Take Me Home, Country Railroads.


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.

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