tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935465023371812792024-03-05T08:29:17.381+00:00The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide – Live!Track the progress of author Mark Fisher as he prepares to stage a show in the world's biggest arts festival in 2012. <a href="http://www.edinburghfringesurvivalguide.com/">Website here</a>Mark Fisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877407195452350555noreply@blogger.comBlogger70125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593546502337181279.post-71061562633768130322013-07-18T14:26:00.002+01:002013-07-18T14:26:58.314+01:00Made in Scotland, Edinburgh Festival Fringe profile<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheEj7KUT2A1q6xeKkE94s45uO1wnOdLWAnPk7-lnQ-fnwbBbTtGM1Cxjtg8iCcshtJN0N9Y_241izOeL-jps6FmYCgKeC6uPnla6B_OGSmy2wcWwUmQ4dDNNyKdKorMrlwg5p7LBzkNuo/s1600/Menage+a+Trois+Image+5+credit+Kenny+Mathieson.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheEj7KUT2A1q6xeKkE94s45uO1wnOdLWAnPk7-lnQ-fnwbBbTtGM1Cxjtg8iCcshtJN0N9Y_241izOeL-jps6FmYCgKeC6uPnla6B_OGSmy2wcWwUmQ4dDNNyKdKorMrlwg5p7LBzkNuo/s320/Menage+a+Trois+Image+5+credit+Kenny+Mathieson.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Claire Cunningham in Ménage à Trois Pic: Kenny Mathieson</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;">Published in Arts Professional</span><br />
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The
mythology of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is all about the artists who
arrived in the city as unknowns and left as international stars. It
happened to Tom Stoppard in 1966, Stomp in 1991 and Ontroerend Goed in
2007. Only the other day, Laurie Sansom was saying how nobody noticed
his Royal & Derngate production of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
until it played on the Fringe in 2009.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">It is surprising, therefore, that Scottish performing companies have
been slow to exploit the profile-raising potential of the world's
largest arts festival. With notable exceptions, such as the Traverse
which has built its reputation on its August programme, companies have
been reluctant to take on the additional costs and competition of the
Fringe. It did not help that the old Scottish Arts Council would not
fund festival dates, but it was not the only reason.</span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-size: small;">We're encouraging people to think more seriously about the international potential of the work they make</span><br />
</blockquote>
<span style="font-size: small;">All this changed dramatically five years ago with the arrival of
‘Made in Scotland’. A venture between the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Society, the Federation of Scottish Theatre and Creative Scotland, the
scheme showcases more than a dozen dance and theatre companies and, this
year for the first time, a similar number of bands and musicians. It is
supported by the Scottish government's Edinburgh festivals expo fund,
which is shared between the city's 12 main festivals to help maintain
their ‘global competitive edge’ and encourage international touring. The
fund totals £2m in 2013−14, of which £550,000 a year has been awarded
to Made in Scotland.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">"There's such a wonderful diverse mix of arts industry professionals
here in Edinburgh in August,” says Kath Mainland, Chief Executive of the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, which accredits nearly 900
professionals, a quarter of whom are from abroad. "Other countries have
worked out how to make best advantage of those people and it's good that
Scotland has done that too."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Anita Clark agrees. As Creative Scotland's Portfolio Manager for
Festivals, Touring and Dance, she has been instrumental in shaping Made
in Scotland over its first five years. "Pulling together a programme of
work at the Fringe gives it more profile," she says. "A country can have
a small presence at lots of different places across the world or pull
that together and create a presence in Edinburgh. Because of the
professional and media focus, they gain so much more by doing that."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The Made in Scotland programme is selected by a panel with expertise
not only in the work itself but also in its likely appeal to audiences
beyond Scotland. Among those adjudicating this year were Thom Dibdin, an
Edinburgh theatre critic, and Mary Rose Lloyd, Artistic Director of the
New Victory Theatre in New York. "The international panellists are
really important because they are names other promoters will recognise,"
says Jon Morgan, Director of the Federation of Scottish Theatre. "It
offsets that wonderful aspect of the Fringe which is its
unpredictability."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">As well as Made in Scotland's promotional work, companies benefit
from the scheme's professional support. It provides workshops in
networking and back-up when it comes to securing deals. "We're
encouraging people to think more seriously about the international
potential of the work they make," says Jon Morgan. "Helping companies,
particularly newer ones, make the most of the Fringe, even down to how
to approach someone in a room, is really important. This is not a
guarantee, but it's certainly a good step up."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">For musicians, the folk-based Showcase Scotland in Glasgow's Celtic
Connections festival already generates £3m in bookings. Ian Smith,
Portfolio Manager for Music and Intellectual Property at Creative
Scotland, is not expecting Made in Scotland to generate that kind of
money immediately, but he is excited about the potential to promote a
broader range of musical styles to the directors of multi-artform
festivals. "When you have people coming into your country to see your
work, and it's of the highest quality, that's the first step to
international export," he says. "And it's not one-way traffic. It's
about 'You engage with us, we engage with you.' The Edinburgh Fringe is a
great arts festival but it's also such an opportunity for our artists
to be seen in a real international marketplace."</span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-size: small;">Following the Fringe, offers from venues and festivals around the world flooded in</span><br />
</blockquote>
<span style="font-size: small;">The evidence of the first five years, and the 57 Made in Scotland
beneficiaries, suggests that the scheme is working. Even companies that
are not part of Made in Scotland are starting to look at the Fringe less
as a short-term financial risk and more as a long-term opportunity for
touring and collaboration. Talk to previous participants and the
knock-on effects are clear. "It opened up a whole new market to us,"
says Paul Fitzpatrick, Producer of Catherine Wheels Theatre Company,
which staged White in 2010 with the help of a £15,000 Made in Scotland
award. "White got in front of artistic directors and leaders of
organisations that wouldn’t normally find themselves sitting in a show
for an early-years audience. It was a revelation for many of them.
