Exhausted by Edinburgh.


Today’s show was a good one, which I was pleased about, as (1) I didn’t sleep well last night and (2) I had some friends in.

Last night, I couldn’t switch my brain off. I usually listen to a guided meditation to assist falling asleep, which is always very helpful, but I should have known from the off it wasn’t going to do the trick yesterday when I spent a good ten minutes trying to set a level that didn’t make my phone buzz with the vibration of the recording, thus irritating me instead of helping me relax. It took me at least an hour to finally go under and I then woke up very early too, which isn’t exactly a winning combination.

Part of the problem was I was very aware of having friends watching today and wanted to be well-rested for the show. Then, when I didn’t fall asleep quickly, I started to panic; what if I don’t get off at all? This is what happens when you get this far into a run and start over-thinking things. For me, each show is as important as the next, but I’m inevitably more aware of wanting to be on form when I have people in, as I want them to see it in the best possible light.

Thankfully my sleep deprivation didn’t get in the way in the end, which was great, as I didn't just have my actor friend Adam and his wife Charlotte in; I also had the excellent character comic and actor Fraser Millward (who teched my show last year) in too (he's also a friend; I only left this out of my last sentence so I didn't negatively affect the scansion. The same applies to Charlotte too; sorry: my tiredness is coming to the fore now). After the show, I went for a coffee with Fraser for a quick catch-up, which was lovely; it was great to hear what he’s been up to and to have a bit of debrief about how difficult the whole Edinburgh Fringe experience can be and the best ways to survive it; we were a big part of each other’s coping strategy at last year's festival, so I've missed him this year. Hopefully we'll work together again soon.

Popular posts from this blog

Shakerpuppetmaker.

Image
Have Parker from Thunderbirds and Noel Gallagher ever been seen in the same room? The resemblance is uncanny. So much so, I think something’s afoot. If my suspicions are correct, I've stumbled across a secret that will blow the music and puppet industry wide apart. In the mid-60s / mid-90s at least. It doesn’t take long to see the signposts. There’s the similarity between the name of Oasis’ first single, Supersonic, and Supermarianation, Gerry Anderson’s puppetry technique. The Gallagher brothers would often wear Parkas . Live Forever was clearly a reference to Captain Scarlet and Standing on the Shoulder of Giants to the size difference between Noel and his bandmates. The more you think about it, the more brazen it gets. It’s fishier than Area 51, Paul is Dead and JFK's assassination put together. The only glitch to the theory is scale . According to Wikipedia, Anderson’s marionettes were 1’10” and Gallagher is 5’8”. How does he maintain an illusion of avera...
Read more

Stevenage: A (Tiny) River Runs Through it.

If ever a river was mis-sold, it’s the Roaring Meg in Stevenage. I just walked past it on my way to the retail park that has taken its name. They’re similarly uninspiring. The river is less of a roar and more of a dribble; cystitis sufferers produce greater flow. The retail park is soulless. What was once a thriving enterprise is nearly devoid of atmosphere, save an underlying essence of emptiness and despair. With a Toys R Us. When it was first built I was excited. Back then, the thought of a bowling alley, an ice rink, a Harvester and a Blockbuster Video within a small surface area was enticing. I celebrated many birthdays on site. There was an indoor cricket pitch there for a while where I once had a joint party with a friend. Why someone with an almost pathological fear of sport would agree to such a venture is beyond me, but I did it. Now, there’s very little at the Roaring Meg of note. The river would be a metaphor for the shopping ce...
Read more

Hoo-ray and up She Rises.

So much has happened since my last post in March that this blog risks sounding like an itinerary. The main news is that Hitchin Mostly Comedy will return in the summer at a new venue, the Queen Mother Theatre . The road to this decision was convoluted, though enough fell into place en route to leave me optimistic about this new start. The catalyst was a survey I ran via our mailing list a few months back, in which I asked, "If the club returned in the current climate, with tickets still around £15 (and with similar line-ups), would you still attend?"; the response to which, in simple terms, was a resounding yes. Nearly 250 mailing list subscribers responded in a single week, with around a hundred also taking the option to leave some feedback. And only two people were abusive, which counts as a win when you consider they posted their comments online anonymously. Imagine how many more insults we would have received if the comedy club was a woman. Particularly if she was Diane ...
Read more