17 year old Lev Steinberg is making his Edinburgh Fringe debut this year, with 44 Minutes, billed as a perverse psychological experiment where one of those captured has to die. I have caught up with Lev to find out more.

When and where are you performing at the Fringe this year?
44 Minutes will be performed at the Front Room at Assembly Rooms (venue 20) located at 54 George Street, EH2 2LR. It runs from August 6 to August 30 (excluding the 16 and 23 of August) at 21:05.

What was the inspiration for your show?
The inspiration for 44 Minutes stems from my interest in moral judgment and the philosophical debate about whose life may be more valuable and what happens when people are forced to make impossible choices under pressure. This idea puts into question what actually defines a person. Are we born who we are, or are we built by our memories and experiences? If someone loses their memory, are they still the same person? Are there parts that exist beneath memory, traits we are born with that can not be erased?



When did you first step on the stage as a performer?
My performing career started from a very young age. I have always been interested in entertainment and storytelling. I would often perform different characters and try to teach myself different accents and dialects. My first acting production was at the New Circle Theatre in New York City, where I played a young boy who just found out his mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. My acting and writing have gone hand in hand since then.

What is the best piece of advice about working in Theatre you have received?
“Write, write, and just keep writing. You can never make something good unless you have something to work with.”

Who or what inspired you to take to the stage?
Getting to see inspiring works of art at a festival like the Edinburgh Fringe, where thousands of people are gathered as performers, writers, artists, and audience members. That is one of the things that truly gives me hope in these troubling times. It proves that the art world is as alive as ever and that people still want to gather in rooms and experience stories together. My family and friends also inspire me to keep writing, acting, and performing in any and all ways possible.

Who is your target audience?
Any and all people ready and willing to jump straight into this story and just see where it takes them. The last few years have felt quite frightening and unstable. In so many ways. A lot of people, myself included, have felt moments of hopelessness, anger, uncertainty, and even a kind of trapped feeling. 44 Minutes takes those emotions and places them inside a literal cage. My hope is that for this one hour piece, the audience will join the characters inside that cage. I would love an audience that likes looking for clues. And if they want to come back a second time to try to find the clues that build to the ending, then I’d be ecstatic!

https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/44-minutes