The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the biggest arts festival in the world, with over 3,700 shows. This year, Playbill is in town for the festival and we’re taking you with us. Follow along as we cover every single aspect of the Fringe, aka our real-life Brigadoon!
Comedian Tim Murray returned to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this year with his 2023 Playbill Pick show Tim Murray Is Witches. Watch Playbill's Jeffrey Vizcaíno interview Murray in the video above.
Murray's show is a self-described "hour of comedy about the queer experience, and about how all witches are inherently queer, and why queer people are obsessed with witches." There is one witch that Murray has a particular fondness for, which is evident in his costume choice: a mystical robe complete with green body paint reminiscent of Wicked's leading witch Elphaba.
"I'm obviously obsessed with every single one of those women [who have played Elphaba]," Murray says. "To even be mentioned in the same breath as an Elphaba is the dream come true, I think, for every gay person on Earth. I feel for them so deeply, because [the green paint] is hard to get off. I go to coffee shops and flirt with baristas and they're like, 'Are you okay? You look seasick,' because I'm always just tinted a little bit green. So I'm committing very fully to this bit."
Throughout his hour of comedy, Murray finds more connections to witches like Elphaba than just green-tinted skin, exploring how witches inspired him to own his queer identity with confidence. Read Playbill's review of the show's 2023 run here.
Murray has finished his Fringe run and will be taking his show to London, and then on a 26-city tour in the U.S. and Canada. Murray's U.S. tour stops will include a September 25 show at Joe's Pub, featuring a "very special guest."
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