Edinburgh Fringe Q&A - Graham Dickson (St. Doctor's Hospital): 'It’s a wonderful playground to be very silly in'

Critically acclaimed improv theatre company The Free Association return to Edinburgh Fringe this August with their brand new, fully improvised, comedic medical drama.

St Doctor’s Hospital sees a cast of some of the UK’s best improv performers draw on the heroes of TV dramas like Grey’s Anatomy, House and ER to create a brand new episode of your new favourite show.

The Doctors will see you now…

How are you feeling ahead of the Fringe?

Scrubbed and ready to operate.

What is your show about, and what inspired it?

Our show, St. Doctor’s Hospital, is a loving tribute to TV medical dramas, and by extension doctors themselves – specifically attractive doctors with relationship issues.

So many medical dramas tend towards the frankly absurd (we’re looking at you, Chicago Med) in their attempts to balance the seriousness of life in a hospital with all these frothy relationship sagas and ludicrous ‘problem of the week’ scenarios. We love that tension. It’s a wonderful playground to be very silly in.

What do you love the most about improv?

I’ve been doing improv now for about 16 years, and I still can’t get enough of it. There are so many things I love about improv – the sense of community, the confidence it gives you to fully embrace failure.

Above all, though, from a performer’s perspective, what I love the most about it is the thrill of discovery. The joy of making a room full of people laugh at something you’ve just made up, and the knowledge that you can do it again and again, is a more powerful drug than any medical-grade painkiller.

How excited are you with the cast for the show?

I keep the cast at arm’s length as much as possible, like a surly but brilliant expert in rare diseases, focussed on a career-defining case. Occasionally in rehearsals I would scream, “one of you will betray me!” then silently eat a sandwich.

In other words, I’m thrilled with the cast, they’re all highly trained and highly strung – they’ve all been working double A&E shifts in preparation.

How many hospital dramas did you watch in preparation, and do you have a favourite?

We’ve all done our homework for sure. If I had to pick a favourite, probably Grey’s Anatomy. Everyone in it is just so damn pretty. I mean a character is called ‘McDreamy’ for heaven’s sake, and it’s impossible to stop yourself falling into his eyes.

What are your favourite memories from the festival?

Too many to count – I’ve been coming for over a decade. The first years doing Austentatious will always feel very special to me. Every year there is at least one show that changes me, that makes me think about art or performance or life in a brand new way. I can’t wait to discover that show this year.

If you were put in charge of the Fringe, what changes would you make?

I will bang the same drum(s) that everyone is banging: money, accommodation. Something simply has to be done (though I’m not the person to solve it), because at present the spiralling costs are posing an existential risk to the festival. If performers can’t afford to bring shows to the festival then what is the point?

How would you describe how you feel when your walk on music hits and you take a step out onto the stage?

It honestly depends on the stage. Some stages are scarier than others. A new stage takes time to make it feel like home, but when it does, it just feels different. Shows on a new stage can still be amazing though. I find that nerves often produce the best results. So, what I’m saying is there is no bad day to come and see the show…

Who else are you looking forward to seeing at the Fringe?

I adore Freya Parker and can’t wait to see her solo show. And I’m fairly sure that Greta Titelman will be the latest in an illustrious list of US comics (Cat Cohen, Kate Berlant, etc.) to blow us all away.

What’s your favourite one-liner?

I genuinely don’t have one. I like noises. Will that do? I love the noise ‘gah’. I use it a lot. It serves as a very handy punchline in any number situations.

Who’d be your dream…

Podcast co-host / guest

Maybe Nathan Fielder. He’s my idol. The Rehearsal is one of my favourite things for years. I generally don’t like podcasts, so I’d love to see how Nathan would pilot this entirely hypothetical project – I imagine with deadpan glee into the side of a mountain.