Saturday 5 August 2017

Edinburgh: Day 1

Today was opening day of the Edinburgh Fringe (at least, if you were with PBH) and so as 1.45pm approached I could be found flyering in the nearby vicinity of Black Market sporting an Ancient Greek style headband. As part of a team effort the previous day, Room 2 had been blacked out with pieces of card, lit by small angle poise lamps and generally made to look as little as an office room (complete with sink in the corner) as possible.

The opening Saturday is a good indication of how your fringe will go. Last year it was a high watermark for the three man show I was in so I crossed my fingers as I opened the door and welcomed people. And they came. And came. And soon enough every seat was taken and we closed the door to get started. The acts: Lew Fitz, Sonia Aste and Bad Clowns were all on top form and the audience enjoyed them immensely. A couple of songs from myself and the show was wrapped and people were dropping coins and the occasional piece of folding money into the bucket. As opening shows go it couldn't have gone much better.

After a quick five minutes at Tom Short's excellent "Comedy Shorts" in Room 5 there was time for a sandwich and a plan of action with my girlfriend (and now backing dancer) Anna before we were out flyering for my solo effort at 6.25. Crowds again were good and we welcomed a respectable 24 in for what turned out to be a full 50 minutes of first world problems raps. Disco lights, projections and a box of records being passed around the room - I'd like to think it had everything you might expect from me. The place was sweltering by the time we finished with change and occasional notes (parents with teenagers are good with donations - students not so much) in the bucket. It was time to tidy up and plan ahead for tomorrow.

THE STATS:
Clash of the Tight Tens: Citizens / Donations: 30 / £37
Andy Quirk's Got First World Problems: Crew Members / Donations: 24 / £26

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