Following the Fringe, offers from venues and festivals around the world
flooded in."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">With help from Made in Scotland's onward touring fund, White was able
to respond quickly in the knowledge that it could balance the budget on
a technically complex show that plays to just 60 children. "Our tour to
Australia and New Zealand was a great example of how a relatively small
amount of money meant we were able to tour for five weeks making new
relationships with new venues," says Paul Fitzpatrick. Since then, the
show has clocked up over 500 performances in eight countries. It is
fully booked until the end of 2014 and has been licensed to three
different companies.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Scottish Dance Theatre tells a similar story. Its 2009 appearance in
Made in Scotland led to two visits to Italy, followed by a reciprocal
visit to Dundee by an Italian physical theatre expert. Subsequent shows
in Made in Scotland helped establish relationships with the American
Dance Festival and companies in India.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Performer Claire Cunningham, who is back with Ménage à Trois this
year, toured to Germany, Poland, Italy and Ireland after her run in
2009. "As a result of appearing in these festivals, subsequent festivals
and producers saw the work and invited us to perform the following
year, meaning the work continued to tour to places such as the Sibiu
Theatre Festival in Romania," she says.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Such stories have impressed the Scottish government, which is
committed to continuing the scheme until at least 2015. "The Edinburgh
festivals contribute more than £250m in additional tourism revenue to
Scotland's economy," says Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture
and External Affairs. "Investing in initiatives such as Made in Scotland
not only makes economic sense but gives Scottish performers the
opportunity to promote the country's rich culture, heritage and distinct
identity on a world stage."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> - See more at: http://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/266/article/exporting-arts#sthash.PBWYCzlS.dpuf</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">THE mythology of the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe is all about the artists who arrived in the city as
unknowns and left as international stars. It happened to Tom Stoppard in 1966,
Stomp in 1991 and Ontroerend Goed in 2007. Only the other day, Laurie Sansom
was saying how nobody noticed his <span>Royal
& Derngate </span>production of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie until it
played on the Fringe in 2009. Call it coincidence, but Sansom is now the
artistic director of the National Theatre of Scotland.</span></span></b></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">It's surprising,
therefore, that Scottish performing companies have been slow to exploit the profile-raising
potential of the world's largest arts festival. With notable exceptions, such
as the Traverse which has built its reputation on its August programme,
companies have been reluctant to take on the additional costs and competition
of the Fringe. It didn't help that the old Scottish Arts Council would not fund
festival dates, but it wasn't the only reason.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">All this changed
dramatically five years ago with the arrival of Made in Scotland. A venture
between the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, the Federation of Scottish
Theatre and Creative Scotland, the scheme showcases more than a dozen dance and
theatre companies and, this year for the first time, a similar number of bands
and musicians. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">It is supported by the
Scottish Government's Edinburgh festivals expo fund, which is shared between
the city's 12 main festivals to help maintain their "global competitive
edge" and encourage international touring. The fund totals £3.2m in 2012
and 2013, of which £550,000 a year goes to Made in Scotland.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">"There's such a
wonderful diverse mix of arts industry professionals here in Edinburgh in
August," says Kath Mainland, chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival
Fringe Society, which accredits nearly 900 professionals, a quarter of whom are
from abroad. "Other countries have worked out how to make best advantage
of those people and it's good that Scotland has done that too."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Anita Clark agrees. As Creative
Scotland's portfolio manager for festivals, touring and dance, she has been
instrumental in shaping Made in Scotland over its first five years. "Pulling
together a programme of work at the Fringe gives it more profile," she
says. "A country can have a small presence at lots of different places
across the world or pull that together and create a presence in Edinburgh.
Because of the professional and media focus, they gain so much more by doing
that."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">The Made in Scotland
programme is selected by a panel with expertise not only in the work itself but
also in its likely appeal to audiences beyond Scotland. Among those
adjudicating this year were Thom Dibdin, an Edinburgh theatre critic, and<span> Mary Rose Lloyd</span>, artistic director of
the New Victory Theatre in New York. "The international panellists are
really important because they're names other promoters will recognise," says
Jon Morgan, director of the Federation of Scottish Theatre. "It offsets
that wonderful aspect of the Fringe which is its unpredictability."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Mainland agrees: "The
Made in Scotland programme has such substance to it now and it's become a thing
that people trust."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">As well as Made in
Scotland's promotional work, companies benefit from the scheme's professional
support. It provides workshops in networking and backup when it comes to securing
deals. "We're encouraging people to think more seriously about the
international potential of the work they make," says Morgan. "Helping
companies, particularly newer ones, make the most of the Fringe, even down to
how to approach someone in a room, is really important. This is not a
guarantee, but it's certainly a good step up."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">For
musicians, the folk-based Showcase Scotland in Glasgow's Celtic Connections
festival already generates £3m in bookings. Ian Smith, portfolio manager for
music and IP at Creative Scotland, is not expecting Made in Scotland to
generate that kind of money immediately, but he is excited about the potential
to promote a broader range of musical styles to the directors of multi-artform
festivals. "When you have people coming into your country to see your
work, and it's of the highest quality, that's the first step to international
export," he says. "And it's not one-way traffic. It's about, 'You
engage with us, we engage with you.' The Edinburgh Fringe is a great arts
festival but it's also such an opportunity for our artists to be seen in a real
international market place."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">The
evidence of the first five years, and the 57 Made in Scotland beneficiaries,
suggests the scheme is working. Even companies not part of Made in Scotland are
starting to look at the Fringe less as a short-term financial risk and more as
a long-term opportunity for touring and collaboration. Talk to previous participants
and the knock-on effects are clear. "It opened up a whole new market to us,"
says Paul Fitzpatrick, producer of Catherine Wheels Theatre Company which
staged White in 2010 with the help of a £15,000 Made in Scotland award. "White
got in front of artistic directors and leaders of organisations that wouldn’t
normally find themselves sitting in a show for an early-years audience. It was
a revelation for many of them. Following the Fringe, offers from venues and
