Laura Corcoran, aka Miss Frisky is set to officially open the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world’s most celebrated arts festival.
Announced today, 22 July, the Queen of pop-mash-parodic-stereophonic-vaudevillian-infotainment is set to metaphorically cut the ribbon of the 78th Edinburgh Festival Fringe with words on honing one’s trade at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Following in the footsteps of iconic festival performers, Le Gateau Chocolat, Sheila Atim, Bryony Kimmings; Frisky will address, as a little girl who watched her dad juggle a life on stage with his family, how can a career in the performing arts work alongside the experience for parents? What can the Festival Fringe be doing to enable and smooth the way for carers and parents?
Having first sashayed onto an Edinburgh Fringe stage in 2009, the only way for Frisky (Laura Corcoran) has been up since. Her career has been notable for awards, sell-outs, international tours, residencies and as an in-demand cabaret emcee. Miss Frisky is perhaps best known as one half of Frisky & Mannish, the musical comedy duo who took the Edinburgh Fringe by storm in the early 2010s. They featured on BBC Radios 1, 2, 4, 5 Live and BBC Scotland, E4 and CBBC, and toured extensively, appearing at the Sydney Opera House, Melbourne Comedy Festival, Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Auckland Cabaret & International Festivals, as well as appearances in Berlin, New York and across the UK and Ireland.
At the festival this year Frisky presents her solo debut with Frisky’s Reshuffle - a genre-spanning live music extravaganza, where the audience can challenge Frisky and her 4-piece band to play any song in any style, from samba to skiffle, Mötley Crüe to Mongolian throat singing, and absolutely everything in-between (and we mean EVERYTHING).
Laura Corcoran commented: “I am delighted to have been invited to deliver this prestigious address, I can only imagine who had to turn it down for them to finally get to me on the list, but I am, nonetheless, deeply honoured. Having lived the 'Fringe fairytale' first hand, I hope to inspire this year’s participants with some insight into how we made that a reality - spoiler: it involved a lot of photocopying and stapling. The festival was the launchpad for my career, and now, as I duttywine into middle-age, it’s the place I come to begin the next phase.
“But with this stage of life comes a different set of accessibility challenges, and I want to ask how the festival can support a work/life balance for all participants, but especially those of us who are parents. Despite all the challenges, this is still the greatest arts festival in the world, and there is so much to be gained from it. Not money, obviously, but many other exceptionally valuable things.”
Chris Snow, Head of Artist Services Festival Fringe Society added: "The Edinburgh Festival Fringe artist address is a key moment for artists to gather, meet each other, and celebrate the start of the 2025 festival. It also marks the opening of Fringe Central, our support hub for artists, industry and media. We’re delighted that Frisky is able to join us this year to share her personal journey and experiences at the Fringe, and know that the address will be a real treat."
The 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe artist address will be live streamed on the Edinburgh Fringe facebook channel, and will be available to view on YouTube at a later date.
Greyfriars Hall, Virgin Hotel, Edinburgh
Friday 01 August
5pm-6pm (Doors 4:30)
Website: www.friskyonline.co.uk
