EDFRINGE 2025: PLEASANCE
Maddy & Marina Bye
Siblings: Dreamweavers
PLEASANCE
Pleasance Courtyard
Baby Grand
SIBLINGS: DREAMWEAVERS
30th July - 24th August
(not 11th & 15th August)
Photo Credit: Dylan Woodley
June, 25, 2025
Award-winning character comedians and IRL Sisters, Maddy and Marina Bye (Byes), are back. Finally, their research is complete and you get the first glimpse into their incredibly innovative invented invention. This is sketch comedy gone subconscious. Set your alarms and see Siblings swoop into the surreal world of your sleeping minds as they crack open your brains and backflip in. Gird your loins for a knock(ed) out hour of absurd, raucous and down right delirious comedy, you bunch of dreamers!
Hi Maddy and Marina, thank you for being part of our interview series for Edfringe 2025, do nerves still set in ahead of a fringe run?
Hello! Thank you for having us! We think it's actually more a numbness before the storm...like the body is preserving itself before absolute carnage commences. Also maybe a bit of denial? We do feel a lot more prepared and love our show a lot this year so that is exciting. Also because we haven't done a full run in two years, we are delightfully naive and calm about it. Which is hilarious because in a week we are pretty sure we won't know what hit us. I would say at the moment we are like two virginal maids skipping into Dante's inferno.
What was your first Edinburgh Fringe like?
In our first year we performed so close to midnight everyday and absolutely lost our minds. We've never been more confused and didn't see daylight. One evening we fell asleep and woke up 20 minutes before our show so RAN with a coffee, a cider and bunch of flyers in our hands to perform the show. Back then, most of our sketches needed 110% physical energy and was pretty much a full hour of shouting. Things have calmed down since then but I think we forgot what normality was. On the other hand we made some incredible friends who we still have today and we have quite literally been back to Fringe every single year since, something about it sparked the fire.
What does it mean to you to bringing Siblings: Dreamweavers to The Pleasance Courtyard this Summer?
It really means a lot to be bringing this show to the Pleasance. This is the hardest we have ever worked on a show, we started previewing it last year and have not stopped thinking, talking, breathing or sweating this show since. It’s now a very different beast to what we've ever done before and we are so excited to show everyone what we have concocted. We also had some time away from doing a full run and so because of both severe FOMO and being mad people, we thought it was the right time to come back, full pelt.. Dreamweavers is a lot of fun, it is a sciency, rude, silly, carnage filled sketch show that also requires 110% physical energy.. Nothing has changed there.
Your past shows have been finite sell-outs what do you think it is about your comedy that has connected with audiences?
One thing we have loved is audiences coming over and saying how much we remind them of their relationship with their siblings. Luckily, quite a lot of humans have siblings so this was a good sign. In a way this could Soley be the reason we've sold out in the past. We reckon by the end of the month it will be just one big crowd of siblings. Everyone will be related.
Can you tell me a little bit about Siblings: Dreamweavers, what can fringe audiences expect?
Marina thinks that this show could be in the theatre section of the fringe. Maddy thinks if that was the case it would be the worst play known to humankind, but as a sketch comedy show pretending to be somewhat of a play, it really works. We want the audience to come with little to no expectation so they can leave wondering what the hell they just witnessed. That's our favorite kind of impression to make. Dreamweavers is a sketch show set in a clinical trial for one hell of a scientific invention - a helmet which can project your dreams onto the stage.. it's ‘madness’ and 'science' and dreams...I hope that's helpful..
What your creative process when starting to put a new show together, is it 50/50 all the way?
Yes, sometimes we will spend days, even weeks wracking our brains and coming up with absolutely nothing. Suddenly one of us will start playing a dragon wanting to mate with another dragon or the other will start singing about being food inside a food waste bin in an attempt to try and find something catchy or funny to put in the show. If someone was watching through the window they would definitely think we consumed the wrong kind of hallucinogenic. Because we are sisters we don't have to be polite and laugh if it's not funny so it's normally one of us performing an idea we thought of at 2am, for our lives, whilst the other starts texting or just stares in the wrong direction.
Suddenly one of us will say one line or even a word and it clicks. Then we focus in and off we go...It's wildly painful and can take months but if we can make the other sister laugh, we know we have the beginning of something.
"The advantage of being siblings is that we are so innately connected, we can speak at the same time without a cue!"
Once a show is running how much flexibility do you give yourself with your material during a fringe run?