festivals around the world flooded in. It was very exciting; it genuinely felt
like the world was White’s oyster."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">With
help from Made in Scotland's onward touring fund, the company was able to
respond quickly in the knowledge it could balance the budget on a technically
complex show that plays to just 60 children. "Our tour to Australia and
New Zealand was a great example of how a relatively small amount of money meant
we were able to tour for five weeks making new relationships with new venues,"
says Fitzpatrick. Since then, the show has clocked up over 500 performances in
eight countries. It is fully booked until the end of 2014 and has been licensed
to three different companies.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Scottish
Dance Theatre tells a similar story. Its 2009 appearance in Made in Scotland
led to two visits to Italy, followed by a reciprocal visit to Dundee by an
Italian physical theatre expert. Subsequent shows in Made in Scotland helped
established relationships with the American Dance Festival and companies in
India. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Performer
Claire Cunningham, who is back with Ménage à Trois this year, toured to
Germany, Poland, Italy and Ireland after her run in 2009. "As a result of
appearing in these festivals, subsequent festivals and producers saw the work
and invited us to perform the following year, meaning the work continued to
tour to places such as the Sibiu Theatre Festival, Romania," she says.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Such
stories have impressed the Scottish Government, which is committed to
continuing the scheme until at least 2015. "The Edinburgh festivals
contribute more than £250m in additional tourism revenue to Scotland's
economy," says Fiona Hyslop, cabinet secretary for culture and external
affairs. "Investing in initiatives such as Made in Scotland not only makes
economic sense but gives Scottish performers the opportunity to promote the
country's rich culture, heritage and distinct identity on a world stage."</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Made
in Scotland, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, 1–25 August,
<a href="http://www.madeinscotlandshowcase.com/">www.madeinscotlandshowcase.com</a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The
mythology of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is all about the artists who
arrived in the city as unknowns and left as international stars. It
happened to Tom Stoppard in 1966, Stomp in 1991 and Ontroerend Goed in
2007. Only the other day, Laurie Sansom was saying how nobody noticed
his Royal & Derngate production of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
until it played on the Fringe in 2009.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">It is surprising, therefore, that Scottish performing companies have
been slow to exploit the profile-raising potential of the world's
largest arts festival. With notable exceptions, such as the Traverse
which has built its reputation on its August programme, companies have
been reluctant to take on the additional costs and competition of the
Fringe. It did not help that the old Scottish Arts Council would not
fund festival dates, but it was not the only reason.</span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-size: small;">We're encouraging people to think more seriously about the international potential of the work they make</span><br />
</blockquote>
<span style="font-size: small;">All this changed dramatically five years ago with the arrival of
‘Made in Scotland’. A venture between the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Society, the Federation of Scottish Theatre and Creative Scotland, the
scheme showcases more than a dozen dance and theatre companies and, this
year for the first time, a similar number of bands and musicians. It is
supported by the Scottish government's Edinburgh festivals expo fund,
which is shared between the city's 12 main festivals to help maintain
their ‘global competitive edge’ and encourage international touring. The
fund totals £2m in 2013−14, of which £550,000 a year has been awarded
to Made in Scotland.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">"There's such a wonderful diverse mix of arts industry professionals
here in Edinburgh in August,” says Kath Mainland, Chief Executive of the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, which accredits nearly 900
professionals, a quarter of whom are from abroad. "Other countries have
worked out how to make best advantage of those people and it's good that
Scotland has done that too."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Anita Clark agrees. As Creative Scotland's Portfolio Manager for
Festivals, Touring and Dance, she has been instrumental in shaping Made
in Scotland over its first five years. "Pulling together a programme of
work at the Fringe gives it more profile," she says. "A country can have
a small presence at lots of different places across the world or pull
that together and create a presence in Edinburgh. Because of the
professional and media focus, they gain so much more by doing that."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The Made in Scotland programme is selected by a panel with expertise
not only in the work itself but also in its likely appeal to audiences
beyond Scotland. Among those adjudicating this year were Thom Dibdin, an
Edinburgh theatre critic, and Mary Rose Lloyd, Artistic Director of the
New Victory Theatre in New York. "The international panellists are
really important because they are names other promoters will recognise,"
says Jon Morgan, Director of the Federation of Scottish Theatre. "It
offsets that wonderful aspect of the Fringe which is its
unpredictability."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">As well as Made in Scotland's promotional work, companies benefit
from the scheme's professional support. It provides workshops in
networking and back-up when it comes to securing deals. "We're
encouraging people to think more seriously about the international
potential of the work they make," says Jon Morgan. "Helping companies,
particularly newer ones, make the most of the Fringe, even down to how
to approach someone in a room, is really important. This is not a
guarantee, but it's certainly a good step up."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">For musicians, the folk-based Showcase Scotland in Glasgow's Celtic
Connections festival already generates £3m in bookings. Ian Smith,
Portfolio Manager for Music and Intellectual Property at Creative
Scotland, is not expecting Made in Scotland to generate that kind of
money immediately, but he is excited about the potential to promote a
broader range of musical styles to the directors of multi-artform
festivals. "When you have people coming into your country to see your
work, and it's of the highest quality, that's the first step to
international export," he says. "And it's not one-way traffic. It's
about 'You engage with us, we engage with you.' The Edinburgh Fringe is a
great arts festival but it's also such an opportunity for our artists
to be seen in a real international marketplace."</span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-size: small;">Following the Fringe, offers from venues and festivals around the world flooded in</span><br />
</blockquote>
<span style="font-size: small;">The evidence of the first five years, and the 57 Made in Scotland
beneficiaries, suggests that the scheme is working. Even companies that
are not part of Made in Scotland are starting to look at the Fringe less
as a short-term financial risk and more as a long-term opportunity for
touring and collaboration. Talk to previous participants and the
knock-on effects are clear. "It opened up a whole new market to us,"
says Paul Fitzpatrick, Producer of Catherine Wheels Theatre Company,
which staged White in 2010 with the help of a £15,000 Made in Scotland
award. "White got in front of artistic directors and leaders of
organisations that wouldn’t normally find themselves sitting in a show
for an early-years audience. It was a revelation for many of them.
