Interview: Tortive Theatre, The Hunchback Variations

14 Jun

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 Tortive Theatre about their show, The Hunchback Variations.

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

I started out as an actor…that’s all I really wanted to do. I was at drama school (Bristol Old Vic) and it was politely suggested to me that I would probably end up being a director. I was furious…but the person that suggested it was right. Over the next ten to fifteen years I moved more towards directing, writing and producing and ended up running a regional theatre. In 2019 I got bored and decided I needed a new challenge, so I founded Tortive Theatre and started to produce new work. We’ve now got a new R&D venue in Berwick-upon-Tweed, we’ve produced UK tours, online seasons and had our work shown internationally.

What is your show about?

Hunchback is from the bizarre and brilliant mind of Mickle Maher, an American playwright who conceived a fictional meeting of noted composer Ludwig van Beethoven and noted hunchback, Quasimodo as they meet to discuss the creation of an impossible sound from Chekov’s The Cherry Orchard. Things are frustrated by the fact that the two are quite deaf the meeting of course never happened. It's a play about brilliance, beauty, hope, despair and loss. It’s an absurdist masterpiece.

**What was the inspiration for The Hunchback Variations and what’s the development process been to get to this stage?**

Why Mickle wrote the piece I don’t know. I look forward to talking to him about that at some point. But I’m so pleased he did. This production originated in Germany and starred the incredible German actors Harald Djuerken and Martin John Mills as Quasimodo and Beethoven respectively. I saw it at a festival and I knew within two minutes of the show starting that I had to get this a wider audience. It has been produced in the USA and Europe but never in the UK and I had to change that. Happily the creative team and their Director, the brilliant Rebecca Garron agreed and we started talking about how to bring the international elements together to get the show to the Fringe. 2024 is the year we’re making it happen.

**What made you want to take The Hunchback Variations to the Fringe?**

It’s a play that’s hard to describe…in many ways that makes it the perfect fringe show…right? It’s bizarre, it’s funny, it’s profound…and it’s only 35 minutes long. For me it’s the perfect demonstration of a Fringe show. I think audiences will connect with it on lots of different levels and everyone will take something different away from each viewing. It’s what I loved about it and what I continue to love about it. Every time I watch it I come away with something new.

**Apart from seeing The Hunchback Variations, what’s your top tip for anybody heading for Edinburgh this summer?**

There’s so much…It’s almost an impossible question. I’m starting to get everything put together in my diary but I’m really looking forward to Ava & Beaux: Tales of Magic and a completely different show Waiting by Kate Farrell.

**Why should people book The Hunchback Variations?**

Partly because this is the UK premiere. It’s never been done here before and it’s not likely to be done again outside of Edinburgh or London. So this really is quite an exclusive show to be a part of. But more than that, I think it’s a show that will speak to everyone on some level. It’s brilliantly funny and thought-provoking in equal measure.