On the fringe

Rhys Darby heads to Edinburgh for his sixth Fringe Festival and a new stand-up show which includes some “very different little unique New Zealand characters” including the “man’s man” Park Ranger, amateur whale-watcher Ron Taylor and obsessive UFOlogist Steve Whittle. It was Darby’s long periods of time spent away from home – in the UK and now the US – that made him want to start exploring these different New Zealand archetypes. “You can really look back at your country and get a completely different scope on how the people are,” Darby says. “When you’re living with them and amongst them, you’re just part of them, but when you look back from a distance you can pinpoint characters and abnormalities and funniness that they wouldn’t really see.”