Following the Fringe, offers from venues and festivals around the world
flooded in."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">With help from Made in Scotland's onward touring fund, White was able
to respond quickly in the knowledge that it could balance the budget on
a technically complex show that plays to just 60 children. "Our tour to
Australia and New Zealand was a great example of how a relatively small
amount of money meant we were able to tour for five weeks making new
relationships with new venues," says Paul Fitzpatrick. Since then, the
show has clocked up over 500 performances in eight countries. It is
fully booked until the end of 2014 and has been licensed to three
different companies.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Scottish Dance Theatre tells a similar story. Its 2009 appearance in
Made in Scotland led to two visits to Italy, followed by a reciprocal
visit to Dundee by an Italian physical theatre expert. Subsequent shows
in Made in Scotland helped establish relationships with the American
Dance Festival and companies in India.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Performer Claire Cunningham, who is back with Ménage à Trois this
year, toured to Germany, Poland, Italy and Ireland after her run in
2009. "As a result of appearing in these festivals, subsequent festivals
and producers saw the work and invited us to perform the following
year, meaning the work continued to tour to places such as the Sibiu
Theatre Festival in Romania," she says.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Such stories have impressed the Scottish government, which is
committed to continuing the scheme until at least 2015. "The Edinburgh
festivals contribute more than £250m in additional tourism revenue to
Scotland's economy," says Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture
and External Affairs. "Investing in initiatives such as Made in Scotland
not only makes economic sense but gives Scottish performers the
opportunity to promote the country's rich culture, heritage and distinct
identity on a world stage."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> - See more at: http://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/266/article/exporting-arts#sthash.PBWYCzlS.dpuf</span></div>
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The
mythology of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is all about the artists who
arrived in the city as unknowns and left as international stars. It
happened to Tom Stoppard in 1966, Stomp in 1991 and Ontroerend Goed in
2007. Only the other day, Laurie Sansom was saying how nobody noticed
his Royal & Derngate production of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
until it played on the Fringe in 2009.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">It is surprising, therefore, that Scottish performing companies have
been slow to exploit the profile-raising potential of the world's
largest arts festival. With notable exceptions, such as the Traverse
which has built its reputation on its August programme, companies have
been reluctant to take on the additional costs and competition of the
Fringe. It did not help that the old Scottish Arts Council would not
fund festival dates, but it was not the only reason.</span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-size: small;">We're encouraging people to think more seriously about the international potential of the work they make</span><br />
</blockquote>
<span style="font-size: small;">All this changed dramatically five years ago with the arrival of
‘Made in Scotland’. A venture between the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Society, the Federation of Scottish Theatre and Creative Scotland, the
scheme showcases more than a dozen dance and theatre companies and, this
year for the first time, a similar number of bands and musicians. It is
supported by the Scottish government's Edinburgh festivals expo fund,
which is shared between the city's 12 main festivals to help maintain
their ‘global competitive edge’ and encourage international touring. The
fund totals £2m in 2013−14, of which £550,000 a year has been awarded
to Made in Scotland.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">"There's such a wonderful diverse mix of arts industry professionals
here in Edinburgh in August,” says Kath Mainland, Chief Executive of the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, which accredits nearly 900
professionals, a quarter of whom are from abroad. "Other countries have
worked out how to make best advantage of those people and it's good that
Scotland has done that too."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Anita Clark agrees. As Creative Scotland's Portfolio Manager for
Festivals, Touring and Dance, she has been instrumental in shaping Made
in Scotland over its first five years. "Pulling together a programme of
work at the Fringe gives it more profile," she says. "A country can have
a small presence at lots of different places across the world or pull
that together and create a presence in Edinburgh. Because of the
professional and media focus, they gain so much more by doing that."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The Made in Scotland programme is selected by a panel with expertise
not only in the work itself but also in its likely appeal to audiences
beyond Scotland. Among those adjudicating this year were Thom Dibdin, an
Edinburgh theatre critic, and Mary Rose Lloyd, Artistic Director of the
New Victory Theatre in New York. "The international panellists are
really important because they are names other promoters will recognise,"
says Jon Morgan, Director of the Federation of Scottish Theatre. "It
offsets that wonderful aspect of the Fringe which is its
unpredictability."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">As well as Made in Scotland's promotional work, companies benefit
from the scheme's professional support. It provides workshops in
networking and back-up when it comes to securing deals. "We're
encouraging people to think more seriously about the international
potential of the work they make," says Jon Morgan. "Helping companies,
particularly newer ones, make the most of the Fringe, even down to how
to approach someone in a room, is really important. This is not a
guarantee, but it's certainly a good step up."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">For musicians, the folk-based Showcase Scotland in Glasgow's Celtic
Connections festival already generates £3m in bookings. Ian Smith,
Portfolio Manager for Music and Intellectual Property at Creative
Scotland, is not expecting Made in Scotland to generate that kind of
money immediately, but he is excited about the potential to promote a
broader range of musical styles to the directors of multi-artform
festivals. "When you have people coming into your country to see your
work, and it's of the highest quality, that's the first step to
international export," he says. "And it's not one-way traffic. It's
about 'You engage with us, we engage with you.' The Edinburgh Fringe is a
great arts festival but it's also such an opportunity for our artists
to be seen in a real international marketplace."</span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-size: small;">Following the Fringe, offers from venues and festivals around the world flooded in</span><br />
</blockquote>
<span style="font-size: small;">The evidence of the first five years, and the 57 Made in Scotland
beneficiaries, suggests that the scheme is working. Even companies that
are not part of Made in Scotland are starting to look at the Fringe less
as a short-term financial risk and more as a long-term opportunity for
touring and collaboration. Talk to previous participants and the
knock-on effects are clear. "It opened up a whole new market to us,"
says Paul Fitzpatrick, Producer of Catherine Wheels Theatre Company,
which staged White in 2010 with the help of a £15,000 Made in Scotland
award. "White got in front of artistic directors and leaders of
organisations that wouldn’t normally find themselves sitting in a show
for an early-years audience. It was a revelation for many of them.
Following the Fringe, offers from venues and festivals around the world
flooded in."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">With help from Made in Scotland's onward touring fund, White was able
to respond quickly in the knowledge that it could balance the budget on
a technically complex show that plays to just 60 children. "Our tour to
Australia and New Zealand was a great example of how a relatively small
amount of money meant we were able to tour for five weeks making new
