It’s almost worth doing the
Fringe for the feeling you get as you travel away from it: ideally at speed.
At time of writing I’m on the
train to Peterborough, where I’ll meet my connection to Hitchin and not a
moment too soon (unless I'm early). That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the last month - although I’m
not entirely sure ‘enjoy’ is the right word for it - but nevertheless, it will
be a relief to be home; taking a show to Edinburgh’s always a grueling
experience, so it’s best to give yourself a little distance from it (both
literally and metaphorically) before you reflect over how it went for you, for
good or for bad.
One thing’s for certain: I
don’t ever want to do a show at midday again. My two previous solo Fringes were at the same time too, but this year, the downturn in numbers was
painfully evident, which was such a shame when I think the show was my
best, in the sense that it had a lot more depth.
On the plus side, I felt the
people who did come were mostly on board with it and weren’t fazed by the more
difficult subject matter about depression and the like. Irrespective of what my
review in The List might say, there was no sense that this brought the mood
down or that the songs jarred with the material; in the case of the songs I
felt they brought things to life. The only times the reaction was more muted
was on 2for1 days, when you could spot the people who
hadn’t read the flyer and weren't prepared for the content.
The question now is what do I
do next? I’d like to film the show while it’s fresh in my mind in front of a
good audience so I can send it to a few industry people who didn’t see it on
the Fringe (i.e. all of them). I think it’s a good showcase, particularly because the music, which
is something I usually keep quiet about when doing comedy. It’s not that I
intend to use it much in a stand-up setting (something The List also seemed
to think, when the sad songs where only there because they
made sense within the context of the show) but it’s still worth reminding people I can
play, as long as I don’t end up in the background of another actor/muso show
for a while, I should be okay; cut to me returning to Dreamboats & Petticoats next week.