Having returned to the Edinburgh Fringe with her sophomore show, Doomscrolling, Suchandrika Chakrabarti chats to Pepper&Salt about her new hour, character comedy and what’s going on with the orcas.
How would you summarise your show?
So, Doomscrolling is about the speed of the news and how it’s affecting people. I’m going to try and explain the news to my five-year-old niece. She has a lot of questions; she was born just before the pandemic. She also surprised me with questions for a child like me and my brother were talking about 2016 and she was like, “Where was I? “And she was born in 2018. It’s kind of like, how do you explain these big things to someone who gets so sad when it’s getting dark? I used to be a journalist as well, so I know a lot about how news is made. And how it’s worked in digital transformation. Without getting too technical, so trying to explain that but keeping it funny at the same time.
How do you use character comedy in this show?
My very set ended up being quite a surreal set. I was speaking to my niece about it and giving her terrible advice. It came back to what I did. She has these really deep questions. She’ll be 30 one day and she’ll be asking me what was going on. I think it’s a responsibility that comes with that. I’m worried about what the climate will look like when she’s 30. It’s a responsibility of a generation. I think looking to the future and imagining her future for me is fertile ground. It’s also helpful in satirising the time. You do familiarise by looking back at the time.
The climate crisis is very complex, it often switches people off. If I put on a whale mask and call myself Muselker, which is a new character I’ve come up with, then she’ll make it funny like a cartoon.
What is your favourite character?
I do like Muselker. But there is something about Cruella Braverman. Guess who she is! So, obviously, Cruella Braverman, a lot of people come up with that name. But I think there are very few who could possibly play her. I just got a little Cruella de Vile wig, black and white. I just had a lot of fun with her. Starting with Cruella Braverman. I’m not complaining about her, but she’s quite surreal. Somebody once told me it was a good drag name, Cruella Braverman. I’d love to work on a drag character. If I could manage that by Fringe, that would be great.
What is going on in the sea?
There’s a lot of orcas ramming yachts, and, like, they’ve got a name now. It becomes a bit like, there’s a theme to crime podcasts running through it. There’s one orca called Gladys, which I love, because it’s not a very scary name. And she sees to be behind a lot of these, and it seems to be that she was injured by a boat, and then she’s got her entire pod to wreak to vengeance. There’s a little bit of a mafia movie in there, which I really like. There’s a lot going on. And I just, we don’t stop dealing with the climate crisis, and also, like, politics. I think the whales are coming on that. I mean, they can do anything. I’m doing the one called Gladys, and she’s happy as well.
As you mentioned, you have a background in journalism. How does it feel to be on the other side of the stage as it were?
I think it’s more fun. Obviously, I still had to research my show. All the headlines are a bit real, I talk about that. Even though comedy can obviously make you laugh, I do still put real headlines in the shows. They’re all from the press. My last job was Daily Mirror, I’d be sort of running teaching sessions. And I think teaching probably has a bit more of a stepping stone for sitting at a desk being a journalist. There are lots of ex-teachers working in the media. It was a good experience, you do have an audience. When I was a trainer, I had to help them develop their skills. Whereas in comedy, it’s much more about the entertainment and not necessarily having to get across in education.
Do you have any material that might have to change depending on the General Election?
In the end, just one line. I agree with you, it’s quite shaken up right, it’s very up to the moment and very on the news cycle. It’s taken two years of making the show, it’s a long time. People will be overwhelmed by news. The moment you’re thinking, you’re not laughing. And also, I don’t want people to feel bad, if they don’t remember, because my whole point is, it’s not your fault, it’s technology, it’s better. I think the relationship comes first with my niece, and that’s universal, so everyone can understand that, even if they’re not necessarily uncle or aunt. The idea of a new child in your life, who’s asking questions is, I think, is very relatable, and then going from there. And then the other part of it is that September 2022 is when a lot of stuff happens, so Liz Truss, the Queen dying and so on.
