Bianca vs Myra

Bianca Del Rio and Myra DuBois are used to touring together but now perform their separate shows in Edinburgh. We sat down for a waspish chat

Interview: Ben Venables

Ben: How would you describe each other’s shows?

Bianca: Well, what’s funny is I’ve never seen a full Myra show. So this will be the first time I actually get to be an audience member.

Myra: I too have never really seen a full Bianca show. I have been in the building while they’ve been happening, but I turn the monitor off.

Bianca: Don’t you lie! The monitor never works in your room.

Myra: No, I always make sure I watch Bianca because I want to learn. Because, you know, sometimes it’s important to learn what not to do.

Bianca: The thing is, after Myra goes on I have to go on and bring some beauty to the evening. Usually, we get to hear certain jokes here and there from the wings, but I have not sat down and watched a full Myra show. I’m looking forward to getting to do it at the festival for the first time.

Myra: It’s not that we’ve seen each other’s work and liked it, it’s more that we make each other laugh in real life. I think that goes a long way. It’s less about being on stage, it’s more about how you get on in a dressing room.

Bianca: For me, when I’m touring in the UK and Myra opens I know I can trust her. I know that she knows what she’s doing. I know that she’s a professional. You don’t want somebody that’s a bigger pain backstage than they are onstage.

Ben: The difference here in Edinburgh though is that this is Bianca’s first time at the Fringe, whereas Myra is a seasoned performer here, if you don’t mind me describing you that way Myra?

Bianca: He just called you old.

Myra: Yes, he’s saying ‘It’s your first time

doing the Fringe, Bianca, but Myra’s career has stagnated for five years’!

Bianca: Well, I don’t think he needed to explain the obvious... I think since I met Myra, and it’s been eight years, I’ve been chasing whatever was in front of me. In my life I have a lot of, ‘Well, you should come to do this, then you should do that’. And the Fringe is a different thing. I’m like, let’s go, let’s try this, let’s do the challenge. Also, I get to see other performers.

Ben: Is it particularly nice to do all these things because we’re coming back from the pandemic?

Bianca: Last August, right after the pandemic, I was amazed because the audiences were exciting, they were fun, they were energetic. I think everybody had this built up energy from being at home. During the pandemic, what Myra and I both talked about was: are we ever going to work again? Is there ever going to be an audience? Are we ever going to have people wanting to see us?

Myra: And, I’ve certainly come out of it with a ‘say yes to everything’ attitude. There were moments in the pandemic where I thought, will I ever get to stand on a stage and do what I do again? Now, every time someone wants me to do something, if I can fit it in, I’ll do it.

Bianca: And no offence, Ben, but we’re doing this interview with you. We’ll do anything.

Ben: Now, Bianca has come to the UK, are there plans for, or have you been, Myra, to support Bianca in America at all?

Myra: No, I fucking haven’t! She won’t pay for a visa for me.

Bianca: You wouldn’t believe what we have to pay in hotel room fees after she leaves. I’m not gonna say much, but last time we were in Scotland we were charged a pet fee for Myra’s room. A pet fee was involved and added to the bill.

SHOW Myra DuBois’ A Problem Shared

VENUE: Underbelly, Bristo Square

TIME: 7:45pm – 8:45pm, 3–28 Aug, not 16

SHOW Bianca Del Rio: Unsanitized

VENUE: Pleasance at EICC

TIME: 9:30pm – 10:30pm, 18–26 Aug, not 22

PENN & TELLER