Edinburgh Fringe Chats (#48): Milly Blue, ELYSIUM

3 Jul

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 Milly Blue to chat about Elysium.

Can you begin by telling us about your show and what inspired it?

Elysium is a modern satirical musical horror story. It’s set in the modern day, in a wealthy gated community on the outskirts of London. It’s performed by us, Ghouls Aloud, which is Jessie Maryon Davies and myself (Milly Blue) with a live score and original songs. The inspiration for the show came from an unusual conversation I ended up having with a stranger by the side of a leafy road in Beckenham at the beginning of Autumn 2023. For context, it was just after the Sycamore Gap tree had been felled, around two weeks after Kylie Minogue had released her album ‘Tension’ and just before the events of October 7. Watching what is being done to the people in Gaza has left a lot of us permanently altered. But many more in our society, those with the money, the time and the influence to effect change have turned away. And this, plus that extraordinary interaction by the road brought this show into being.

What made you want to bring this work to the Fringe this year?

After we performed Elysium for the first time at the end of last year, we knew from the reaction of the audience that we had something special. And we want a lot of people to see it. It’s an important message delivered in a really entertaining and frightening way. And Edinburgh loves a ghost story, right?

How would you describe your show in three words?

Lyrical, satirical haunting.

What do you hope audiences take away from watching your performance?

We want them to walk out, laughing about how scared we made them, with our tunes lingering in their heads. But we also want to leave people with some questions about their place in society and about a global system that has turned its back on community.

What’s your top tip for surviving the Fringe?

Tip your bartender, remember flyerers are humans too, and come to our show.

Where and when can people see your show?

Elysium by Ghouls Aloud is at Gilded Balloon at Appleton Tower (Ruby) at 12.20pm from 30 July - 24 August (not 11). https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/elysium