I’m currently on the train back from Brighton to London, after the first of our two shows on the Brighton Fringe.
Tonight went
well, with a better turnout and response than we’d expected. It can be hard to
know how a show will go on the Free Fringe; the fact that the audience
hasn’t paid can often lead to a stilted reaction. They haven’t invested in your
performance – and may not even see a flyer before they come in.
People often
assume that a free show will be shit. They’ll sometimes even say this to your
face. This happened once when I was flyering for our 2010 Edinburgh Fringe
show, ‘Big in Small Places’. It was towards the end of the run and I’d lost the
will to live; there’s nothing quite like repeatedly handing out photos of yourself for lowering morale.
“So, you’re a
comedian?” slurred the pissed potential punter.
“Allegedly.”
“Tell me a joke.”
“Come and see our
show later and I’ll tell you some then.”
I hoped he
wouldn’t take me up on my offer; I could tell from our conversation that the show
wasn’t for him.
“Tell
me a joke” he insisted (in bold and italics for emphasis).
“We don’t do
jokes, we make observations.” I’d
lost him by this point.
“I can’t be good
if it’s free anyway” he spat. “It must be shit.”
I don’t think he
was prepared for the dressing down that followed. Never cross a sleep-deprived performer
at the end of the Edinburgh Festival.
Thankfully we had
none of this tonight. The audience's possible lack of prior knowledge seemed to work in
our favour. There are a few creases to iron out before Sunday, but the show’s
in good shape. We even had a couple of tenners in the donation bucket, which
was nice.
We won’t retire
on them just yet.