Writer, composer and comedian Isobel Rogers will make her Edinburgh Festival Fringe debut at The Pleasance Courtyard with her incredibly relatable, existential musical comedy show ‘How To Be Content’.
In this musical journey through influencer-ism and girl-bossification, the former Camden Roundhouse resident, Isobel Rogers explores the superficial dilemmas we constantly face through an hour of irreverent, inventive and bitingly witty songs.
Q&A with Isobel Rogers
How does it feel to be making your debut at the Edinburgh Fringe?
Really exciting, especially to be on at the Pleasance Courtyard which is my dream venue. I also can’t detach the word debut from all the American TV I watched as a teen, where Newport’s finest young ladies enter society. See episode 4 series 1 of the O.C. The Debut.
What can you tell us about your show and its inspiration?
I’ve written the songs over a number of years and if that happens they’re usually all linked to a certain theme. I try not to think what that is until the editing process and kept noticing the word ‘content’ appearing – after that, I wrote more explicitly around that idea and the different ways we seek happiness in our personal relationships, or the way we present ourselves as well as in more toxic ways, like looking online at other people’s lives or potentially more healthily in therapy. There’s a very fix-it culture out at the moment with reels titled ‘How to…reduce anxiety’ How to…be hot’ How to…be your best self’ and I find that pursuit of perfection both funny and concerning.
How do you think audiences will react to the show
I think they will love it! It covers falling in love under complicated circumstances, whether or not to have children, wanting to feel successful and powerful by going to therapy or imagining you’re an influencer… All the songs take recognisable tropes like weddings, relationships and beauty and ask what would happen if we thought about them differently. What would you do if you knew you would always stay the same age and weren’t limited by time? I’ve got a song where I imagine i’m the youngest smartest prettiest girl forever and always…a toxic but fun mantra.
How have you been preparing for the festival?
Work in progressing, gigging, rewriting, sending voice notes with lyric changes to friends who are helping me on the show. I’ve spent a few sessions in a recording studio with my friend Laurie who’s helped me make some beats for one of the songs. That’s fun as I like collaborating with a producer and trying to make sense of the sounds in my head.
Will you get a chance to enjoy the rest of the festival?
I hope so, there are so many other shows I want to see so I’m looking forward to making the most of it all collecting in one place. I also need to save my voice so sitting in the dark silently is a good way of protecting vocal chords.
Isobel Rogers: How To Be Content is at Pleasance Courtyard from 2 to 25 August