relationships with new venues," says Paul Fitzpatrick. Since then, the
show has clocked up over 500 performances in eight countries. It is
fully booked until the end of 2014 and has been licensed to three
different companies.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Scottish Dance Theatre tells a similar story. Its 2009 appearance in
Made in Scotland led to two visits to Italy, followed by a reciprocal
visit to Dundee by an Italian physical theatre expert. Subsequent shows
in Made in Scotland helped establish relationships with the American
Dance Festival and companies in India.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Performer Claire Cunningham, who is back with Ménage à Trois this
year, toured to Germany, Poland, Italy and Ireland after her run in
2009. "As a result of appearing in these festivals, subsequent festivals
and producers saw the work and invited us to perform the following
year, meaning the work continued to tour to places such as the Sibiu
Theatre Festival in Romania," she says.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Such stories have impressed the Scottish government, which is
committed to continuing the scheme until at least 2015. "The Edinburgh
festivals contribute more than £250m in additional tourism revenue to
Scotland's economy," says Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture
and External Affairs. "Investing in initiatives such as Made in Scotland
not only makes economic sense but gives Scottish performers the
opportunity to promote the country's rich culture, heritage and distinct
identity on a world stage."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> - See more at: http://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/266/article/exporting-arts#sthash.PBWYCzlS.dpuf</span></div>
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The
mythology of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is all about the artists who
arrived in the city as unknowns and left as international stars. It
happened to Tom Stoppard in 1966, Stomp in 1991 and Ontroerend Goed in
2007. Only the other day, Laurie Sansom was saying how nobody noticed
his Royal & Derngate production of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
until it played on the Fringe in 2009.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">It is surprising, therefore, that Scottish performing companies have
been slow to exploit the profile-raising potential of the world's
largest arts festival. With notable exceptions, such as the Traverse
which has built its reputation on its August programme, companies have
been reluctant to take on the additional costs and competition of the
Fringe. It did not help that the old Scottish Arts Council would not
fund festival dates, but it was not the only reason.</span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-size: small;">We're encouraging people to think more seriously about the international potential of the work they make</span><br />
</blockquote>
<span style="font-size: small;">All this changed dramatically five years ago with the arrival of
‘Made in Scotland’. A venture between the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Society, the Federation of Scottish Theatre and Creative Scotland, the
scheme showcases more than a dozen dance and theatre companies and, this
year for the first time, a similar number of bands and musicians. It is
supported by the Scottish government's Edinburgh festivals expo fund,
which is shared between the city's 12 main festivals to help maintain
their ‘global competitive edge’ and encourage international touring. The
fund totals £2m in 2013−14, of which £550,000 a year has been awarded
to Made in Scotland.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">"There's such a wonderful diverse mix of arts industry professionals
here in Edinburgh in August,” says Kath Mainland, Chief Executive of the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, which accredits nearly 900
professionals, a quarter of whom are from abroad. "Other countries have
worked out how to make best advantage of those people and it's good that
Scotland has done that too."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Anita Clark agrees. As Creative Scotland's Portfolio Manager for
Festivals, Touring and Dance, she has been instrumental in shaping Made
in Scotland over its first five years. "Pulling together a programme of
work at the Fringe gives it more profile," she says. "A country can have
a small presence at lots of different places across the world or pull
that together and create a presence in Edinburgh. Because of the
professional and media focus, they gain so much more by doing that."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The Made in Scotland programme is selected by a panel with expertise
not only in the work itself but also in its likely appeal to audiences
beyond Scotland. Among those adjudicating this year were Thom Dibdin, an
Edinburgh theatre critic, and Mary Rose Lloyd, Artistic Director of the
New Victory Theatre in New York. "The international panellists are
really important because they are names other promoters will recognise,"
says Jon Morgan, Director of the Federation of Scottish Theatre. "It
offsets that wonderful aspect of the Fringe which is its
unpredictability."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">As well as Made in Scotland's promotional work, companies benefit
from the scheme's professional support. It provides workshops in
networking and back-up when it comes to securing deals. "We're
encouraging people to think more seriously about the international
potential of the work they make," says Jon Morgan. "Helping companies,
particularly newer ones, make the most of the Fringe, even down to how
to approach someone in a room, is really important. This is not a
guarantee, but it's certainly a good step up."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">For musicians, the folk-based Showcase Scotland in Glasgow's Celtic
Connections festival already generates £3m in bookings. Ian Smith,
Portfolio Manager for Music and Intellectual Property at Creative
Scotland, is not expecting Made in Scotland to generate that kind of
money immediately, but he is excited about the potential to promote a
broader range of musical styles to the directors of multi-artform
festivals. "When you have people coming into your country to see your
work, and it's of the highest quality, that's the first step to
international export," he says. "And it's not one-way traffic. It's
about 'You engage with us, we engage with you.' The Edinburgh Fringe is a
great arts festival but it's also such an opportunity for our artists
to be seen in a real international marketplace."</span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-size: small;">Following the Fringe, offers from venues and festivals around the world flooded in</span><br />
</blockquote>
<span style="font-size: small;">The evidence of the first five years, and the 57 Made in Scotland
beneficiaries, suggests that the scheme is working. Even companies that
are not part of Made in Scotland are starting to look at the Fringe less
as a short-term financial risk and more as a long-term opportunity for
touring and collaboration. Talk to previous participants and the
knock-on effects are clear. "It opened up a whole new market to us,"
says Paul Fitzpatrick, Producer of Catherine Wheels Theatre Company,
which staged White in 2010 with the help of a £15,000 Made in Scotland
award. "White got in front of artistic directors and leaders of
organisations that wouldn’t normally find themselves sitting in a show
for an early-years audience. It was a revelation for many of them.
Following the Fringe, offers from venues and festivals around the world
flooded in."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">With help from Made in Scotland's onward touring fund, White was able
to respond quickly in the knowledge that it could balance the budget on
a technically complex show that plays to just 60 children. "Our tour to
Australia and New Zealand was a great example of how a relatively small
amount of money meant we were able to tour for five weeks making new
relationships with new venues," says Paul Fitzpatrick. Since then, the
show has clocked up over 500 performances in eight countries. It is
fully booked until the end of 2014 and has been licensed to three
different companies.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Scottish Dance Theatre tells a similar story. Its 2009 appearance in
Made in Scotland led to two visits to Italy, followed by a reciprocal
visit to Dundee by an Italian physical theatre expert. Subsequent shows
in Made in Scotland helped establish relationships with the American
