| reporting the edge | credits | |
home
|
about
|
news
|
contents
|
gossip
|
photographs
|
venues
|
brighton
|
dublin
|
edinburgh
|
film
|
features
|
interviews
|
awards
|
fashion
|
recipes
|
no more drinks
|
newsletter
|
links
|
contact
Latest items? Unedited? Fringe Report Uncut
Imogen in Edinburgh (and Hendon)
Imogen Rands, stuffed birds, Blu Tak, rubber gloves, Hendon Scout Hut, Edinburgh Fringe 2007 - and Imogen's inflatable member
by Imogen Rands
We rehearsed our show on the back lawn of my house in Forest Hill, London, every Sunday (neighbours wondering what the cackling was about, plenty of tea, cake and banter – limited amount of actual rehearsal). Also in a carpeted empty office space in Westminster – we did have permission but had to pretend to be architects if anyone else in the building asked. We don't look like architects and regularly got asked to keep the noise down. And in Hendon Scout Hut – seriously fusty due to moth-eaten deer heads and stuffed birds representing each patrol – raven, seagull, woodpecker and owl. The old scout masters clearly had a penchant for taxidermy. We found the hut strangely conducive to comedy. I think because we got a bit silly – plenty of dib dib dib and woggle jokes - which always helps.
We arrived in Edinburgh full of beans on Saturday 28 July and, after bagsy-ing the rooms we wanted in our flat on Canongate we promptly set off to put up posters. Towards the end of the run, few from this original, optimistic poster effort survived. They'd been unceremoniously ripped down – stripped of blu-tak and then replaced with others. Naming no names, (no Tap Oles). We knew that the ripping was unceremonious and that the blu-tak was appropriated by the rippers, because one of us caught offenders in the act. Fuming, she said to two very sheepish blokes 'Just because we were dedicated enough to arrive early to put up our posters and just because yours are so very boring in comparison, and just because you have no ethics, does not give the right to do what you're doing. So put our poster back up right now because I'm not leaving till you two are dots in the distance'. (add your own swear words). And they at least had the decency to do her bidding. It's a disgrace, the people who poster-usurp – we would never stoop so low. Once, in Hendon Scout Hut, run-through in full swing, an old man walked in saying 'Carry on – don't mind me'. Of course we stopped, and he told us he hadn't seen the hut since the Second World War. He pointed out his name on a plaque on the wall, and also the marching-bass-drum he used to play. What he thought of us in rubber gloves, and with a giant inflatable penis leaning against the wall, I'm not sure.(c) Imogen Rands 28 August 2007
Imogen Rands is an actress, comedy writer & voiceover artist. She is co-writer (with director Jon Hunter and actress Siobhan O'Hagan) and producer of Four Wenches and a Free For All featuring (alpha order): Marie Allen, Jessica Holloway, Siobhan O'Hagan, Imogen Rands. Company - Actors' Circle. Venue - Gilded Balloon Teviot, Edinburgh Fringe 2007. Websites: www.edfringe.com. www.myspace.com/4wenches. www.theactorscircle.co.uk. www.imogenrands.com
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012