Edinburgh Fringe Chats (#15): Guido Garcia Lueches, JEEZUS!

23 Jun

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 Guido Garcia Lueches to chat about their show, JEEZUS!

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

JEEZUS! is a both a coming of age story, and a rom-com musical between a good Catholic boy and our lord and saviour Jesus Christ. It's inspired in the real life of my scene (& life) partner Sergio, who also wrote the show, and a lot of his family myths growing up in Peru. It's funny and very gay, and manages to deal with colonialism, anal impalement, and why the church seems to have the monopoly on spirituality.

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

The show was always more or less intended for the Fringe, as it's lots of fun and a little transgressive. We just needed a little backing and winning the Untapped award was the perfect push we needed to bring it to Edinburgh.

Also, with the world falling apart as it is, and how a lot of the rights we seemed to have won are receding, it's always a good time politically to talk about colonialism and homosexuality in a way that can bring people together thru laughter and song.

How would you describe your show in three words?

Sexy. Silly. Joyful.

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

We hope people leave singing our catchy, Latin American inspired songs. We hope they start looking at the hot man on the cross with different eyes. We hope they re-assess their childhoods and see the extent to which others’ expectations can fuck us up. We hope they cry, and then go have lots of fabulous gay sex.

What’s your top tip for surviving the Fringe?

Hydrate lots. Don't try to take it all in the first week. Let yourself break down and cry early on, so you can then blossom like a butterfly to become your best fringe self.

Where and when can people see your show?

Underbelly Cowgate - We're at the Belly Button 18.50 every day, with a couple of Mondays off.