The 2023 Edinburgh Fringe Festival is fast approaching and I have caught up with Michael Galligan ahead of his departure to the UK ta chat about his latest production “BANANA” and the inspiration behind this rather unusual combination of a boxed banana and a clown act. Intrigued? I was and decided to find out more about the upcoming show.

Is this the first production you have taken to the Edinburgh Fringe?

I took a play over in 2018, called Solarplexus. We called it an eco-cyberpunk-scifi-comedy. We had a ton of fun and got some good press, but learned a lot of lessons the hard way. I’m excited to be able to put those lessons into practice this Fringe (and I’m sure to learn a bunch more, also the hard way). 

How long have you been a mime (clown*) artist?

12 years now? I started learning theatrical clown in undergrad with an incredible teacher Orlando Pabotoy. He certainly infected me with the clown bug, but I’ll admit I repressed it for a few years while trying to be a more “serious actor.” But after my last go at Fringe, in 2018, I doubled down and started to more confidently call my work clown and embrace its ideology. 

What can the audiences expect from the show?

Definitely more facts about bananas than they needed to know.

They can expect to laugh while being pushed out of their comfort zone. The first half of the show is light and fun and wild, and many audiences have described the second half as more of an emotional sucker punch. 

They can also expect to see bananas everywhere. More on that later in the interview.

What inspired you to make a “Banana Burlesque” style clown show?

I bought a new couch when I moved into my current place like a year and a half ago. It came in a big box. The show’s director, Bailey Nassetta, happened to have a banana costume lying around, so I thought… why don’t I put on the suit, get into the box, and see what happens?

The rest of it devolved from there. Bailey and I built the piece in segments, and burlesque became one of the several different genres we worked with.

Banana Theory? Would you like to explain this a bit further as it sounds intriguing?

It’s the idea that everyone has a connection to bananas. They’re everywhere. A few times after shows, an audience member has come up to me and revealed that the show had unlocked a core memory involving bananas for them. I also get pictures of bananas out in the wild almost every day from people who have seen the show. Bailey coined the term “banana theory” as a result of this phenomenon.

A couple months ago, I got coffee with Dan Koeppel, the author of Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World. He asked “how long have you been on the Banana Highway? ‘Cause once you get on, you don’t get off.”

Bailey and I both have to agree with Dan there.

What else are you planning to do while in Edinburgh, if you have time?

See loads of shows. Theater, comedy, clown, immersive, what have you.

This will be my fourth time visiting Edinburgh, so I’m excited to find some places off the beaten path and learn more secrets of Edinburgh. Also – day trips. That was something I completely neglected last Fringe, and I want to right that wrong. 

One fact about Bananas you would like to share in this interview?

When bananas were first introduced to North America and the UK, they were seen as overly suggestive and phallic. As a result, people started cutting them up and wrapping them in tin foil so the fruit could “align with Victorian sensibilities.” 

If this insight into BANANA has caught your attention you can catch the show at:

ZOO Southside, 117 Nicolson Street, Edinburgh

14:15 (60 minutes), 4 – 27 August

Tickets: £12 (£10 conc.)

Ed Fringe Box Office- 0131 6626892

ZOO Box Office- 0131 356 0349