Edinburgh Fringe Chats (#135): Brando James Gwinn, MIDNIGHT AT THE PALACE

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 Brando James Gwinn to find out more about their show, Midnight At The Palace.

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

Midnight at the Palace is the life and outrageous times of the fabulous all singing, all dancing, all cardboard Cockettes, a musical performing troop of hippie, acid freak, drag queens born of the counterculture of San Francisco in 1968. The story follows the Cockettes from their arrival in San Francisco where they find each other and become local legends to their infamous and disastrous 1971 performance in New York before the showbiz glitterati.

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

An hour long, glitter-filled, gyrating, supersensory, psychedelic romp through the fringe of American Queer history is perfect for this fringe, and perfect for our evening slot. We can’t wait to bring the fabulous Cockettes to life on a new continent.

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

Glitter. Beard, Bitch.

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

I want them to find their inner Cockette! I want them to strip naked, dance and writhe in the streets of Edinburgh! Just kidding… sorta. I want them to think about their friends and the people in their real and chosen families. Remember wonderful times together. I want them to think about living in the now, about how their individuality is at worst a weapon and at best a tool for exploration and change! I also want them to laugh. A lot. Vibe to the music. And have a great fuckin’ time.

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

Well it’s my first time! But, from what I hear I think like an all night orgy in 1968. It’s probably best to remember what a wise old Queen once told me while I was performing on a gay cruise through the Mediterranean; “Baby, it’s a marathon, not a sprint”

6. Where and when can people see your show?

Wednesday July 30th through Sunday August 24th.

9:30 PM at Big Yin at the Gilded Balloon Patter House

INSTAGRAM: @brandojamesmusic

SHOW LINK: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/midnight-at-the-palace

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