And so looking at, like, look, if you didn’t look at your phone for one second, you’re just remaking news. Looking at it from that point of view, more what it feels like, and more like what the next generation would think of it, I felt like that gave it spine, and showed me how to keep changing the news. Now, it’s all about who’s in Prince Harry’s book. It’s not been long enough that it’s funny, but it’s been too long to remember the details. And I don’t want to make audiences feel bad yet, because that’s normal human behaviour to do that stuff. I try to hinge it more on that. Lots of animal news, because that’s perennial. A lot of killer whale news. They’ve been taking down a lot of billionaires’ yachts, and I do believe they’re socialists.
What is the weirdest thread or things that the algorithm shown you while you’ve been doomscrolling?
It’s quite mortuary related. I think it’s, like, cave diving disasters. So, like, people will go into caves, or they’ll go to water-filled caves with a diving gear, and, like, they do, they always make it out. Like, I’m claustrophobic, so I would never go into these situations. Somehow, the algorithm knows, it knows. And so, it keeps serving me up every now and then. And it’s like, you go into little videos, and you’ve got diagrams, and this man gets stuck, and then you try to send him out. And I’m just like, “You know how to scare me.” People end up getting stuck in tiny places forever. Horror. Thanks, phone. On the flip side, I saw a pregnant squirrel on TikTok the other day. It was so cute. It had its little hands on its belly. It was just as cute as you can imagine. It looked very happy.
Is there a cure or a way to combat doomscrolling?
First of all, it’s not really our fault. Everything is because of the technology and the way the news is written and the way social media is set up. It has aided to sort of latch into the predictive part of our brains. So, if something news was published in the area of the best, then, like, you know, but, you know, they do test headlines to see which ones are clicked on more. If you look at clickbait, I’d argue it’s kind of, you don’t use it anymore. But, you’re essentially looking to write a headline on social when there’s somebody who’s curious. So, it’s got to be like, you want to fill in the sentence. It’s like a joke, and you want to fill in the answer. . So, it’s not really human beings’ fault, is it? In a period of time, when we’ve got a phone with us all the time, it’s easy to click on an ad. It’s the easiest thing possible. Children can use it. My niece could use a phone before she could read these in complete sentences, because children can read these things. So, I think no one’s blaming ourselves. And then, look at how seriously your problem is. You can now get phones; they’re called light phones. You can call people. You’ve got text messaging. No apps. So, is that something that’s worth getting? Maybe, maybe it’s an issue.
I think, I’ve got two steps. But first of all, don’t blame yourself, because this technology has been made to suck us in. And the news, in particular, is one of the things we want them to do. It doesn’t work without an audience. It literally exists to raise awareness. The news is not a great place in terms of industry. So, they’re doing everything they can to keep an audience. So, just know that, and know that there’s a power in you switching off where possible. I think what’s nice is the next generation has got to do something different. And I think in this case, it’d be like, we’re not scrolling. You’d be a lot less content.
What are you looking forward to about being back at the Fringe?
I didn’t go last year, I debuted in 2022. So, I’m really excited to go back. It’s just like an energy and that skill that I love. I first went in 2003 as a critic. I love going to watch stuff, I love just being there. I’m quite a night person. So I like waking up as late as possible and staying that late, and then this year, I’m only doing the last two weeks. I’m performing in a yurt, which I’m looking forward to. So, I’d always go to a yurt and be like, I want to be in there. And then we get to do things like ACMS for the first time. , I’m looking forward to diving in halfway through and making the best of it. And it’s like a really silly show. It’s character stuff in the first time, and that’s part of the show. I kind of say to the audience, shall I? Shall I put on this mask? Shall I try this? Some of the people just like playing with the audience a bit in a different way. It’s my best show.
Apart from your own hour, what recommendations do you have?
I did this, like, semi- improvised show called Liz Truss’ The Traitors. Nerine Skinner, The Exorcism of Liz Truss. She’s a great Liz Truss parodist. She’s in The Caves, Just The Tonic. And Mike Kunze, Infinity Mirror. It’s about, like, celebrity, and he’s, again, like, a really great improv person, very funny. So, yeah, it’s a good show,
By Katerina Partolina Schwartz
Photo Credit: Rebecca Need-Menear
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