Tell me a little more about your show and what audiences can expect?
Scatter is a horror play, trying to be like The Woman in Black in terms of audience experience, full of jump scares and tension. So audiences should expect the scariest show of the Fringe, hopefully! There’s one scare in it I’ve been so excited about for the last two years – in one of our previews a mate of mine sprained a neck muscle from jolting back when it happened.
Can you talk about some of the creative team involved?
I have the best team ever. I’m very, very lucky. Jonny Harvey is an astoundingly gifted director and all-round creative, he’s done loads of fringes and has helped me create this spooky show for the last couple of years. Sarah Spencer is our composer and has created a sort of hellish, godforsaken soundscape and score for this. It’s as unsettling as she is talented. And then Will Hayman is, in my mind, the finest lighting designer of my generation. He’ll be stratospheric very soon and he’ll make Scatter look incredible.
Where do you draw inspiration from for your work, both in terms of creation and performance?
In terms of creation, it’s just trying to see as much content as I can and pickpocketing things to throw into my style and/or show. Have watched a lot of horror films! And performance-wise, just trying to learn from performers in one-person shows who can keep the energy and momentum really high. And then I guess my twin brother Hugo, who I work with for Pear, my sketch show. Easy to watch him and feel inspired, and that’s not because we look the same.
What’s the one piece of advice you’d give a performer coming to Edinburgh for the first time?
Flyer flyer flyer flyer. Commit to it as a necessary evil, go into a sort of brainwashed headstate, then be in the same two by two metre stretch at the same time every day, be kind and nice and flyer for as long as your legs can stand.
How can Edinburgh audiences keep up with you beyond the festival?
@patpatmcpherson on twitter, @peartheshow on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok. Pear is my comedy stuff and that tours all year round.
Scatter: A Horror Play, 31 Jul-24 Aug (not 11), 3.40pm