#Interview with Lorna Rose Treen By Lou about 24 Hour Diner People #RoseTreen @Instalorns @sohotheatre #24HourDinerPeople

Interview with Lorna Rose Treen
about 24 Hour Diner People

Soho Theatre – 8th – 13th September 2025

Interview conducted by Louise Cannon

I had the pleasure of interviewing the award-winning actor Lorna Rose Treen about her popular show, 24 Hour Diner People now at Soho Theatre, London. In August 2025, it sold out all 30 shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, coupled with many glowing reviews, it’s the successful stage show you don’t want to miss!
Find out a bit about it below and then onto the interview. At the end of the interview, you can find out how you can get your hands on tickets so you can see the show yourselves and the awards won.
*Please note, I am not affiliated to anyone or anything.

24 Hour Diner People offers up a full-fat collection of eccentric, escapist, and delightfully silly characters – all served with a side of proper jokes. Expect to meet a waitress who dreams of flying, a trucker with unusually long arms, a woman who’s kept her umbilical cord, a 1960s spy on a caffeine high, and a teenager giddy from her first kiss – all somehow coexisting in a strange, time-warped roadside diner.

1. You sold out at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and had to add extra dates due to demand for your show 24 Hour Diner People. What did that feel like at the largest festival in the world and what are your hopes as your tour it to Soho theatre, London?

It felt like an administrative error! But no it was honestly so nice to see the tickets flying, especially because no one had seen the finished show yet so it was mostly selling because people wanted to spend time with me whatever it was I was gonna do. What a lovely compliment!

2. You have some eccentric characters in your show. Are there particular people or idiosyncrasies you’ve observed in human behaviour to create your characters?

I love watching documentaries and imitating the way we used to speak in the past. I am a nightmare to watch TV with because I parrot whatever is being said and try to copy the intonation. My grandma taught me this, we were a nightmare duo.

3. What inspired you to create characters that are seen as being “voiceless” and giving them a voice and in a comical way?

I like watching the background characters in films and TV, especially from years gone by. I love giving a 5 minute monologue to a character who is a background character for a reason. So often these are women, whilst the men get to be funny in the spotlight, so it’s fun to put the attention on the women and make them get the laughs.

4. The diner you’ve created sounds brilliant fun. You say it’s a fantasy Americana seen through your Midlander eyes. What was the pull for you to build this type dineras the premise for you show?

Fringe is long, and if your show has life after fringe – it’s even longer. I wanted to build an environment I wanted to lock in and spend a lot of time in. Americans who’ve seen the show have commented that I clearly love the mundanity of the day to day, but for me a diner in America is a most exciting place to be. Growing up there were diners in every sitcom, drama, musical and film. Even though they weren’t real, they hold a place of play and joy andescapism built entirely from fiction and dreams, that you just couldn’t get in Redditch’s (now defunct) Chicago Rock Cafe.

5. If you could meet anyone in a diner, who would it be and why?

I’d like to meet James Broom from sixthform because he still owes me £20.

6. You’re no stranger to comedy and have worked with Emily Atack on her show (ITV), Time of the Week (BBC R4), true crime mockumentary, Criminally Untrue and more… what was it like to work on such huge hits and people and how do you take those experiences forward into your expanding comedic career?

Time of the Week is my radio show I co-created with Jonathan Oldfield. We star in it alongside Sian Clifford, who is unbelievably funny. It’s such an honour to be stupid alongside her. She’s like, properly properly good. Series 2 is coming out later this year, and I can’t wait for everyone to hear the nonsense we have written and made Sian say. The writers room and cast are made up of people we not only find incredibly funny, but also people who we love working with. I think sometimes solo performing can feel a little lonely (not when you’re on stage connecting with an audience, but all the organising and writing process). So time of the week is a real beacon for me to connect with my fellow character colleagues like Ada Player and Alice Cockayne, Jodie Mitchell, and Jonathan. And touch base with some of the best new writers like Priya Hall. It’s a real delight to bounce your ideas off someone you think is the funniest person in the world. There’s a reason why American comedy is so successful and I think a big factor is the writer room culture. It really grows and nurtures talent.

7. Going back to 24 Hour Diner People, what do you hope people will take away from it.

I just want them to have had a stupid nice time. I don’t think my comedy will ever make you learn nothin.

