Needless to say, what followed was the trip of a lifetime. I’ve been fortunate enough to witness and play my part in some incredible festivities and experiences so far in my University career and life, but this was something else – mind-blowing on many levels, truly inspiring, and a fitting end to what has been the best academic year of my life so far. 2013-14: you have a lot to live up to!
It started with a relatively pain-free, sleep-filled train journey
(although at one stage I woke up to a young girl poking my face to check I was
still alive!) which allowed me to enjoy a ride on the Scottish rails through
picturesque hills illuminated by a glorious sunset – before promptly emerging
from Waverley station to be swallowed up by a whirlwind of activity!
Because although our company was due to arrive a week into the Festival,
we arrived to find that Edinburgh was already completely packed, full of
bustling people trying to make their way through its narrow cobbled streets
amidst communal festivities galore.
It was certainly an interesting experience trying to lug a loaded
suitcase and a couple of bags to the hostel we were staying in, while steering
round other pedestrians and avoiding death by flyering due to many a performer
promoting all over the city!
I’d been before, but never really realised just how beautiful a city
Edinburgh is!
Seeing our show poster outside the venue for the first time was a
fairly surreal experience!
Upon finally reaching our base-camp (after a thoroughly researched walk
on Google Maps, given how worried I was about getting lost!), I realised just
what a great choice our show’s producers had made in selecting it: not only was
the hostel two minutes away from our show’s venue (which turned out to be very
handy on days when the most appealing plan was to roll out of bed, perform, and
then return as quickly as possible!), it was a wonderfully well equipped,
vibrant and comfortable place to stay, situated in the heart of the Festival
and with a great communal atmosphere and plenty of facilities to relax in, to watch
some television during down-time (including the football of course, which by
some coincidence turned out to be England vs Scotland one night!) or play a bit
of table tennis or pool – or just catch up on sleep! We had a brilliant time
there.
Plus, with the hostel’s very own café serving cooked breakfast and
dinner every day for decent prices, it ensured that the number of supermarket
meal deals, pies and takeaways I consumed were at a much more stable ratio to
the number of ‘wholesome’ meals I ended up getting than I’d perhaps envisaged
beforehand –although fruit and vegetables did start to become increasingly rarer
as the hectic lifestyle took hold towards the end of our spell!
But there was to be no time to explore as, upon the arrival of the rest
of ‘Gone Rogue Productions’, the moniker under which we toured, after their
coach journey from London, a very early night was in order for all of us. For
the very next day brought a considerable culture shock: waking at six in the
morning (a time I thankfully hadn’t seen for ages, and would rather not see
again!), the whole company was off to our venue, C Nova studios, for the very first
time, to have a nice and early tech and dress run – morning caffeine fixes
firmly in hand!
C Nova Studios: our home from home during the course of our run in
Edinburgh!
And although we were initially a little surprised by the relatively
cosy size of the studio we were in (a few scenes thus had be reworked, as we’d
have been sitting in audience members’ laps otherwise!), and despite having to
take a bit of time as a cast and crew to warm up to the show again, what with
it being the first time we’d performed Hanging Bruce-Howard since our Southampton-based
previews a week and a half before, we all emerged from the runs delighted and thoroughly
excited by the prospect of opening our doors to the general public at the
Fringe the very next day.
Acting at 6am was certainly a challenge – and too much for some of us!
Following a much-needed power nap (an art we were all well versed in
after our experiences in Southampton!) and a reinvigorating lunch, we were off out
again to get our first taste of the centre of all the performing festivities:
Edinburgh’s Royal Mile. The Mile represented, for me at least, the real heart
of the festival, where broad imagination manifested itself in the form of flyering
stunts (often very clever gimmicks to capture the public’s attention and draw
them to shows), show previews (with many musicals performing sets on specially
erected stages) and street performers abound.
We ended up coming back on a daily basis to try and promote our own show,
and as a result saw some incredible things going on – for example, on top of
the death-defying stunts and magic tricks that were always being pulled off by
street artists (usually featuring the hesitant assistance of an unwilling
member of the public or two!), my two favourite street performers were a
puppeteer who intricately manipulated his companion to dance brilliantly to club
music and to climb all over watching audience members (once my face!), and a beatboxer
who somehow used his voice to produce all the sounds of drum-heavy and dubstep tracks,
both performers showcasing staggering skill and invention, and drawing in and
entertaining huge audiences for the best part of an hour each.
The atmosphere and level of talent on display just on the Mile itself
was astounding, and I often found myself over the duration of my time in
Edinburgh just wasting a spare hour or two away there, drinking it all in!
The top of the Royal Mile positively brimming with Festival-goers –
and
this was only on our second day there!
One of the many street performers on show – their commitment was
incredible!
Spotting this banner on the Mile, I had to let this company know I liked
the name of their show!
(Credit: Caitlin Hobbs)
... and, as spotted on a poster on the Mile, the name of another show’s
playwright!
But of course, we weren’t just there to enjoy the Festival, we were
there to be part of it. And to truly participate, in the knowledge we were
performing a comedy and therefore needing large audiences, we needed to sell
tickets!
Unfortunately, being a reasonably new company and but one entry on a
few hundred pages’ worth of shows in the Festival programme, we knew it’d be a
tough sell to convince paying members of the public to come along when they had
so much other choice available! This was particularly apparent in our first
attempts to hand out leaflets and talk to potential audience members on the
Mile, where we were taken aback by just how many productions were vying for the
attention of passers-by.
So, understandably, we generally found our first day promoting tricky
as, despite our best efforts, we struggled to stand out in the crowds surging
past us, and didn’t manage to hand out all that many flyers – although a few of
us did have the exciting chance to record a shout-out for BBC Radio 1! But what
we were really lacking was a gimmick, a way of sticking Hanging Bruce-Howard
in people’s heads...
...and thankfully, we found a fair few! But I’ll write about them next
time. For now, we were just enjoying the fact that Gone Rogue Productions,
representing the University of Southampton’s Students’ Union, had landed in
Scotland – and we were raring to go!
Robin
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