A Night in with Frustration
Previews. Done. Phew.
So this is our fourth day at the Fringe and the flat is starting to look decidedly ‘lived in’. The first preview was ‘previewy’, a 200 seater venue takes a lot of getting used to after a 50 seater last year. Project people, project. But once that first preview finished we inevitably felt a lot better. The ball has started rolling, now it’s just the small matter of keeping up with it.
Friday was also our first day flyering. Hooray? One of our company’s first flyering experience was with a Scot who declared that the 1987 hurricane, the setting for our show, did not do enough damage to England. We had our first run in with the Royal Mile and witnessed jaded fairies being pulled along the wet cobbles in chains, shrieking and handing out a twitching flyer. Standard. We had a few altercations over ‘getting all up in my flyering grill’ as one person said and debates over who is going to poster over who. Blood pressures began to rise.
That night we brought a piece of the set home to rehearse but it wasn’t just any old prop, it was the classic 80s boardgame Frustration. For the unawares you ‘pop’ the dice and move the counters. Not rocket science. It is a purely luck based game (though the winners would argue that skill is involved…somewhere) and scarily addictive. We found ourselves playing a Frustration championship all night – oh the ways to while away a rainy evening at the Fringe. In fact it was so much fun that we forgot it by accident (or perhaps subconsciously on purpose) and had to rush back to retrieve it before the start of the show. We vowed never to bring it home again in order to avoid that panic in the future and improve our social lives.
But all this shrinking patience, sodden flyers and aching feet (I can’t believe this is only day three) is totally made worth it when 94 people come to your second preview.
Hang on, I’ve just taken a look at the weather forecast. I take that back. Better get Jenga out.