8. Where can people follow you on social media?

Instalorns on instagram

LornaRegionalTransport on TikTok

Deborah Meaden on Linked in

Lorna Rose Treen will be performing 24 Hour Diner People at Soho Theatre from 8^th-13^th September. Tickets here – https://sohotheatre.com/events/lorna-rose-treen-24-hour-diner-people/

Chortle’s Best Alternative Act 2024 – Winner

Channel 4 Sean Lock Award 2023 – Finalist

Dave’s Best Joke of the Fringe 2023 – Winner

Chortle’s Best Newcomer 2023 – Winner

BBC New Comedian 2023 – Semi Finalist

Funny Women Stage Award 2022 – Winner

Funny Women Comedy Shorts Award 2022 – Winner

#Interview By Lou with the Tony Award Winning Actor, Laura Benanti on new show Nobody Cares @laurabenanti #NobodyCares #comedy in #Soho #London at #Underbelly on 2nd Sept #Theatre

Interview with Laura Benanti
on Nobody Cares

Interview by Louise Cannon

Welcome, Laura Benanti, to Bookmarks and Stages and thank you for the opportunity to interview you.

I am absolutely delighted to interview Laura Benanti about her new show, Nobody Cares, which had a hugely successful run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It has now directly transferred to:
Underbelly Boulevard Soho, London on 2 September for two performances only.

See after the interview for ticket details.

Laura is best known for her show-stealing performance as Louise in Gypsy alongside Patti LuPone on Broadway. For this role, Laura won a prestigious Tony Award.
She is also known for her recurring role impersonating Melania Trump on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, alongside other major Broadway such as Eliza Doolittle in my Fair Lady and more. She has also appeared in tv shows, such as Nashville, Gossip Girl, The Gilded Age and more…

Here’s a little about Nobody Cares before we talk about it interview, finding humour in being a former people pleaser and in the perimenopause, Melania Trump and why she impersonates her, connecting with audiences and more… The answers are fascinating and insightful.

Nobody Cares, is a hilarious, heartfelt, and sometimes brutally honest autobiographical hit charting Benanti’s journey from an 18-year-old ingenue to a recovering people pleaser with all of the missteps and marriages (three!) along the way. Her comedic take on everything from motherhood to perimenopause is yet another star turn.

Your show, Nobody Cares had a successful run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, you’ve stepped onto the glitzy stages of Broadway, huge tv series and won a Tony. What inspired you to choose the Edinburgh Fringe Festival to showcase Nobody Cares and what did you like most about your time there?

I’ve always wanted to perform at the Fringe! Being at a festival full of theatre nerds was a dream come true!

2.You bring Nobody Cares to intimate stages, what do you enjoy most about this and are there any challenges, compared to big Broadway stages?

I enjoy connecting with the audience in a completely different way. I can communicate with them. It’s a much more relaxed vibe.

3. You bring comedy, ranging from parenthood to perimenopause, they can be inherently funny subjects, but what do you feel is important that we find the humour, even in the most challenging of times of being a women?

I endeavor to see the world through the lense of a sense of humor. For me, it’s the only way through. Humor eradicates shame.

4. You tackle being a former “people pleaser”, how did you overcome people pleasing?

I’m still working on it! I actively work on it during the show! There are definitely people who come to the show thinking I’m going to sing Broadway music and instead I deliver original comedy and songs that has very adult themes and language. I find myself wanting to apologize to them for that, or wondering what they’re thinking. I have to tell myself to let it go and be present.

5. What’s one of the funniest moments of the peri-menopause? Frankly, I ask as I am one of those women hurtling ever closer to that age and stage of life.

I think embracing that you will, at some point, look for your phone and it will be in your hand. Brain fog is real!

6. After London, what’s next for you in your illustrious career?

The day after I land I film a few days on a very sweet movie called “the Ditch” and then we take our show to Berkeley, California.

7. On a side note, us in the UK often have an eye on US politics. You’re known for impersonating Melania Trump on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, which is incredibly funny, even from a single pose. What inspires you to do impersonations and kick ass out of politicians? We also have many comedians doing this, it’s often clever.

First of all, I want to apologize on behalf of America that some of us voted for our current POTUS (pervert of the United States. Doing this impression is an act of rebellion and a way to keep people laughing during what is a very serious time.

You can catch Laura Benanti in Nobody Cares by finding out more details and booking here: https://underbellyboulevard.com/tickets/laura-benanti-nobody-cares/

#Interview by Lou with Max Fulham about his show Full of Ham at #EdFringe @ThePleasance @maxfulhamcomedy #Comedy

Interview with Max Fulham about Full of Ham

conducted by Bookmarks and Stages – Louise Cannon

It gives me great pleasure to welcome Max Fulham to Bookmarks and Stages for a Q&A session on his comedy act, playfully named, Full of Ham.

