We were warned that things are different here at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It being the biggest festival in the world means that there are a lot of little hiccups (mostly from indigestion), a lot of ups and downs (like the emotional kind), a lot of competition (with the best of the best from all over the WORLD), a lot of spaces being made into theatres that are not actually theatres (most of which have fireplaces somewhere in the room). It is all true.
Our theatre space, the Turret, has a 2 meter x 3 meter stage right beside the fireplace. The room feels like a living room that has 50 chairs squished into it and we are basically standing on the audiences laps while we "bleed from the crotch". It means that we can be very intimate with the show, which is great. It means we can see each person in the room as though they are in our bathroom with us - that's good right?! It means that when Morro does her cartwheel she nearly takes the speaker off the wall and/or kicks the toilet - danger is exciting. It means that when we run the bases we take one step instead of actually 'running', which saves a lot of energy and we need all the energy we can muster. It means that sight-lines to the stage floor are horrible so we had to re-block things and instead of collapsing onto the floor at the end of the show we instead collapse onto the toilet and last night nearly tipped our porcelain bowl over and fell to our deaths as we both tried to fit onto its seat - Wahooooo! It means the adventure has really begun.
Today the Fringe officially starts. Today. Even though we opened the show two nights ago it was actually only technically a preview (for us it was still opening) and we officially open tonight along with the actual festival. There is a big welcome address today: Let the games begin!
Jasp has ironed her sash. Morro has put some extra frizz in her hair. We are suiting up now in our best dresses to try to make people fall in love with us and convince some of them to pick our show over the other 3000 tonight. It feels like The Amazing Race. And it's only day 1 of 25 of the official race... game... Fringe. Yeah... that's the one... Fringe!
Our theatre space, the Turret, has a 2 meter x 3 meter stage right beside the fireplace. The room feels like a living room that has 50 chairs squished into it and we are basically standing on the audiences laps while we "bleed from the crotch". It means that we can be very intimate with the show, which is great. It means we can see each person in the room as though they are in our bathroom with us - that's good right?! It means that when Morro does her cartwheel she nearly takes the speaker off the wall and/or kicks the toilet - danger is exciting. It means that when we run the bases we take one step instead of actually 'running', which saves a lot of energy and we need all the energy we can muster. It means that sight-lines to the stage floor are horrible so we had to re-block things and instead of collapsing onto the floor at the end of the show we instead collapse onto the toilet and last night nearly tipped our porcelain bowl over and fell to our deaths as we both tried to fit onto its seat - Wahooooo! It means the adventure has really begun.
Today the Fringe officially starts. Today. Even though we opened the show two nights ago it was actually only technically a preview (for us it was still opening) and we officially open tonight along with the actual festival. There is a big welcome address today: Let the games begin!
Jasp has ironed her sash. Morro has put some extra frizz in her hair. We are suiting up now in our best dresses to try to make people fall in love with us and convince some of them to pick our show over the other 3000 tonight. It feels like The Amazing Race. And it's only day 1 of 25 of the official race... game... Fringe. Yeah... that's the one... Fringe!