Q&A on Sam Eley is Basil Crumbwick: Soul Sewage

You describe Basil as a “64-year-old English weirdo navigating everyday life.” What interested you about creating someone so oddly specific?

The specificity of Basil arose naturally as he was slowly built in the back of my mind, it wasn’t something I did intentionally. What interested me was creating something weird, and absurd, and inexplicable. All of the details came about over time, to give some shape to the madness.

There’s something strangely affectionate about Basil despite all his chaos. Do you have genuine fondness for him?

I’m massively fond of Basil but feel like I probably shouldn’t admit it, because he’s truly horrible. What I’ve come to learn is that you can give a character almost every negative trait known to man, but if they’re ultimately harming themselves more than those around them, it’s hard not to feel sorry for them, and end up caring about them.

You’ve worked as a comedian, writer and director. Does directing other performers influence the way you create your own shows?

It definitely helps, but unfortunately, what’s incredibly obvious when looking at other people’s work, is often completely impossible to see in your own. Having directed six Edinburgh Fringe shows before has helped me figure out things like structure and pacing, but it’s fundamentally a lot harder trying to make sense of the messiness of your own brain than it is someone else's.

Basil only appeared in 2024 but already feels incredibly fully formed. Did the character arrive quickly or evolve over time?

Definitely over time, as mentioned earlier. If you keep writing in someone’s voice, you start to intuitively understand what suits them, and what doesn’t. It feels almost like the details of Basil’s character revealed themselves to me, rather then me consciously choosing his traits for specific reasons, and hopefully the act feels more cohesive because of it.

A lot of your work seems interested in the masks people wear socially. Is that something you notice a lot in everyday life?

Yeah, I’ve definitely spent a lot of my life unsure why people behave the way they do, and what’s “real” versus culturally ingrained. Authenticity is something I’m always looking for, whether it’s in relationships, art, or anywhere else. Doing a character might intuitively seem less authentic than doing stand-up as yourself, but when you’re “being yourself”, you’re often worried you’ll be judged, which leads to you to suppress yourself. Basil might not be real, and he’s nothing like me, but somehow I feel far more authentic as him than when I’m networking or at a job interview.

Sam Eley is Basil Crumbwick: Soul Sewage is coming to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival from the 3^rd - 30^th August (not 18^th). For more information visit: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/sam-eley-is-basil-crumbwick-soul-sewage