Interview: Cheri Magid “A Poem And A Mistake”
Conducted by Emmie for Theatre and Tonic
As anticipation builds for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025, we’re catching up with a range of exciting creatives preparing to bring their work to the world’s largest arts festival this August. In this series, we delve into the stories behind the shows, the inspiration driving the artists, and what audiences can expect.
Today we’re joined by Cheri Magid about the show A Poem And A Mistake.
1. Can you begin by telling us about A Poem and a Mistake and what inspired it?
A Poem and a Mistake, a whiplash black comedy, is about what we inherit from the stories passed down to us. It’s a one person show that starts with a confrontation between Myrrha, a grad student in the classics, and her professor, over the fifty sexual assaults in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Their combustive exchange sparks a cascade of magical transformations that force them both to rethink everything. It’s “Freaky Friday meets the classics.”
There were two magical things that inspired the play. The first is actor Sarah Baskin, whose talent is electric. She can shift from comedy to tragedy on a dime, has an incredible physicality, and is so open and gorgeous on stage. We had briefly worked together years before and wanted to collaborate on something.
The second is the amazing classicist Stephanie McCarter. She has written about how many of the assaults in Ovid’s Metamorphoses have been historically translated out and made consensual. That to me was head spinning since Metamorphoses is the most adapted book in Western literature after The Bible. It’s basically everywhere—in our art, in our plays—in Pretty Woman!—so it felt monumental to take on.
2. What made you want to bring this work to the Fringe this year?
There are such exciting one-person shows that get their start at Fringe. We wanted to be part of that legacy.
3. How would you describe the show in three words?
Unexpected, goofy, heart-wrenching
4. What do you hope audiences take away from watching your performance?
I hope they are entertained and moved. I hope it has audiences thinking about what’s behind the stories that we tell. And for anyone who can relate to Myrrha and what she’s experienced, I hope it offers some small comfort.
5. What’s your top tip for surviving the Fringe?
My yoga practice, which grounds me, gets the ‘ick’ out, and reminds me to breathe. Look out Ashtanga Yoga Edinburgh! Here I come.
6. Where and when can people see your show?
12:40 Assembly Rooms, The Drawing Room 31 July – 24 August (No performances the 11th and 18th)
