What a Week…
It’s was only the fifth day flyering and my show pitch is starting to get a bit tired, but on one occasion today my whole pitch just went dry. It began promisingly with the classic – ‘can I interest you in a piece of …’. Then it went downhill. Fast. As I struggled to form the words, their smiles slowly faded, my mouth stopped working and my cheeks went very, very red. The word ‘tumbleweed’ springs to mind. They eventually took a flyer out of pity but it was certainly not my finest hour, and considering it is only day five, I fear that the worst is still to come. Like in week three when I will inevitably just forget what the show is about or simply forget how to talk.
Our first week at the Fringe is going well. A few four star reviews, some brilliant pieces of theatre and great audience figures. Over 100 people came to see the show today and we had The Guardian in to review us. As I’m sure you can imagine, as a result we are all very apprehensive and a teeny bit jumpy about this. Whenever a Twitter alert comes on our phones we all snatch them and everyone goes quiet. Needy? Perhaps. Excited? Definitely.
Though all this is somewhat put into perspective by what is happening in London and around the country. The Fringe ‘bubble’ is notorious and it is fair to say that we have been in oblivious bliss about all the riots. We knew something was wrong but we have had our heads down, powering through the first week. The realisation of the extent of the riots came last night as we nursed a pint after the show, looked up, saw the blazing images and witnessed the bubble bursting. The news channel haven’t been off since.
Hang on.
The rest of the company just came in, turned the television off and all spoke at once about a piece of theatre they just saw and regretted. Oh god, it’s all happening, we’ve just got word that The Guardian is about to call. What’s that phrase about a watched pot again? Deep breaths everyone. Bubble reforming as we speak.