Dance Festival and companies in India.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Performer Claire Cunningham, who is back with Ménage à Trois this
year, toured to Germany, Poland, Italy and Ireland after her run in
2009. "As a result of appearing in these festivals, subsequent festivals
and producers saw the work and invited us to perform the following
year, meaning the work continued to tour to places such as the Sibiu
Theatre Festival in Romania," she says.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Such stories have impressed the Scottish government, which is
committed to continuing the scheme until at least 2015. "The Edinburgh
festivals contribute more than £250m in additional tourism revenue to
Scotland's economy," says Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture
and External Affairs. "Investing in initiatives such as Made in Scotland
not only makes economic sense but gives Scottish performers the
opportunity to promote the country's rich culture, heritage and distinct
identity on a world stage."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> - See more at: http://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/266/article/exporting-arts#sthash.PBWYCzlS.dpuf</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span><span><span lang="EN-US">© Mark Fisher <span></span>2013</span></span></span>
<span><br />
More coverage at <a href="http://theatrescotland.com/">theatreSCOTLAND.com</a> <br />
Sign up for <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/theatreSCOTLANDupdates">theatreSCOTLAND updates</a> <br />
Sign up for <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/theatrescotland">theatreSCOTLAND discussion</a> </span></span>Mark Fisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877407195452350555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593546502337181279.post-13849582100703755302013-02-15T15:51:00.002+00:002013-02-15T15:54:29.103+00:00Hook Hitch gets its Edinburgh Fringe priorities right<br />
<div class="gallery-media" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><img class="media-image bottom-corners" data-height="1024" data-width="768" height="320" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BDE7ADpCAAApsIq.jpg:large" style="margin-top: 0px;" width="240" /></span></div>
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">THE website of Guildford's <a href="http://hookhitch.co.uk/" target="_blank">Hook Hitch</a> theatre company says <span style="font-size: small;">its</span> actors "grab their audiences and don't let go". </span></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">That's not all: they also grab their copy of <a href="http://goo.gl/9zsU1" target="_blank">The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide</a> and don't let go. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Here's the evidence (right), tweeted to me at <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkFFisher" target="_blank">@MarkFFisher</a> only yesterday. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">The company is bringing This Was <span style="font-size: small;">t</span>he World and I Was King, a new play about childhood imagination<span style="font-size: small;">, to Edinburgh. It</span> takes inspiration from <span style="font-size: small;">the poems of </span>Robert
Louis Stevenson a<span style="font-size: small;">s well as</span> the girls who convinced the world that the <a href="http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/photo_database/image/the_cottingley_fairies/" target="_blank">Cottingley Fairies</a> were real. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">One person taken in by the hoax was Arthur Conan Doyle who failed to show the scepticism of his most famous creation, Sherlock Holmes, in his willingness to believe in otherworldly creatures. That story inspired Peepolykus to create The Arthur Conan Doyle Appreciation Society, its recent Christmas show at Edinburgh's Traverse, <a href="http://scottishtheatre.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/theatre-preview-arthur-conan-doyle.html" target="_blank">as I wrote here</a>.</span><br />
<div class="gallery-media">
</div>
<div class="gallery-media">
</div>
Mark Fisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877407195452350555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593546502337181279.post-2760662200887129262013-02-13T15:53:00.002+00:002013-02-13T15:53:30.029+00:00A wild day on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with Phil Nichol<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://goo.gl/9zsU1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3GBgGVmdiWulHpFCcXuM9tAnzc9Mf9heZksNyK8Y-R0vrKnucibFWOmdZSmGaCK5kuyABP9WXKCl42ESJK_MJ3WQgDLlNtoQR1AY_lQi5sBuWiPgFzrzu2w9EENAH3smQYjvq6KIBC-OL/s320/Edinburgh+Fringe+Survival+Guide+Cover.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b><span style="font-size: small;">HERE'S an article I wrote for Scotland on Sunday in 2007, about a day spent trying to keep up with comedian Phil Nichol. If you've never been to the Edinburgh Fringe before, it'll give you a flavour of this round-the-clock festival. <a href="http://www.edinburghfringesurvivalguide.com/Phil-Nichol-Josie-Long-Jessie-Cave.html" target="_blank">More from </a><a href="http://www.edinburghfringesurvivalguide.com/Phil-Nichol-Josie-Long-Jessie-Cave.html" target="_blank">Phil Nichol in this podcast here.</a></span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">I've won. It's 1.30am in the Pleasance Dome and Phil Nichol is telling me that he's going home to bed. There's still an inch of beer in my glass. Victory. If only by minutes, I have outlasted this one-man force of nature. <br /><br />But my victory is a hollow one. All I have had to do is spend the day trailing the Canadian comedian, winner of last year's if.comedy award, and that has been exhausting enough. He, by contrast, has had to spend the whole day being Phil Nichol, performing in three shows, directing another. When he wakes up again for his 8am jog, he will have to do it all again.<br /><br />The day starts 12 hours earlier at the up-turned purple cow known as the Udderbelly where Breaker Morant is playing. Starring Adam Hills and Brendan Burns, it’s a true-life courtroom drama about military abuses during the Boer War (shades of Abu Ghraib) and is directed by Nichol for his own Comedians Theatre Company. Bearded and dishevelled, Nichol shouts over to me from the bar as I arrive a few minutes late (already I'm failing to keep up with his pace). He apologises that he's not going to be able to sit with me, but he's trapped a nerve in his bottom and is going to have to stand in the lighting box during the show. It'd be great if I could get out of the theatre promptly at the end so he can make his appointment for a deep-tissue massage.<br /><br />The play goes down well with the early-afternoon audience and, as the applause dies down, we hook up again and leg it over to the Pleasance Dome. Nichol never lets up, shouting greetings to Simon Amstell and Adam Bloom, explaining how he was locked out of his flat last night after using his keys as a prop and leaving them on stage, and how he didn't get any sleep because of the pain in his leg. We meet masseur Zeb Shaw who suggests Nichol lies on the floor behind a large cupboard in the performers' lounge. Salubrious it is not, but on Planet Nichol there is not much option.<br /><br />"You’re getting none of the nice stuff," says Shaw as he sets to work. It's unlikely Nichol would appreciate it if he did. He's too busy texting to notice what Shaw is up to. "I don't have time to lose," he says. "I'm organising my next show."<br /><br />With his eye on the clock, Shaw tells him to forget the phone and sit up for some stretching exercises. "I can tell you your obituary will be a heart attack," he says. "You work too hard."<br /><br />"I'll no' die," quips Nichol adopting the accent of his Scottish mother. "I cannae afford the funeral."<br /><br />And with that, he's back on his feet and we're racing across to West Regent Street to the Bonsai Japanese Bar and Bistro where Nichol is to be interviewed by fellow comedian Lucy Porter for a Guardian podcast. A small entourage of PR people and promoters is building when, by chance, the Breaker Morant cast shows up for a meal. Nichol holds forth, plugging his shows for the tape recorder, ordering large quantities of food (this man needs fuel) and bantering across the restaurant to Adam Hills and Brendan Burns as if they're in a comedy club.