Max Fulham likes to make people laugh through ventriloquism (vent). It’s perhaps not quite all as you’d expect. He has put his own twist on this art-form. He’s worked with some of the biggest stars in show-biz like Craig-Revel Horwood and Mel Giedroyc. He started out in Linlithgow, which is not too far from Edinburgh

Without further ado, let’s find out more through the interview.

You’re known for modernising and bringing new audiences to ventriloquism, but who or what inspired you to take up this artform and create stage shows with it?

How did you train to do ventriloquism?

I taught myself as a child and there was a little worn patch of carpet in front of the mirror in my bedroom where I used to stand and practice. My first puppet was a little pink hand puppet and it was the first of many over the years I asked for for subsequent birthdays and Christmases. It probably took me a few years before I was even half decent and I am grateful I was still a child because being a bit rubbish can be sort of endearing then!

I took up ventriloquism (or vent if you’re really cool) after my parents bought me a puppet for Christmas when I was nine. I have been hooked on it since then! Having done it for a good few years now, one of the things I realised is that a lot of audiences had never seen ventriloquism live before and also had a few preconceptions about it being a bit old and naff. I suppose that is the main inspiration for trying to take it in some new directions or simply to use it to create the funniest things I can. I have been inspired by many of the greats over the years like Ray Alan and Terri Rogers and I think looking back has what has gone before can be a great jumping off point when wanting to take things in a different direction.

Your style is very different from having a dummy on your knee. You’ve decided to create an inner monologue, use inanimate objects and expressions.

What inspired you to do it this way and what themes do you tend to lean towards in this show and why?

It’s fun to play with what people expect from a ventriloquist and twist it into something slightly different. There may be a puppet as you’d expect at one moment but it becomes something unexpected. I have also really enjoyed exploring stuff that doesn’t use a puppet, what happens if there are multiple characters onstage but I’m the only person there? In terms of themes I feel that the show really goes from the everyday to the absurd, from supermarket checkouts to a box full of intrusive thoughts.

You started life in Linlithgow and then headed to clubs and cruise ships, now home to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. How has your travels influenced what you bring to your shows?

My travels have enabled me to perform for such a wide variety of audiences which is invaluable experience for any performer. What will sometimes work in one scenario will not work in another and I hope that I am slightly better at working that out now after performing all over the place. The vibe I always want to create in my shows is a sense of unity that we are all there in a room and I have some fun things to show you.

Rowan Atkinson, Mel Giedroyc, Craig Revel Horwood and Terry Fator famously highly rate you, which is fantastic. How did that come about and how does this add to shaping your career as you progress ever forwards?

I have been lucky enough to work with or meet some phenomenal people and some true comedy heroes. I worked with Craig Revel Horwood in pantomime last year, he was the Hook to my Smee and we had a great time! I worked with Mel Giedroyc on her show Unforgivable and she has been encouraging me to do the Fringe since then! Getting to meet and work with these wonderful people is often a nice reassurance that I’m getting at least something right… it also looks good on the poster and I’m very grateful for their kind words!

You’re billed to be appearing in Panto with Alexandra Burke and Dr. Ranj, how are you preparing for that and are you able to share what it will be and where?

Yes! I’m off to Neverland this Christmas (read: Southampton). It is shaping up to be a fantastic show from what I have heard in the meetings I have had so far. One of the amazing things about panto though is that it comes together so quickly and we only start rehearsals a week and a half before the show opens so preparations come a lot later in the year!

What’s next for your solo ventriloquism shows?

I would just quite like to continue doing my nonsense and making people laugh. I am excited to see where the characters and ideas from this Fringe show go, I have a feeling a few of them may have life beyond this show!

Where can people follow you on social media?

You can follow me on Instagram @MaxFulham and on TikTok and Facebook @maxfulhamcomedy.

Max Fulham has brought his show ‘Full of Ham’ to the Edinburgh Fringe the August, every night at 6.40pm in the Pleasance Courtyard. For tickets and more information, visit:: https://www.pleasance.co.uk/event/max-fulham-full-ham

#Review of Ian Smith – Foot Spa Half Empty by Bookmarks and Stages – Lou. @Iansmithcomedy @TextualHealing2 @BarrelComedy #StandupComedy #Comedy #EdFringe #EdFringe25

Ian Smith – Foot Spa Half Empty

Review by Bookmarks and Stages – Louise Cannon

Stand up comedian Ian Smith from Have I Got News For You; Live at the Apollo, Just A Minute, The News Quiz etc fame has a live stand-up comedy show not to be missed! The Monkey Barrel in Edinburgh provides a great venue for this. If you want an hour of sheer laughter, this is the stand-up show for you.

