who will be heading to the city over August to find out more about their shows. Today we’re chatting with Isabel Renner about her piece, Wyld Woman: The Legend of Shy Girl.

Can you tell us a bit about you and your career so far..

My name is Isabel. I am a New York based actor, writer, and aspiring saxophonist (I played when I was ten and am planning on picking it back up any day now). Sometimes this weird patch of skin on my hand gets really dry. Sorry, I’m not so good at icebreakers. I’ve performed on stage at Shakespeare’s Globe in London and theatres including the Vineyard, the Public, and Theatre Row in New York City. I’ve also appeared on Blue Bloods (CBS). I would say my greatest gift is remembering people’s birthdays. You need only tell me once and I’ll have a thoughtful present ready for your next turn around the sun. Yes, this is a direct request for new friends - send me your wishlist!

What is your show about?

I think the title “The Legend of Shy Girl” just about covers it. The show is all about a severely Shy Girl who wants more than anything to become a legend. A legend, I should mention, is essentially just a very cool person. And unfortunately, Shy Girl has literally no idea how to make friends, have sex, or smoke cigarettes… all of which are obvious legend prerequisites. Thus begins an epic attempt to attain social/sexual/spiritual enlightenment, or at least some semblance of adequacy in such arenas. She seeks the guidance of many not-so-helpful experts in the respective fields of therapy, sex coaching, and girlboss normiehood.

What was the inspiration for the show and what’s the development process been to get to this stage?

No direct inspiration, just the product of a wyld imagination. Well, okay, I guess the show is a little bit based on some of the most embarrassing/shameful/socially anxious aspects of my personal life. And I guess it is a little bit inspired by my own failures to feel cool and desirable and socially competent. But it’s not ALL autobiographical! My real life therapist is not a child and my real life gynecologist is not German (hi Dr. Horowitz, if you’re reading!).

About two years ago (and on an uncharacteristically brazen whim), I read a draft of the play to the coolest girl I went to my high school with/genius director, Cameron King. Perhaps she took pity on the memory of my braces-wearing fifteen-year-old self, because she miraculously agreed to collaborate with me and has turned the play from a pile of sludge into something akin to Michaelangelo’s “David” (did I mention she’s a genius?).

It has all really come to life through a chain of divine synchronicities (meeting glorious producers Robin, Sheer, Ray, and Jeri and glorious DJ “SHAUNIE” ) and us stumbling upon a divine selection of unconventional spaces (developmental performances took place in a barn, an empty gallery, and the basement of a taco restaurant). Most recently, we spent a week in residence at IRT Theater in New York City where (in preparation for the Fringe) we reimagined the play on a stage for the very first time. I think the sweetness and intimacy we found in our early, eclectic venues has stayed intact, but what gal can resist the allure of a proscenium house?

What made you want to take this to the Fringe?

I needed some time away from my American flatmates. Just kidding. No, I have been dreaming of taking Wyld Woman to the Fringe since I began writing it. I can’t think of anything more sublime and adrenalizing and terrifying than a three week run surrounded by thousands of performers all reveling in the chaos together. My friends who have done the Fringe before have been so encouraging in telling me that Wyld Woman will fit right in. My heart! All I’ve ever wanted is to belong. And alas, nothing quite captures the spirit of the show more precisely than going up to strangers on the street and begging them to come party with me.

Apart from seeing your show, what’s your top tip for anybody heading for Edinburgh this summer?

Book your accommodation ASAP! I did that desperate-to-be-loved thing (typical) where I offered a number of friends and half-friends to come stay with me. But I overdid it slightly and now it looks like we’ll be facing some seven-people-to-a-twin-bed arrangements in my flat. So yeah, it is with deep and aching regret that I say, no, you can’t stay with me. But please, let’s hang out… after you come see the show ;).

Why should people book to see your show?

Because everyone’s a little bit shy! At least that’s what my therapist likes to tell me, although the jury is still out on some of my iconic childhood bullies (they were so confident). But you can’t tell me that everyone hasn’t felt a little uncool at least at some point in their lives. This show is a glorious celebration of loserdom as a rite of passage and a connective force. So be prepared to make friends. Because underneath the cringe, we’re all legends (was that too earnest? I’m more aloof and chill in person, I promise).

When and where can people see the show?

Come make forever friends at Assembly Rooms’ romantic Drawing Room at 16:00 everyday from August 2nd-25th (not the 12th or 19th – those are my days to recover from the bountiful Edinburgh social life I am anticipating (praying for)).