How do you keep audiences gripped while cycling 27km per show? From the Australian recreating a Tour de France win to a \u2018toxically positive\u2019 spin queen, we meet the acts bringing Olympian fitness to Edinburgh<\/p>\n
Blood and sweat drip to the floor. Tears are on their way. In a small room in Edinburgh, Megan Tomei is cleat-clipped into a stationary bike, yelling above the music as she leads a high-intensity spin class gone wrong. \u201cWe take the thing you\u2019re running from,\u201d Tomei shouts, pink lights bouncing off her gleaming shoulders, \u201cand turn it into fuel!\u201d This is SpinQueen\u2122, one of a handful of shows at this year\u2019s fringe demanding epic endurance from their performers through the use of jazzed-up gym equipment. Employing various bikes and a treadmill to authentically illustrate the struggle for success, the pain of failure, and the escape from reality, a profoundly fit group of actors are pushing themselves to their physical limits.<\/p>\n
Across the city, Connor Delves\u2019s calves are worth watching. The workout from his cycling-obsessed play, Cadel: Lungs on Legs<\/a>, is so powerful that people have come up to him after, wanting to touch them. \u201cTo make sure they\u2019re real,\u201d says Delves, who cycles a whopping 27km per show. Does he mind this attention? He shrugs. \u201cIf they\u2019re OK with getting their hands sweaty, go for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/605b69274cdc45997c8ea2033f4c24f7e1a1dede\/844_612_6064_4852\/master\/6064.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=31f20a3e7af45dbeaf8cf3fa8d5da9dc\" "\\"\u2018Audiences")
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