Writer/actor Panos Kandunias brings his show I Bought A Flip Phone to Brighton Fringe this month. He chats to us about it below.
Where and when: The Actors on 11 and 12 May at 5pm and BN1 Arts on 25 and 26 May at 7:30pm.
Ticket link: https://www.brightonfringe.org/events/i-bought-a-flip-phone/
“Charlie is turning 27 and wants this year to be different.
He’s sick of spending so much time looking at other people’s lives instead of living his own.
So he’s bought an old school flip phone as surely that will make him feel better.
Yet it’s still constantly abuzz with messages from his best friend (are they best friends anymore?), his mum, his landlord, that guy that one time and an offer from Vodafone.
I Bought A Flip Phone is about loneliness, spending too much time on your phone and feeling as though you are waiting for your life to start.
Spend an hour with Charlie to make him feel a bit less lonely, please.“
What’s the best thing about being included in a fringe festival?
That you see so much other great stuff! You do your show and then you see a bunch of other amazing ones all in the same day.
You also meet some amazing people, because everyone has such zest at a Fringe Festival!
The first reader of an early draft of this show was actually someone I met at Edinburgh Fringe last year.
Another writer/performer, Katie Plott, look her up, she’s a hoot.
Tell me a bit about your show, I Bought A Flip Phone?
It’s a one person show about someone who has been feeling low so bought an old school flip phone to try and feel like he was wasting less time on his phone and doing things that instead made him happier.
The plot is propelled forward by the phone calls and text messages he receives over the course of the hour (or the ones he’s waiting for). I hope that audiences laugh but also feel stirred by the end.
Your main character wants to step back from ‘looking at other people’s lives’. Do you think social media is a blessing or a curse?
I fear I sound really old and curmudgeonly when I talk about this kind of thing (I’m 26 for context).
I think that of course there have been some real benefits to social media. A lot of independent businesses doing really cool things have been able to flourish because of Instagram.
It goes without saying that it’s for better or worse really important in the Arts/Entertainment sector right now to get audiences in. I really resent that though!
I didn’t have Instagram until I started doing this show for instance. I’m still really bad at it. A close friend texted me yesterday to say ‘How come you didn’t tell me you’re on Instagram now!?’ because I genuinely find it a bit overwhelming.
I think people can waste a lot of time on there , and I think that the overstimulation social media provides people with can have really negative effects.
Social media is a part of life and I don’t think the point of the show is to say ‘All Social Media is bad’ but I’m interested in interrogating where the ability to constantly have people at our fingertips and loneliness intersect.
It’s ironic that loneliness is higher than ever despite the fact that we’re all more connected than ever before.
You are both writer and performer of this show. Which aspect of making theatre do you enjoy most?
Love it all! Depends what mood I’m in. I have to say the thing that’s difficult about doing a one person show is there’s less collaboration perhaps than other forms of making theatre.
With only one of you on stage. I love collaborating with people, and bouncing ideas off each other.
Working with a director in a rehearsal room has been of such importance to me in creating this show. The feeling of being in rehearsal with a director and feeling as though you’re getting to grips with it together is really electrifying.
There’s another side of me though that loves being in my sweatpants with a notebook, copious amounts of PG tips and sticky notes, working on a script.
At first it’s hell, and I think ‘what the hell am I thinking is this ever going to be anything worth reading/being performed’ but then the feeling of getting to a draft of feeling proud of it is euphoric.
As for performing? Sadly, the feeling of being on stage and making an audience laugh is like crack to me.
What’s next for the show?
Well, well, the irony is you should follow me on @panoskandunias on Instagram to find out!
I’m doing it at the Courtyard Theatre in London in August. Looking to take it to some more venues ahead of hopefully a run at Edinburgh Fringe next Summer!