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The Slacker's Guide to Western Theatre promises to cover the all important topics for any fringe goer: what is this theatre business all about, and how can I understand it before I head off to watch some burlesque? In the spirit of the grand concept, I waved lazily at main man Chris Payne, who has brought together a company featuring alumni and current members of the Edinburgh University Theatre Company, Theatre Paradok and Edinburgh Footlights and asked him a few questions.

Given that The Fringe is full of easy adaptations of classic works, what on earth made you decide to cover the entire history of theatre?

A challenge! Basically, we know that Fringe goers want to see as many shows as possible, expand their theatre knowledge and of course, show off about what they've seen – so why not get it all from one show?

I notice the company is made up of both actors from the Uni and comedians. Has this informed the creative process, or led to any great problems?

The main challenge we've had in the creative process has been getting the balance between information and entertainment right. The point of the show is that no matter how much or little you know about theatre, you can have fun and enjoy it, at the same time as learning something new!

For that matter, how do you go about creating a work like this? Is it devised, scripted, improvised?

The script was originally written by my ex-drama teacher, Stephen Challens, to be performed by a youth theatre group so they could learn about the history of theatre in an enjoyable way through performance. Since then, we have been devising around the script, using the facts of theatre history and turning them into comedy. We have devised lots of other scenes and funny bits including taking Shakespeare to the races and putting Chekov on a train to Moscow! We're not pretending to know everything there is to know about theatre; we are slackers after all. But we will promise to share what we know in the best and most exciting way we can.

For me, there is a fascinating element in seeing so many works explored in one hour. If it is a big contest of playwrights – who wins? Any unexpected traditions that are revealed as brilliant, or do Chekov and Shakespeare predictably 'go large'?

Quite the opposite – we are here to bring the big names down a bit; I can't imagine Chekhov will be too worried for his reputation (and the fact he's dead helps)! The characters have their own favourites who they stick up for, as does everyone in the company – there haven't been any fights yet but it might not be long.

Also, the show isn't just about the playwrights, we take the mickey out of the stereotypes of theatre – the techies hate the actors, the chorus hate the principals. We also have a pop at critics but it's all in jest, honest!

As for the big question of who wins, that would be telling.

I get the feeling this might be a nicely programmatic piece within the Fringe. How does it relate to the rest of the August mayhem?

We feel the show fits in well with the rest of the Fringe as it encompasses many things the Fringe goer wants to see. Like the fringe guide, the school of Slackers is an essential tool to navigate through the madness and confusion that is the Fringe!