The uniquely talented Tom Ward returns to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for the month of August with a brand-new hour Popcorn Lung. The show, which premieres at Just The Tonic Mash House, is the follow-up to the critically acclaimed shows ‘Love Machine’ and ‘Sex, Snails and Cassette Tapes’.
Tom Ward Popcorn Lung is at Just The Tonic @ The Mash House 2nd – 26th August (not 13th).
Popcorn Lung is coming to Just The Tonic @ Mash House what can you tell us about it?
It’s about perspective and its ever-changing narrative. One minute you think you know what’s going on the next you get some new information and it all shifts. Ouch! Mirrors and passport photos are good for this as they show you that where you thought you were good looking you do in fact look like shit.
What inspired you to write Popcorn Lung?
The same thing as ever – this feeling that it shouldn’t be like this…that I shouldn’t feel like this, that something, somewhere needs to give and then I’ll feel okay. It just doesn’t f***ing happen, does it? I walk around Suburbia waiting, hoping. I dance, I drink, I do comedy, I progress, I gain some respect from my peers, and yet the pain increases if anything. The ego must be destroyed. I know, let’s destroy it by doing a show all about me and have 10,000 flyers printed with my face on it, and a team to give them out, and a PR woman called Mel to hype me up.
Is it based on real events?
Yes. The funniest stuff is always based on truth. Finding out a comedian has made something up is horrible isn’t it? Yucky. Cowardly!
What’s the best and worst thing about writing a show for Edinburgh Fringe?
You’re at the centre of the comedy action – it’s noisy, bustley, heart breaking, euphoric, aggressive, competitive, and it trains you to have stamina and to work out what the hell you mean and why you’re saying what you’re saying. The anti-climax of returning to your life back home though is stunning. The agony in your soul is still there!
Who will Popcorn Lung appeal to the most?
People who don’t feel comfortable in their lives…Who sense that something is badly wrong…Who feel a nagging confusion at the heart of their being…that they’ve tried to fill with shagging and romance and indie music, but it’s only worked in part.
How does it feel to be at Just The Tonic @ Mash House?
Excited. I hear that this room has blessed many a comedian and I am ready and willing and indeed gagging to be blessed.
