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Showstopper‘s Sean McCann Celebrates 300 Shows

Well, today is the day that Showstopper reaches its 300th
show. Sean McCann here, writing this in the offices of Festival Highlights,
looking past the ever-industrious James Seabright out onto an overcast, but
thankfully unrainy, Nicolson Street. There’s just one more week of the 2011
Fringe to go, and there is the very faint but nonetheless tangible sense of an
ending in sight. Here are a few reflections before my pre-show nap….

I’m up here with two improvised shows, Showstopper and The School Of Night, both happily playing to busy houses at The Gilded Balloon, which is nothing less than a mysterious Eastern European Castle from
those Wolfenstein video games, except with musical comedy in it. This is
compounded by the quite frankly insane Medieval theme bar outside, which, on a
busy night, makes waiting for a pint feel like queuing for a rollercoaster at
Thorpe Park.



Improvisation (or Impro, or Improv, depending on your love
of contractions or the letter “v”) is going from strength to strength at the
Fringe, which is thrilling. Lots of new companies rubbing shoulders with the
old guard – it was a joy meeting Mike McShane last night – he’s up with Paul
Merton’s Impro Chums
, and he really is the
business. We are still in his debt for his guest spot on our first ever
Edinburgh Show in 2008 – inside a metal Portakabin with no windows, 90 wonky
seats, and door staff who sent our Scotsman reviewer away to another venue.
Great days. Phil Jupitus has an impro show, great companies like The Scat Pack
and The Noise Next Door are pushing improv in new directions, and there will
soon be a separate section in the Fringe programme for improvised
musicals. Yes, I am happy with all
three versions of the “I” word. A thing about Impr (shorter than “impro” or
“improv”, and markedly more difficult to pronounce, but essentially the same
thing) is that it’s impossible to get settled into the run. Every night is
opening night, and the nerves and tension don’t go away, so it’s been another
gruelling year.

Showstopper is in its fourth year, so it feels like being a
fixture (although many of the cast now have difficulty remembering what year it
is, and have found themselves locked out of their own apartments until they
realise that they are trying to get into a building they haven’t lived in since
August 2009)

Final memories. Paul Daniels doing close-up magic to The
School Of Night
in a secluded nightclub
booth. Drinking on the roof terrace of the Loft Bar with Fascinating
Aida
as the rain poured down around us.
Alan Cox doing an impersonation of every other person on the planet at 5 a.m.
in our kitchen. Brian May came to
see Showstopper last night, and
as a Queen fan of 35 years standing, it was all I could do not to replicate the
Alice Cooper “We Are Not Worthy” scene from Wayne’s World. Yes, his hair is still that amazing. As are my dear
colleagues in Showstopper and School
Of Night
, and our fantastic crew at the
Gilded Balloon and Festival Highlights. Oh, and three years ago tonight we were
on stage at George Square with Ken Campbell, not knowing he wouldn’t last the
month. Ken, we still miss you so very, very much.

Nap time.

Showstopper! The Improvised Musical
Gilded Balloon Debating Hall
5-28 August (not 17)
22:50 (70 mins) plus family-friendly Tuesday matinee 15:20