Impossible Parking And Our First Performance
Hello there again. I have now been in Scotland’s fair capital for two days, and have seen my first few shows. Fringe regulars frequently talk about the beginning of the second week being a traditional lull in proceedings, and that’s definitely been the case since Sunday. A lot of shows take a night off on the Monday or Tuesday of week two, and the heavy party-goers can be seen retiring early after a tough weekend, to rest up for the late nights ahead.
Monday was also our opening night, and was always going to be a busy day for our production. I had to drive the set and props across town from our East End flat to the venue, Sweet ECA, tucked in amongst roadworks and one-way streets. It’s definitely not advisable to take a car to get to anywhere in the Old Town at any time unless you have a secured parking space, but the fact that this was rush hour served to make the trip one of epic proportions.
Foolishly setting off with only a rough idea of how to get there, I was soon thwarted by crazy one-way systems and roads blocked for the festival. However much one can complain of blisters and tired legs after trawling up and down the hugely steep Edinburgh streets, at least you can get to the venue with little hassle. Trying to find somewhere to park legally is nigh impossible, and with officious and ever-present traffic wardens on every corner, getting a ticket is a near-certainty if you decide to ditch your vehicle and hope for the best.
Still, eventually we’d unloaded, teched the show and were off to flyer, or in my case, pick up other stuff we needed. I had no idea that finding a satisfying selection of colourful, edible, yet non-sticky food at short notice in a busy city would be one of life’s deceptively hard challenges. I was able to squeeze in Athol Fugard’s Exits and Entrances at the Assembly Rooms before rushing back to the venue to hastily throw our set together in the shockingly short turnaround time of 10 minutes. Despite some helpful techie having removed our mic lead for one of our musicians, we just about managed to get off within a couple of minutes of our allotted time.
For a first night, it went without too many hitches. The flyering had paid off, and because the show was free, we attracted around 50 people, which was well above our expectations and nearly a sell-out. The actors took a while to warm the audience up fully, but by the mid-point of the play, they were laughing and clapping loudly - the sweetest music to any director or producer’s ears. As with any first performance, there were a few hitches, but everybody performed admirably and we were really happy with how it went.
I’m going to talk about the shows I’ve seen in the next post - I’ve been without internet for a couple of days now and have lots of news! It’s just a matter of getting into a routine here with the show, and then getting publicity and word-of-mouth to fill our show as much as possible… so here’s my shameless plug!
Come and see Doctor Faustus at the Sweet ECA (Venue 186, Lauriston Place or Lady Lawson Street). It’s on every day at 7.25 pm, and it’s really rather good. Marlowe’s classic has probably never been as anarchic or funny, and best of all, it’s completely FREE! See you there.