Ian Smith is a top notch comedian! It is excellently hilarious, always hitting the highest notes of comedy.

To find out what he has to say about Edinburgh Fringe leaflets, what Netflix has to do with roast dinners, some tastefully done IVF jokes of his experiences, stress and basketball hoops, you need to see the show.

Ian Smith goes from story to story, full of jokes, succinctly with excellent comic timing, then expertly weaving references to part of a previous joke together for great linkage.

I went with my friend Orla (not associated with Bookmarks and Stages, just a friend visiting, who says:

‘”Absolutely fantastic – brilliantly told stories woven together into a hilarious, clever performance.”

This show and it’s absolutely fantastic. People who see a full show of this when one materialises are in for a real treat. For now, head to The Monkey Barrell venue in Edinburgh to catch this particular show. It’s an hour of laughter very well spent. You can get your ticket to the show of much entertainment here: Ian Smith Foot Spa Half Empty

#Review of Scaramouche Jones performed by Thom Tuck by Bookmarks and Stages – Lou #ScaramoucheJones @turlygod #EdFringe #Hoots #Yurt #PottersRow #EdFringe25

Scaramouche Jones
Performed by Thom Tuck

Scaramouche Jones is a 100 year old clown played by Thom Tuck, who you may know from the likes of Horrible Histories and Penny Dreadfuls. He tells the story on Millenium Eve, after he’s come off stage after a show. What unfolds is a fascinating journey through history and tragedy, with a bit of well-placed humour.

Thom Tuck brought a fabulously engaging informality to the show, which brought increased and wonderfully uniquely intense experience that takes you through historical events, some other clowns are also mentioned, which between that and the events of times gone-by creates an authentic play, even though Scaramouche Jones himself is made-up. As the story comes out, Thom Tuck makes you feel, deeply for what unfolds and catches your eye, creating an even deeper, meaningful experience, like he casts a spell on his audience, who lapped up all that they were being told.

If, for now, if it goes on tour, or in 10 years time, when he plans to bring it back to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, this is a show that fascinates and educates as he brings historical events to life and makes you feel all the emotions. Thom Tuck takes some traumatic events of the earth’s history and tells them in an original narrative on one hand and on the other hand, sitting at the juxtaposition, he has elements that will make you laugh. It’s all masterfully woven together to create a performance about a clown with a difference from all the clowns you’ve ever known.

You can still catch it at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Check it out here: Scaramouche Jones

#Review By Lou of Out of My Head – Alan Watts is Alive and Well… Dead Performed by Jeremy Stockwell @jeremystockwell Directed by Terry Johnson @PleasanceTheatre #EdFringe

Out of My Head – Alan Watts is Alive and Well… Dead
Performed by Jeremy Stockwell
Directed by Terry Johnson

review written by Louise Cannon – Bookmarks and Stages

Review

Prior to seeing this play, I hadn’t heard of Alan Watts, but it intrigued me. The set is interesting, with blankets and cushions and looks rather comfortable and cosy.

There’s a fascinating potted history through time, which also gives a flavour as to who Alan Watts was. I didn’t know who he was before seeing this play, but came away with a good sense of who he was. Themes of spirituality, politics, challenges of travel are weaved into conversation and life observations between both Alan Watts and the actor who’s playing him, Jeremy Stockwell, as himself. It’s a unique play that’s well worth going to see.

A lot is thrown up in this play to contemplate, some of which is wise. It’s a rather powerful play with added themes of the audience being told they are enough and more phrases to that ilk being used.

Out of My Head is quietly deep, contemplative and reflective of life and death and what that last day on earth might look like. There’s also, surprisingly some humour in this as well.

Jeremy Stockwell is engaging, some of which could be impactful in a positive way for some people. He holds his audience’s gaze expertly well, drawing you deeper, both cerebrally and emotionally.

Jeremy Stockwell seems fascinating, whether playing someone else or himself.

Interestingly there is a section where people can ask questions, which were answered with rather enlightening answers, which comes in the form of as though you are talking to Alan Watts.

Synopsis

Join Alan Watts, hippie, philosopher and pioneer of the counterculture, for his last night on Earth. In his Californian hilltop hideaway, Alan contemplates his mortality and his life as a freewheeling guru and spiritual rogue. From his hospital bed, Jeremy Stockwell imagines what might have been if he had met his hero. What results is a wild ride through an eccentric landscape of love, sex, vodka and mortality. Written and performed by Jeremy Stockwell, directed by Terry Johnson.