It's the 8 August 08, and I've been in Edinburgh for 14 days - literal blood, sweat, tears, plus greetings, meetings, fun and silliness.

Today is the first time I've gone down the Royal Mile despite my venue Roman Eagle Lodge being at the top of it. I haven't really left the front door except to leave at night. I went to the obligatory first night of too much rosé at the Spiegeltent, but other than the Fringe Launch Party and the if.comedy launch, that's it. This isn't me! In the past I've ususually spent the same amount of time in bars at Udderbelly, Library, Assembly and Spiegeltent as in my own venue - so what has happened?

I'm testing out a new way of experiencing all the Edinburgh Festivals in August, ie (mostly) sober - and spending all my day and night in front of this computer. I have changed Roman Eagle Lodge (which I've run in the past few years) from an all-day-long theatre venue to an industry hub. I mean by that a space that is neutral to all festivals worldwide, in and outside Edinburgh, for the arts industry and media to use. I've programmed lots of workshops, talks, debates, networking events, seminars - and of course a few carefully-chosen theatre shows. And am still programming.

The idea is to have a venue that is the only one of its kind - somewhere people can come to make the most out of their Edinburgh experience. Through the years, I've seen so many companies who believe that once they have arrived in Edinburgh their work is done. They don't know where to begin when it comes to networking, speaking to the right media and the promoters. The Edinburgh Fringe Office has the brilliant promoter liaison expert Eileen O'Reilly - the font of all knowledge on this - but she can't possibly speak to everyone. When a company came to me saying they were lacking an audience and what should they do?, and I said 'Well you know those flyers you had printed, you could try and hand them out!', the genuine response was of a penny dropping and them saying 'That's a really good idea'. I was a bit bamboozelled. So the aim of the Lodge is for it to be a haven for proactive performers, the media and festival staff.

So far it's been hard work. I have un-blocked a poo loo, cleaned, hoovered, chatted, skatted, cried, smiled, laughed, gone to bed late. There are 3 of us, which means the get-in was really energetic. Things I couldn't lift last year I can now pick up with easily. There's normally a team of 10 lifting-in the theatre rake. In the past we had a truss, stage and loads of scaffolding as well, but it was still body-building work. Friends Geoff, Alex and I drove from Reading on the Saturday. We unloaded the same day and next day attempted to find the container holding the theatre rake, lights, scaff and lots more. The container lives year-round on a farm outside Edinburgh. Normally we get it dropped outside Roman Eagle Lodge (which is pretty much next to the Castle), but this year the Tattoo meant we couldn't get a lorry close. But now the venue looks amazing. The foyer is a red-walled, carpeted, wireless internet café; the studio is an open conference and rehearsal room with an amazing photographic exhibition; and the theatre is open-staged, back-dropped with beautiful wood-panelled walls.

Bite-Size Breakfast Show is doing brilliantly. Every morning they serve up coffee, croissants and strawberries to a very healthy house. Theatre awakens the venue and leaves a perfect atmosphere throughout the day. There isn't really any gossip to speak of due to the lack of going out and getting drunk, and unfortunately the things I have heard I couldn't write down. And I'm getting quite a lot of secrets from Three Weeks magazine who are based in what was the dressing room, and is now a news hub of reviewers, editors and podcasters.

It's great having Three Weeks here as we get a constant trickle of people who are fresh off the shows. They know what's hot, what's really not, who's the best and the worst. We get low-down on good and bad press managers, all the reviewers know someone in a venue, so gossip comes from there too - who's a good boss, what venues are collapsing, which ones are thriving - he-he my ears and eyes are open, but being an integral and trustworthy kinda gal...

END

(c) Holly Payton 8 August 08

Holly Payton's Part Two follows soon

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