We’ll be sharing quarterly updates from our members to shine a spotlight on the amazing work emerging from our sector. Our first featured artist is recent Autopsy Award winner Sean Wai Keung. His Fringe show, A History of Fortune Cookies, will run at Summerhall from the 1-26 August.
I love sharing food with people. I especially like making food-sharing an integral part of my performance work. There is nothing more connective, in my opinion, then cooking or eating with someone else. In part because of this, I never expected a Fringe run to be in my career path. I always thought the expenses of ingredients, the added health & safety regulations and the over-abundance of shows already on offer to people would make any
attempt on my part basically not possible. So it was such a surprise to be given the Autopsy Award this year, explicitly to make a foodie show with a small, intimate audience.
I’m aware of what a privileged position this puts me in. So many great artists and companies have to pay for access to the Fringe, whereas I’m funded and supported by so many. I’m also in Summerhall, a venue with a reputation for shows a little different from the norm. At the same time some of the things I worried about have definitely come to fruition.
The amount of health & safety paperwork I have to deal with has at times felt overwhelming, and the prospect of cooking for 20+ audiences each day while making it into a performance is, at times, pretty stressful. But I feel in a good place with it all. I believe my show, A History of Fortune Cookies, offers something different, but not different just for the sake of being different. It’s an honest, truthful show, for which the cooking is a
fundamental part of it. I hope that when audiences come along, they leave with something to think about, as well as something to eat.
A History of Fortune Cookies
1-26 August 2024
Summerhall, Edinburgh