We have always enjoyed tripping the other one up during a show, in the kindest way possible, and we are always trying to make each other laugh. So it's very flexible....maybe too flexible.. As an audience member you know you'll literally never see the same show twice. So we highly recommend you buy a ticket to our show every single night for the whole entire month.
Where did the idea come from to create your comedy due and what are the advantages of being real sisters?
Maddy went to clown school and Marina went to drama school so we were both doing some kind of performance but very much in our own separate ways. Then Maddy threw Marina on stage in the back room of an office building at some obscure variety night in Edinburgh about 10 years ago. I think it was the worst thing an audience has ever seen but that's where Siblings was born. We got a taste and liked it - and the rest was history. We also used to perform together as children all the time. I think we had an eye for good characters as kids because we would choose someone and then impersonate them for the rest of the day. Some of these people still feature in our shows..
The advantage of being siblings is that we are so innately connected, we can speak at the same time without a cue! A very useful talent.. We are also brutally honest with each other.. So it's great in one way but sometimes on lookers who don't think we are siblings are concerned we are in a deeply toxic friendship. The good news is we aren't. Just family. And as we all know family relationships are the most healthy...
Maddy: What three things about Marina do you love the most?
Marina is without a doubt the funniest person I have ever encountered in my life. She is just so freekin' weird. So weird I can't explain. She opens her mouth and I am keeled over on the floor in confused hysterics.. I've known her my whole life and I'm still not used to how funny Marina is. She's also very very talented and is so committed, I know she's going to be a huge film star one day or shel be the leader of theatre.
I also love that she is able to float into any room and everyone EVERYONE wants to be her friend, she can meet someone and 4 minutes later they are in the deepest conversation about life, love, therapy, outer space. I have no idea how she does it.
Lastly I love her clothes and I do and will be stealing them all
Marina: Same question?
Maddy has energy I don't and I find it inspiring. If it wasn't for her none of this would have happened. She has a thirst for laughter and lightness in this universe and so I'm lucky I got dragged in by her because I wouldn't be laughing nearly as much if I didn't.
She's much smaller and cuter than me so I like to sometimes grab her head and squash it and she hates it so much.
Even though she is small and cute she's also a boss bitch. So this is great for me because I don't think I've ever had to read small print or any kind of form in my entire comedy career. She knows exactly who the right people are, the best communities and the kindest and funniest people in the comedy world so thanks to her I have some best friends.
What inspires your comedy?
We share the exact same sense of humour so really are inspired by the same things and the weirder the better. We are inspired by really subtle observations that can make us wheeze for days. Brilliant characters & funny women who have come before us. French and Saunders is a big inspiration, Victoria Wood and a lot of people doing weird videos on instagram.
How do you unwind after a show?
Maddy: Starring at a wall until the next show
Marina: A glass of bourbon and London's most elite brothel.
Will you get the opportunity to see much during the fringe?
Doing lots of shows and lots of gigs can stop you from seeing so much but we are DETERMINED. We want to watch it allllll. Going with this attitude now. We will be at every show.
Have you always had a passion for comedy?
Since we were tiny people (5 years old etc) we used to perform all the time in the back car seat. Characters spanning from married couples filing for divorce to American crocodile hunters. So yes the comedy has always been there but we didn't really know what it was until the Crocodile hunters were performed in front of an audience.
If you could share the stage with one other comedian who would they be, and why?
We once did a show called Siblings & Séayoncé where we shared the stage with Dan Wye (Séayoncé) and Robin Herfellow (Leslie Anne) and that was always a favourite. To have two of the most glamorous drag acts on the scene stare at us and drink wine whilst we desperately danced around them was deeply enjoyable. Jordan Brookes has also been a fun one to share the stage with because he sort of hates us up there (we are friends in real life I PROMISE) and that dynamic always makes it funny because all we want to do is humiliate him and he's having none of it.
Sell Siblings: Dreamweavers in three words (no hyphens).
Anarchic, dreams, ludicrous
Any advice you could offer anyone making their debut at the festival this year?
It's probably helpful not to focus on the outcome of the Fringe and just be present and enjoy the ride. Enjoy your show and be proud of what you have made. This is also the place where you can really find some wonderful fellow performers and make some funny friends. We've had friends for over ten years thanks to fringe. So focus on the joy and madness of it if you can because that also comes off you when you perform so its win win.
And finally, what message would you like your audiences to take with them from Siblings: Dreamweavers?
These two should probably seek help.