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drinks Monday 3 November 08
How To Edinburgh It
How do you take a sketch show to the Edinburgh Fringe? Actress and journalist Bo Wilson raided attics and counted piles of 1p coins. And was very organised. Here’s Bo’s checklist ...
by Bo Wilson
We’re a group of four comedy writers/performers - Ollie Simpson, Nick Hughes, Ed Bradshaw and me, Bo Wilson. We’re in our 20s, and do regular sketch shows at the Canal Café in London as The 1649 Show. Like the rest of the 100s of shows going to Edinburgh 05, we hope we’ll get noticed. We hope we’ll be liked. We hope to get the experience to move our show forward. We do not hope to make money.
That is the first, and possibly the most crucial, point. Shows on the Fringe will not make money (unless the others know something we don’t). Our comedy and theatrical heroes have done the Fringe. So we want to do it too.
I took a show to Edinburgh once before. It was a musical version of Shakespeare – all teenagers behaving badly. There was a cast of 25, including a band. We worked on less than a shoestring. It meant cramming as many bodies as possible into two tiny flats a long way out. Which is also where we performed - we needed a big stage and backstage space, and all we could afford was a church hall in a pleasant residential area. It was audience suicide.
This year, I’m taking a sketch show. It’s pretty fast and frantic, with a musical element, so we liked the idea of a pub theatre. We think location is extremely important, so we’re performing in the centre, at The Holyrood Tavern.
We know that at the same time, and in the same area, there will be dozens of shows. There is huge competition, but that’s part of the fun. We’re ready for an audience of two. Or one. We’re on at 11.30pm, and it’s a pub, drunken hecklers could breeze in and out. But we’re looking forward to everything the Fringe throws at us.
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival works all year round – not just over August. If you want to do a show, you have to be pretty quick to get a slot. We signed up in December - when the first announcements go out about performing the following year. For £10, you can get a comprehensive list of venues - including information on space, capacity, technical data, contact details. It’s invaluable.
We had to sell ourselves to the venues. We hadn’t yet worked out what we were doing in our London run. So we cobbled together some details of our past shows and vague plans for the future. Luckily it worked - and about four venues gave us offers. Things happened quickly. Payment was required. Raising the cash was the next hurdle.
So the main points to consider at the very beginning include: Do you have a clear idea of what your show will be? Do you have the time, patience and organisation to get on top of the venue almost eight months in advance? Do you have a few hundred quid?
We discussed the venues we liked the look of, and what we could realistically afford. We’re a sketch show used to small intimate spaces. Smaller means cheaper, too, though it meant we wouldn’t have a roomy backstage area, or all the technical equipment we could dream of. We wanted to be central. The Holyrood seemed perfect. As it’s near the Royal Mile, we thought that while flyering there, we could actually point to the venue.
Edinburgh doesn’t sleep during the Fringe, so it’s not the end of the world if you can’t get a 7.30pm slot. 11.30pm works fine for us. And there will be people performing at 2am. We’ll probably nip off to see another show after ours finishes.
There are plenty of websites offering accommodation during the Fringe. The Finge Office also has details. Accommodation is not cheap and books up fast. Hotels, B&Bs and hostels take bookings very early on – mainly from tourists rather than performers. We decided to rent a two-bedroom flat for £500 per week.
Doing Edinburgh is expensive. Venue, accommodation, transport to Edinburgh, publicity and living expenses mean it’s crucial to budget realistically. There is no point printing 100 flyers – they’ll be gone in minutes on the Royal Mile. Most people chuck them in the bin or use them to wrap chewing gum - you need plenty. And there’s costumes, props, technical help.
Sponsorship is one way of raising money. I haven’t gone down that route, except once, when my old school forked out £100 after I wrote a pleading letter. But I’ve sat up all night counting piles of 1p coins people gave me to cash in at the post office. I’ve raided attics and garages and shivered at a weekly car boot sale at 6am. All four of us have day jobs, and we’ve eked out what we can. But mostly it’s the profits squirreled away from our previous shows that are funding our Edinburgh run.
Most venues have in-house technicians, but they cost extra. We were very lucky to get the exceptional Ross McGivern from the Canal Café Theatre as technical director in Edinburgh. You can ask Ross for one seemingly impossible thing and he gives you five ways of doing it.
If don’t have someone you know and trust coming with you, there are the venue techs. You only have one chance to have a dress and technical run-through. It’s usually the day before or even on the day of the first performance. Because of this, I am very cautious about being wildly extravagant – so no indoor pyrotechnics. The venues need a list of what lights and technical items you need. The easiest option is to be general about it. If you are like us, you don’t know that far in advance.
Flyering and putting up posters, of course, is a help in publicising the show. And the city centre, where the visiting theatre-goers are, is the best place. There are other media you can possibly target – radio for example. And making a short film (a couple of minutes long) as a self-promotion is a good idea - they are shown in various places. Wackiness when approaching the public can either work or not – it is good to be flexible.
The Fringe Office sends a list of journalist contacts in Edinburgh and London. These are indiscriminate, so it is worthwhile going through to see which would best help you, and to target them. You might also do your own digging-around for contacts.
As a day-time journalist, I know only too well how irritating some press releases can be. And I dislike intensely being rung up afterwards to ‘check I’ve got it’. In my reporting job, follow-up calls are par for the course. But when it is someone’s play or comedy show or dance performance - I’ve got the press release and I don’t need anything else.
When writing my own press release, I tried to remember all my own rules. But you can’t please everyone. I think that simple to-the-point, clear details of the show, including its times, dates, price are enough. All shows hope to get a review, so a polite cover note or email targeting that particular journalist or publication is key.
We’ve done a pre-run and it went well. We’ve now changed our show accordingly, and hope to take Edinburgh by storm. We have no idea what it will hold for us. Wish us luck – and good luck to you!
END
(c) Bo Wilson 28 July 2005
The 1649 Show is at The Holyrood Tavern, 9A Holyrood Road, Edinburgh. It runs 7-11 August 05 at 11.30pm. Tickets £5/£4. Box office 0131 556 5044 / 07947 697987. Venue website www.rarebirdsprod.com. Show website www.the1649show.com.
reviews@fringereport.com
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2005
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