<br /><br />But no time for digestion. Nichol has a play to star in. So it's over to the Pleasance Courtyard at a trot to catch up with Lizzie Roper, Tony Law and the rest of the cast of Killer Joe waiting in the changing room. The black comedy by Tracy Letts is another production by the Comedians Theatre Company, this time with Nichol starring. Appearing in his underwear like a live action Homer Simpson, he plays the father of a trailer-trash family who hire a contract killer to bump off his ex-wife. The seedy milieu explains Nichol's hirsute appearance.<br /><br />The performance is delayed while the ushers ask a mother with a baby to leave for fear of disruption, which means after the curtain call Nichol is racing faster than ever. We whip through the Pleasance crowds to a waiting taxi and head across to the Stand, while Nichol tries to wipe off the stage blood from Killer Joe's climactic scene. We make the comedy club just in time for him to change and do a sound check (for Hiro Worship he's joined by a three-piece band) and before you know it, he's up on stage delivering a blistering comedy routine about the nature of celebrity and the time he befriended an obsessive Japanese Rolling Stones fan. <br /><br />If this set was the only thing he'd done all day, you'd be blown away by his ferocious energy and breakneck verbal delivery. Those who saw the award-winning The Naked Racist last year, say this one is even better. His delivery was faster still at yesterday's gig, says one of his band mates.<br /><br />Just time for a top-up massage from Shaw, who's shown up for the gig, before we're back in a taxi returning to the Pleasance to meet Tom Daley, Nichol's co-director on Breaker Morant. Pretty soon we're swept up by a bunch of comedians gathering for tonight's Old Rope, Nichol's nightly comedy club dedicated to new material: whenever a stand-up resorts to old gags, they have to grab hold of the noose that hangs over the stage. The press are not normally invited to the cult club, but I don’t mind telling you it's a great night with top performances from the likes of Richard Herring and Paul Foot – and, of course, Nichol as compère, only slightly the worse for a Jack Daniels or two.<br /><br />Comedian Nick Doody tells me about the time Nichol ran the London marathon and still did a gig the same night. Everyone is in awe of his stamina, which is why I believe him when he suggests going to Spank, the early-hours comedy club, to do an impromptu set. But on a Monday night with a painful trapped nerve, it's too much even for him. All the same, he's still proposing we go for another drink as he limps off into the night.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">© Mark Fishe<span style="font-size: small;">r, 2007 and 2013</span><br /></span>Mark Fisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877407195452350555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593546502337181279.post-36893516382542928112013-01-27T22:19:00.001+00:002013-01-27T22:19:43.386+00:00Hook Hitch Theatre gets its Edinburgh Fringe priorities right<b><span style="font-size: small;">AH YES, it's that time of year again when people <span style="font-size: small;">start </span>focusing on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and, importantly, get their bookshelves in order.</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">Previously, we've seen <span><span style="font-size: small;">top-quality book-related</span> pictures here:</span></span><br />
<a href="http://edinburghfringesurvivalguide.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/the-art-of-skyers-words-and-women.html"><span style="font-size: small;">http://edinburghfringesurvivalguide.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/the-art-of-skyers-words-and-women.html</span></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">and here:</span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span><a href="http://edinburghfringesurvivalguide.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/hooray-for-blitz-sisters.html" target="_blank">http://edinburghfringesurvivalguide.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/hooray-for-blitz-sisters.html </a></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span><br /></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-size: small;">a</span>nd here:</span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span><a href="http://edinburghfringesurvivalguide.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/babies-puppets-and-swimming-pools-read.html">http://edinburghfringesurvivalguide.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/babies-puppets-and-swimming-pools-read.html</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span>Now it's the time of those wise people from Guildford's <a href="http://hookhitch.co.uk/" target="_blank">Hook Hitch Theatre</a> who, as well as making their own shows, their own music and their own puppets, are starting their Fringe campaign as they mean to go on – with a might<span style="font-size: small;">y fine pile of books:</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1408132524/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=markfisherssc-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1408132524" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnGTU9RV4Hc4D5T_CpBzBYRbaZ8J8wFCaxkKIB8NiEJymF_OX_XY_r75mEGWRUydHSAp5vkH6unDEp3lwd0yjnzK2sqUrPuQrXosRnAY3ZLkZTHDN-TaXyOcAbxQKSFV-WihrYW5b_lelZ/s400/HookHitch.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span> </span></span>Mark Fisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877407195452350555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593546502337181279.post-6306692175037442272013-01-14T11:22:00.001+00:002013-01-14T11:22:09.749+00:00Cash for musicians to perform at the Fringe<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://goo.gl/9zsU1" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMn-jH39-He_83uwyvQzffG4g8y465YwOUaK6Aw-8peFFtJmf2t67vuhNwNpMQbvwU7Eo4NFF-Y_PR_3YeYCBtpJHIw4x4c8aNqDgvBSgjRR5dZYtFUXb-DVntBaPjuFk6KHp1BmRHVW2t/s320/EFSG+front+cover.png" width="209" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The Scottish <span style="font-size: small;">g<span style="font-size: small;">overnment has just <span style="font-size: small;">sent o<span style="font-size: small;">ut this press re<span style="font-size: small;">lease, which will be of interest to musicians based in S<span style="font-size: small;">c<span style="font-size: small;">otland and thinking about performing on the Edinburgh F<span style="font-size: small;">estival Fri<span style="font-size: small;">nge</span>. Applications for support can be made from today via <a href="http://www.creativescotland.com/investment/madeinscotland2013">http://www.creativescotland.com/investment/madeinscotland2013</a>:</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: small;">Cash for musicians to perform at the Fringe<br /><br />Funding scheme expanded to support music acts for the first time<br /><br />The Scottish Government will expand its support for Scottish-based artists to perform at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this year, Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop announced today.<br /><br />The annual Made in Scotland funding programme will receive a £100,000 boost and will be extended to support music acts in addition to theatre and dance in 2013.<br /><br />The Cabinet Secretary was speaking from Creative Scotland in Edinburgh, where she met members of The Blueswater, whose 2012 Fringe performances earned the Edinburgh-based band a prestigious Mervyn Stutter Spirit of the Fringe Award.<br /><br />She said:<br /><br />“The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the world’s biggest arts festival, attracting visitors and artists from all over the globe to experience the cultural and creative talent it has to offer.<br /><br />“It makes strong economic sense to ensure Scotland’s own exceptional talent is at the centre of the Fringe and our artists are given opportunities to benefit from the global exposure the festival brings. Through Made in Scotland – part of the Edinburgh Festivals Expo Fund - the Scottish Government continues to demonstrate its commitment to doing exactly that.<br /><br />“Since 2009 we have provided £1.6m through Made in Scotland to support 56 theatre and dance productions to perform at the Fringe and to embark on a range of international touring opportunities.<br /><br />“Expanding the scope of the scheme to support musicians is a natural next step for Made in Scotland. For the successful applicants, it will provide access to fantastic support, expertise, training and advice, exposure to esteemed international promoters and funding towards performing at the 2013 Fringe.”