No Leader Of The Pack

Everything possible is going wrong. Cheques are honestly going missing in the post and all plan B’s have been abandoned. Outstanding bills are staring at me then after a strong coffee my eyes begin to focus and thankfully I see they are mainly receipts. Excitement for Edinburgh is kicking in and I am obsessing about a random set of forthcoming delights like Thomas Houseago sculptures, Georgian concerts and munching those slightly off brownies sold with cheap coffee in the shop by the castle

Nothing fits in the suitcase like it should. It was silly to expect the set and props of a one-woman show to squeeze into a single Samsonite. Desperate times call for a cheap flight up midweek at silly O’Clock to make two round trips with the blob shaped set. It demands a bag of its own. Small poodles require less maintenance than my beloved polystyrene carved set. I cannot guarantee my set designer it makes it to the venue but best efforts are being made.

I am kidding myself I am doing line runs on the go. It amounts to having my iphone replaying my preview show on a loop. Mostly I forget the iphone is there but pray it is the one thing that makes it to Edinburgh with me come hell or high water. All of my documents are on email so when I close my front door in Oxford my show becomes instantly dependent on technology. If all else fails I can Twitter an SOS for help from the comfort of the Traverse bar and hope one of those super men on the front of the Fringe brochure come pelting towards me with a big fat roll of gaffa tape.

The biggest trick I keep trying to remember is to enjoy every second of this early festival fever. I am shutting out the number of hours of leafleting I have ahead of me largely because I’ve forgotten the plan for where I am going to store the chuffing leaflets. Delivered yes they will be as the print firm say they have boxes of leaflets stacked up on palettes ready to launch like a big machine on the Royal Mile. We are all set to go. Even if the naughty pixies are still dancing all over my best laid plans their laughter is playful and as all of the hundreds and thousands of companies currently packing their bags will no doubt testify to, the play is the thing!