Rachel Terry and Roz Pappalardo of R and R Productions are returning to the Edinburgh Fringe this year with a new show ‘One Hour Wedding’, which takes one of life’s milestone events and looks at it through an improvisational lens. Rachel and Roz are songwriters, theatre makers, actors, directors and performers with experience with a variety of performing arts works, from tightly scripted pieces to fully improvised live events. With no rehearsals, no rules and the only key element being ‘I do’, I was intrigued to find out why weddings were the inspiration for their next piece of theatre and also how they are preparing to take on such a spontaneous challenge in Edinburgh. The pair are known for last year’s ‘All Fired Up: an 80’s Mixtape Musical’, and I recently had the opportunity to ask them some questions about their 2026 plans.
What inspired you to create an improvisational show based on weddings?
Weddings felt like the perfect setting for an improvisational theatre work because they already contain all the ingredients of great live performance; tension, joy, ritual, sometimes over the top costumes, unhinged family politics, unexpected romance, a little too much alcohol, not enough food and the possibility of complete disaster. We became fascinated by the idea of handing all those decisions over to a room full of strangers and asking: can a group of people collectively pull off all the decisions of a wedding that typically take years, in under an hour as well as delivering the actual wedding?
‘One Hour Wedding’ features a high-stakes, crowd-built ceremony where the audience becomes the wedding planners. How are you approaching the audience interaction elements?
Between us we’ve worked with all kinds of audiences from smoky pubs full of bikies to highly educated theatre audiences – so reading a room, shifting tone and handling unpredictability is already a huge part of our practice. We’ve built lots of different scenarios and pathways into the show and we’re not precious about ditching something and pivoting if it’s not landing. That flexibility is part of what makes the show alive.
How are you preparing for the unexpected, with so much of the material up to the audience’s choice?
The audience interaction is the engine room of the show. We’re not bringing people on stage to humiliate them; we’re inviting them to help build something together that is fun, loving, joyous and exciting. The audience chooses everything from the hairstyle and bouquet to the entrance music, witnesses and first dance. Underneath the chaos there’s actually a very hopeful idea: that a room full of strangers can collaborate toward a loving outcome. Weddings, at their core, are about community gathering around people and wishing them well. We think laughter and love genuinely make communities stronger, even if it’s just for an hour. We want audiences to feel the electricity and thrill of live performance where anything can happen and often does.
What are you most excited for, premiering the show at Fringe this year?
Premiering at Edinburgh Festival Fringe feels especially exciting because Australian companies still tend to see an international premiere as a huge rite of passage. Fringe audiences are adventurous, generous and willing to jump into the unknown with you, which feels like the perfect environment for a little show like this.
If you were to describe the show in one word, what would it be and why?
If we had to describe the show in one word, it would be: chaos. Because despite all our planning, the whole thing is balanced on the edge of glorious collapse … exactly like a real wedding.
R and R Productions also wanted to highlight…
We are calling out for 6 couples who’d like to get married on stage, in real time during the Fringe!
What you need to do:
1. Reach out to us via our website or any of our social handles (Instagram and Facebook) to save your date between 5 – 23 August.
2. We will arrange an online meeting with you, and then connect you with an official UK based marriage celebrant with whom we are partnering to deliver the legal aspect of the show.
3. You sign the M10 in the presence of our UK celebrant.
4. You receive a marriage schedule from the registrar.
5. You come to The Friesian, Bristo Square at the allocated time on the chosen day.
6. Your friends all buy tickets to the show.
7. We will have the wedding!
8. Our UK based Celebrant helps you lodge the paperwork post the show.
9. We keep in touch and every year have champagne on the date of your anniversary.
Easy!
Join the wedding celebrations in Edinburgh this Summer
How cool is it that couples can actually get legally married as part of the show? ‘One Hour Wedding’ certainly sounds like one of the most fun and spontaneous weddings you will ever attend and it’s all happening live in Edinburgh this Summer. ‘One Hour Wedding’ is based at Friesian at Underbelly, Bristo Square (venue 302) from 5th – 23rd August (not 18th). Performances start at 21:50 (1 hour), with the show on sale now.
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