ArtistEventInterviewTheatre
It's the final week of Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025, and your last chance to see Smita Russel's unflinching one woman play, Odds Are.
We caught up with the award-winning storyteller, to dive into the coincidence, love and loss, with five questions for this year's Edinburgh Fringe run.
Image of Smita Russel performing Odds Are, by Giula Ferrando
Describe your Edinburgh Festival Fringe show in three words?
Humor, Heartbreak, Hope. That's also the arc of the show!
Tell us more about your inspiration behind your show.
It's autobiographical, so life and all its randomness were the inspirations! I dealt with a series of wildly unfortunate events over a short period of time. Basically, the worst possible luck. The show explores those events and my search for meaning. I'm making it sound nerdy, but it's quite relatable. At the stage door, most audience members want to share their own manic quests for understanding when bad luck befell them. One man told of losing his entire family in a car accident he happened to survive. It was decades ago, but he's never stopped looking for meaning in that one event that changed the trajectory of his life.
What do you hope audiences will take away from your Fringe show?
At its core, ODDS ARE is about the power of reclaiming your story. So often, we feel like we are at the mercy of forces beyond our control, victims to the vagaries of fortune. My hard-won lesson is that we can regain control of the narrative. We can reframe events in ways that bring out the positive. How we tell our story matters — that's what I want audiences to walk away with. 
Image of Smita Russel performing Odds Are, by Giula Ferrando
Who should absolutely come and see your Edinburgh Festival Fringe show?
At the individual level, it would be Neil deGrasse Tyson and Anne Hathway. The former because I've been trying to mend our acquaintance for years now (come to the show to find out details!) and the latter because I open the show with a story about my many chance encounters with her in NYC. My dream is that she will watch the show and agree to do a voiceover!
More generally, the show is for anyone who's ever had a string of bad luck and felt there's a target on their back. This is a line I use in my flyering pitch, and I promise you, every time, people nod sagely, chuckle or make reference to unlucky events in their lives. We've all been there!
What’s your top tip for making it through the Edinburgh Festival Fringe as an artist?
Make an effort to meet with other performers and crew, because it'll help put your own experiences into perspective. We all have the same struggles — even the established names worry about sales, most people are out there flyering for hours, everyone has had an audience member fall asleep, shoot death stares or walk drunkenly across the stage in the middle of the show. Also, artists are generous with their time and advice. Over the past month, I've befriended Desiree Burch, Nish Kumar and Zainab Johnson. They all came to the show and have been our fiercest advocates. Desiree also gives great advice on voice care!
Don't miss Odds Are at Assembly Roxy, RoxyBoxy - 14:55 until 25 Aug, 2025.
⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑ The Real Chrisparkle
⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑ Edinburgh Guide