Always a Pleasure

I spend my April to July freaking out, writing, making the show and a few weeks in I am cursing the day I ever submitted my brochure entry… mostly because I am a scared rabbit in the Fringe headlights with an in-tray full of admin and awards forms and a out-tray full of expectations and dreams. BUT then you arrive and after a furious get in you relax, do your first show (mine was last night at Assembly 3 and yes it went swimmingly thanks for asking) and begin to familiarise yourself with this glorious place once again!

I am officially back in the game and in my artistic element! You meet the BEST people, you are bombarded with great art from all possible genres, the streets buzz with the hum of culture and excitement and you talk all day long, to everyone and anyone smiling like a goon and buzzing from interview to luncheon, from coffee meeting to total booze up. Superb.

Thus far I have bumped into the Two Wrongies, lovely Brighton gals with a fantastic show (just got four stars this very morn!) World of Wrong at Assembly. New Art Club are back and forth on Twitter with Bryony Kimmings camp about a shared problem of mice in our respective Edinburgh flats and I am off to see their work today, as it looks superb (as usual!).

I met a lovely trio of performers at my show last night that I had met briefly in Bristol on the Sex Idiot tour, they have a show on at the Zoo Roxy called Riot and I am going to see it tomorrow as its about Ikea and I love that hall of wonders! I have also been back and forth on the text with my old china Greg Maclaren, who is another solo performer braving the Fringe on his own, with his simply wonderful show called Doris Day can F**k off! … he is coming to dinner next week, I am throwing a little soiree to celebrate the fact that our wonderful documentary maker is in town. Socialite.

I have been sent a whole world of links for bars and pop-ups by the ever reliable artist advisor Richard Dedomenici and my! there are some wonderful places to eat and drink in this old town! I am going to have an easy weekend settling into my show (we have the BBC and the Guardian filming, no PRESSURE!) then I am going to begin ploughing through this list and sharing my recommendations with you.

This year I am going to make the most of a month away from the stresses of home life and the constant cabaret gigs all over the place and relish the fact that for once I am in ONE place for a LONG long time. If you see me, hey why not grab me for a chat, I am the one with red lips, some kind of stupid trousers and usually a big ol’ bow on my head, i’ll chatter like a maniac when I am in fringe mode… you probably won’t be able to shut me up. I hope you are all enjoying your first week. BRING IT ON EDINBURGH!