Today’s show was
a promising way to kick off my Fringe run, with a small, yet lovely audience
who were pretty vocal and certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves.
It was reassuring
to hear a lot of laughter at the top, what with all my worrying that the subject matter might make people think
it wasn’t comedy. It certainly added a spark of energy to proceedings, though I only felt a step ahead of myself at times, what with it
still being new. When you’ve been working on a stand-up show for a while, it
easy to forget there are even laughs in it, so it was nice to rediscover that there
were (occasionally in places I didn't expect).
One thing’s for
certain: I’m going to sweat a lot this month. The mix of material and
music doesn’t let up for long, though hopefully I’ll settle into it in the coming
days and eventually find time to catch my breath.
Today’s audience
was bolstered by my flyering team who came along to get a firmer idea of what
they’ll be standing in all weathers for for the rest of the month. They
seemed to enjoy it too, which was a relief, as it would be pretty grim to promote something you didn’t like yourself for the foreseeable future.
I don’t expect
every small crowd to be so up for it; I’m sure some will be put off by a mostly
empty room. I’ve written before about the psychology of watching comedy
and how it doesn’t matter how big an audience is so much as how big they feel. If you’re Fringe-savvy you’re used
to seeing shows with a small house and aren’t put off by it, but if you’re not,
you can wind up feeling self-conscious, plus it can be hard to build an
atmosphere in a large space if everyone is spread out; I may
have to nudge the front of house staff to suggest people sit
together as this usually helps.
While I enjoyed
today, there’s still work to be done, particularly in the
second half, which felt a little ragged. I had to cut out a whole section
and edit my closing song to finish on the dot at 1pm. I plan to
look over this over the next few days, possibly cutting a song entirely
to give the show room to breathe. Speaking of breathing, I can let out a sigh of relief now I’m finally up and running; only another
twenty-one shows to go.