Absurdist comedian Selina Mosinski (aka Charity Shop Sue) brings her semi-autobiographical show, Puss in Boots – a Working Class Fairy Tale to the Edinburgh Fringe this summer.
“Before she was serving immortal lines as viral icon Charity Shop Sue, Selina Mosinski was Randy Cain: an 18-year-old stripper from Derby with a big personality, bigger ambition and zero intention of staying small-town. Part confessional memoir, part riotous surreal character-comedy, Puss In Boots is a Working Class Fairy Tale. A darkly-funny, glitter-stained confession about how far we’ll go – and how low we’ll sink – in the name of fame and fortune.”
Where: King Dome at Pleasance Dome
When: 5-30 Aug
Ticket link: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/selina-mosinski-puss-in-boots-a-working-class-fairy-tale
What can you tell us about your show? What is it about and where did the idea come from?
It’s a weird, reimagined tale of my first-ever experience performing – as a stripper in the late 90s. Back then, if you were from Derby and working class, getting anywhere near a stage felt impossible, so this was the next best thing.
I had a great time – it was the era of the ladette, and it genuinely felt like the world was our oyster as women. But looking back now, it’s so absurd. We were told we could be and do anything, yet it was all still framed through the male gaze, with a male‑dominated media scrutinising us at every turn. It was a really strange, charged moment in time.
In the show, I’m guided by an ‘industry fairy godmother’ as we travel back through that world. Ultimately, it’s a big, playful parody of my time as a ladette – a mix of nostalgia, critique, and comedy about what freedom for women really looked like back then.
How would you sell it to audiences in one paragraph?
A trippy, time‑travelling tale of a ladette navigating the weird, wonderful and occasionally dark world of 90s strip clubs.
Do you enjoy participating in the Fringe? And do you have any moments you particularly remember?
I first performed at the Fringe many moons ago with an old friend of mine, Daniel Hunt, in a shipping container that had been transformed into a kind of ‘peep show’ room. We were talking about the process of manufacturing HDPE, but in this completely hyper‑sexualised way. It was brilliantly bonkers.
We were absolutely skint and took the bus up from the Midlands – it took about nine hours – and we were still trying to learn our lines. We kept bursting out laughing when the reality hit that we were basically just reciting lines from a plastic manufacturing manual. Completely ridiculous, but such good memories.
What are you looking forward to the most in Edinburgh?
I’m looking forward to performing the show night after night and letting it evolve as it goes. I know it will change how I interact with the props and the other characters – the blow‑up dolls, who are voiced by the brilliant Timothy Chesney.
It’s a scripted show, but there’s plenty of room for improv, and I’m really interested to see how doing so many performances in such a short space of time will shift the rhythms and beats of it.
I’m also keen to see other shows while I’m there and watch people’s work come to life.
What’s next for the show?
Well… I’d love to tour it. But maybe ask me again at the end of the Fringe – I’m sure by then I’ll need to hibernate for a month, possibly a year…