Charlotte Anne-Tilley is an award-winning actor and writer from Cheshire. Having graduated from LAMDA in 2018, Charlotte has been awarded Everything Theatre’s Award for Ingenuity and 4theatre’s Best Debut Performance. Her tragicomic play Almost Adult received huge critical acclaim at the Edinburgh Fringe last year and her short film Birthday was selected for a variety of film festivals around Europe. As well as making her own work, she has performed with the National Youth Theatre, Secret Cinema and in the premiere of Alistair McDowall’s Zero for the Young Dudes at The Lowry.
Tell us about your show?
Written by me and story produced by Mabel Thomas, Serious Theatre from Serious People is a mockumentary-style character comedy about members of Bet On It Youth Theatre. Despite their best efforts to put on a professional production, these dysfunctional characters get into all sorts of chaos as ulterior motives and egos take over. There are water guns, there’s high school musical tunes and even some special guests.
How has Funny Women helped you on your journey with the production?
This show was actually born out of a Funny Women comedy course I did. The course involves a series of workshops with brilliant comedians and comedy experts (such as Kate Martin and Lynne Parker herself). Over that week, I developed a character called Chaz and performed a five minute set as this character at the end of the week, receiving constructive feedback from the panel. The team was so supportive and gave me practical advice on how to ‘find the funny’ in my characters. I’m super grateful to Funny Women as the course encouraged me to push myself to create this show for Fringe. So, thank you!
How does it feel to be returning to the Edinburgh Fringe?
I’m so excited to be returning to Edinburgh Fringe. It feels like the centre-point of my creative output each year, and it’s been really cool to figure out what my voice is as a creative through a variety of different Edinburgh Fringe shows. I love having that deadline of August every year to create something that I feel is worthy of being shared with an audience.
Have you got any tips for comedians going up to the festival for the first time?
My tips would be to try and enjoy the victories that you have. There’s always pressure to do more flyering, find more people to see the show, and to always go, go, go. But there will be special moments where someone will tell you how much your show meant to them, or you’ll see a show that touches you. Enjoy those moments and don’t let them pass by, simply because Fringe runs at 1,000,000 miles an hour.
Who are the funny women you would recommend seeing in Edinburgh this year?
I’m looking forward to seeing a lot of people including, Lorna Rose Treen, Emma Sidi, Anna Dooley, Madeleine Rowe, Rosalie Minnitt, Bebe Cave, Bryony Bryne and Anna Morris.
Charlotte-Anne Tilley: Serious Theatre from Serious People, 31 July – 26 August (not 12th or 19th August) at 1pm, at The Gilded Balloon Patter House (The Penny). Book tickets here.
