Comedian Rosalie Minnitt brings Lady Clementine back to the Edinburgh Fringe in Clementine 2.
“Cult-hit Lady Clementine returns to Fringe for her second chapter (threat). With neither sense nor sensibility, history’s most helpless heroine is back by overwhelming demand (hers). And this time, dear reader, she’s more unhinged than ever. Delusional. Illiterate. And still a single sack of shit (as her Mama lovingly puts it). From the very last brain cell of Funny Women Award-winner Rosalie Minnitt comes a feral new fever dream for the girls. Miss Clementine is BACK. Run. “
Rosalie Minnitt: Clementine II
15:35 | 5th – 30th (not 18th) | Pleasance Courtyard, Beside
Ticket link: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/rosalie-minnitt-clementine-2
Rosalie will also be appearing at in Margaret Thatcher Queen of Hollywood at Assembly George Square – details here, and she will reprise Clementine for Shedinburgh at Assembly Checkpoint – details here.
What can you tell us about your show?
I’m so excited to be bringing Clementine’s second chapter to the Fringe this year! Clementine is a comedy character – part period drama pastiche, part absolute nightmare. She’s a kind of regency-ish meditation on girlhood. In this next show, she heads out into the city to make something of herself but gets embroiled in everything from rivalry to revolution.
What is it about and where did the idea come from?
The first show focused entirely on love, and for this next one, I was keen to explore different themes and find interesting ways to build up Clementine’s world. It would have been a lot easier to just repeat the beats from the first show, but I wanted to challenge myself and approach this from a completely different angle. This one is about friendship, and I’m playing a lot with the tropes of legacy and making history. Think Hamilton meets Mean Girls, but set vaguely in a completely made-up past. She talks about the present through the lens of the past, essentially allowing me to ask an audience, “I sort of feel like this. Do you feel like this too?” – but with a few bows stuck onto it.
How would you sell it to audiences in one paragraph?
Miss Lady Clementine is a fever dream for the girlies – and everyone else. Above all, the show is fun and pure escapism. Just for an hour, I want people to put aside whatever might be going on in their lives and fall into Clementine’s world. After all, it’s comforting to watch someone who is doing worse in life than you are. And trust me, no one is making more of a mess of things than she is.
Do you enjoy participating in the Fringe?
I love the Fringe. It’s gruelling and you do have to be a bit unhinged to even consider doing it but there’s nothing like performing every day and getting the chance to share your work with audiences. There’s an awful lot of noise – whether that’s the pressure of wanting to make an impact in the industry or even just facing up to the financial strain of bringing a show up there for the whole month – but, if you can turn it all down a little bit, the essence is still really special. I just keep reminding myself what a privilege it is to be able to go up there.
And do you have any moments you particularly remember?
I remember the moment I got my first review for Clementine in 2023. It was a good one (thank god! They weren’t all good!), and I felt both proud and a little bit scared; the reality of how vulnerable it is to show your work to the world really hit me. It was less that the review was good – although that was a plus – it was more the confirmation that someone got it. They understood what I was trying to do and say, proof that it reached them! And that felt really special.
What are you looking forward to the most in Edinburgh?
I’m really looking forward to being my character every day. It’s the thing that really keeps me coming back to comedy!
What’s next for the show?
I’m hoping to be able to keep performing as Clementine as long as people will let me [actual threat].