Edinburgh Fringe Chats (#157): Laurie Stevens, DAVID’S ONE-MAN BAND (F*CK YOU, STEVEN)

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 Laurie Stevens to find out more about David's One-Man Band (F*ck You, Steven).

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

David’s big break is finally here: headlining Sticky Floors, the coolest under-16s band night in the Bay Area. But when his bandmate flakes on their one shot at emo stardom, David is left to chase his dreams alone.

David’s One-Man Band (F*ck You, Steven) is a coming-of-age character comedy with live music about a teenager desperate to be a rockstar. The emo love child of Freaks and Geeks and Spinal Tap, it’s a mid-noughties nostalgia bomb of teenage awkwardness, angsty poetry and songs with ridiculously long titles.

I created David as part of the Characters workshop at Gaulier, where we were told to ‘be unrecognisable’. He came about completely by chance – the bits of costume I’d ordered hadn’t arrived in time and pandemic restrictions meant I couldn’t just pop to the shops for other stuff. So I improvised using friends’ clothes, haphazard eyeliner and copious amounts of hair gel. He turned out to be so darn cute* that I just had to do more with him. His thirteen-year-old mix of wide-eyed innocence and angsty pseudo-intellectual posturing grew into a whole world, complete with a best friend who was literally and figuratively outgrowing him, and before I knew it I’d learned the guitar and drums and how to use a loop station.

*vibeswise, not lookswise

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

I’ve been working on David for about three years – I did my first five minutes as part of the Soho Theatre Drag Lab, then received Camden People’s Theatre’s Starting Blocks funding, workshopped the show in London and put together a production team. So, whilst I don’t think I’ll ever feel 100% ready, it feels like now is the right time. The show takes place in 2006 – it was going to be 2005, but I needed to push it a year later to include a certain seminal emo album – so perhaps I should have waited until next year for it to be a tidy twenty-year anniversary? But I have plans to take the show into 2026 and beyond, so I think it’s a good thing I’m debuting now…

3. How would you describe your show in three words?

Silly, heartfelt, nostalgic.

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

The show is pretty silly, but at its core it’s about teenage boys struggling to communicate. It’s set in 2006 and I’d love for the theme to feel as dated as MySpace, Limewire and Motorola Razrs, but unfortunately, it’s still relevant.

On a lighter note, some lovely feedback during previews was that audience members felt inspired to dust off their old instruments. I’d be thrilled if the show encourages anyone to make music, especially if they haven’t for a while – whether that’s picking up a guitar, joining a local choir or just belting out Welcome To The Black Parade in the shower.

5. What’s your top tip for surviving the Fringe?

David, trying to sound grown-up, would probably advise that I drink myself into a stupor to numb the pain. But I think we all know that the most grown-up advice of all is: eat your vegetables. Microwave some frozen spinach, then mix in some crème fraiche, a sprinkle of salt, and nutmeg if you’re fancy. You’ve got yourself a hot portion of veg and you didn’t even have to touch a pan!*

*My show is cooler than this, I swear.

6. Where and when can people see your show?

David's One-Man Band (F*ck You, Steven) is on 31 Jul - 25 Aug (not 12) at Underbelly Cowgate (Belly Dancer), 16:10 (60 mins)