<br /><br />Kath M Mainland, Chief Executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, said:<br /><br />“The Fringe is the world’s largest arts festival and provides a unique platform for artists to showcase their work to the public and arts industry from all over the world. Made in Scotland ensures Scottish artists can take full advantage of the significant international opportunity provided by the Fringe. Expanding the Made in Scotland programme to include music is a natural progression and one which sits very comfortably within the Fringe programme as a whole.<br /><br />“The Scottish Government’s ongoing support for the Made In Scotland programme continues to be invaluable as a means for Scottish based artists to present their work both to audiences and promoters at the Fringe and it is fantastic that this support has made it possible for the Made in Scotland initiative to be extended this year to include musical genres for the first time.”<br /><br />Caroline Parkinson, Director of Creative Development at Creative Scotland, said:<br /><br />"I'd encourage musicians based in Scotland, ready to take the step onto the international platform provided by the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, to apply for this new support available through Made in Scotland. The tremendous successes enjoyed so far by artists working in theatre and dance who have been supported by the programme shows the potential opportunities now open to those working in music."<br /><br />Felipe Schrieberg from The Blueswater, said:<br /><br />“This kind of program is perfect for a group like us. We've worked hard to succeed at the Fringe with our show 'Blues!', and with potential access to this kind of funding we can work on putting together a more ambitious Fringe show.”</span></blockquote>
Mark Fisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877407195452350555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593546502337181279.post-30138908584100421142012-09-03T17:36:00.001+01:002012-09-03T17:36:13.867+01:00What I learnt about putting on a Fringe show<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifgjv65-pgs_ozUERjJU72Pti4rsoBZecn9gtvuhdAa44Dy21cTVeAcDbpDtKv35z9HgymUbHWYyjyOm1M5PFsyiU54nmTqMbbz0pCzaN81QaG_ECtmoyjjl0L9stLYkpQYdUED16hAeA-/s1600/Butlers.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifgjv65-pgs_ozUERjJU72Pti4rsoBZecn9gtvuhdAa44Dy21cTVeAcDbpDtKv35z9HgymUbHWYyjyOm1M5PFsyiU54nmTqMbbz0pCzaN81QaG_ECtmoyjjl0L9stLYkpQYdUED16hAeA-/s320/Butlers.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Butlers serving Tattie Shaw's fruit</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>THE series of six chat shows I hosted during the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe could scarcely have been more simple. The format was straightforward: me and three or four guests sitting in front of an audience discussing the various challenges of putting on a Fringe show for an hour. I did not have to worry about building a set, remembering lines, keeping up company morale or sorting out accommodation.</b><br /><br />Despite this, it was remarkable to realise how much time and energy the show took up. Here are some of the things I discovered:<br /></span><br />
<h4>
<span style="font-size: small;">The responsibility of doing your own show</span></h4>
<span style="font-size: small;">It is not unusual for me to appear on stage in front of an audience. I am quite often asked to chair a post-show discussion or a Book Festival Q&A session. Indeed, during the 2012 Fringe, I chaired<a href="http://www.pleasance.co.uk/podcast/pleasance-bytes-podcast" target="_blank"> four interviews in the Pleasance Bytes</a> series - in the same room and at the same time of day as my own show.<br /><br />I found it fascinating to realise how different my attitude was to doing this kind of event compared with running my own. Although what the audience saw was essentially the same kind of thing, I felt very differently about it. When I'm a guest on someone else's show, I take it seriously and may even get a bit of an adrenaline buzz, but I don't lose sleep over it. I do what I've been asked to do, then move on.<br /><br />With my own face on the flyer, however, something changed. This was my show and its success was my responsibility. If no one turned up, it would be me who had to apologise to the guests and me who had to worry about attracting a bigger audience next time. I was confident the show itself would work (more on that in a moment), but I was much more conscious of the pressure to make sure the whole thing went smoothly and that guests and audience were happy.<br /></span><br />
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<a href="http://goo.gl/9zsU1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMn-jH39-He_83uwyvQzffG4g8y465YwOUaK6Aw-8peFFtJmf2t67vuhNwNpMQbvwU7Eo4NFF-Y_PR_3YeYCBtpJHIw4x4c8aNqDgvBSgjRR5dZYtFUXb-DVntBaPjuFk6KHp1BmRHVW2t/s320/EFSG+front+cover.png" width="209" /></a></div>
<h4>
<span style="font-size: small;">The time it takes</span></h4>
<span style="font-size: small;">One consequence of this was the show took up a lot of mental energy. Particularly before the first two shows, I found it difficult to think about anything else. The various tasks I had to complete were not difficult in themselves, but it was important I got them done. That, coupled with the initial sense of uncertainty about how the event would go, meant this simple show occupied a disproportionate amount of brain power at a time when I was also trying to focus on my job as a reviewer. I didn't have to do any of the physical labour involved in many Fringe shows, but it was tiring just thinking about it.<br /><br />In addition to these mental demands, the show took up a surprising amount of organisational time. The tasks were not onerous, but there were a lot of them. Things I had to do included: sending emails to the guests to remind them to turn up; watching the shows the guests were putting on; picking up fruit to give to the audience from <a href="http://www.tattieshaws.co.uk/index.html" target="_blank">my sponsor Tattie Shaw's</a>; carrying the fruit, flyers and <a href="http://goo.gl/9zsU1" target="_blank">copies of The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide</a> to the venue; getting unsold books back home again after the event; sending emails to the guests to thank them for their time; promoting the show by flyering outside Fringe Central or on the High Street . . .<br /><br />That was just for starters. Additionally, I had to talk to friends and family about how to improve the show; find replacements for two guests who had to pull out at the last minute; ask the Pleasance press office to circulate information about the line-up to other performers; send emails about the show to Fringe companies who had emailed me about their shows; use Twitter and Facebook to tell people about press coverage and forthcoming guests; do interviews with an American documentary maker, a blogger, a Times journalist and a festival radio station; appear on a panel at an event run by the World Fringe Congress . . .<br /><br />Cumulatively, all these things meant I was thinking about the show almost constantly. If that is true for this, the most simple of shows - and just six performances - how much more must it be true for a major production doing a daily run? I managed to continue seeing shows and do a fair bit of writing (though less than normal), but it's easy to see how a bigger production would be all consuming.<br /><br />The lesson: don't underestimate the time and effort it takes to put on a Fringe show. It's a lot more than the hour you are on stage.<br /></span><br />
<h4>
<span style="font-size: small;">The neediness of the performer</span></h4>
<span style="font-size: small;">As a theatre critic and freelance writer, I'm used to being self-reliant and independent. It's the sort of job that appeals to the lone wolf. I was surprised, therefore, to find myself quite unabashed about encouraging people to come to the show. It was like I needed their support and validation. In August, Edinburgh is a city full of fragile egos, exposing themselves to public scrutiny. In my own small way, I guess I was one of them. If you are planning to perform on the Fringe, it pays to remember how exposed you may feel and to have strategies for coping with that.<br /></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy-tCG-cx2VtA2Iu25Yjdagk45eT2U4jIu5lP7qfM2KuQfbs1s6UMVqXvILK0W8z8pOJejWo34wozB_HWMjHdQ8foPYxzEK52iQjK30f3vX11ZktCyazgKCk95ipx1gdBXZqvXsxiERUmS/s1600/FringeFlyerCover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy-tCG-cx2VtA2Iu25Yjdagk45eT2U4jIu5lP7qfM2KuQfbs1s6UMVqXvILK0W8z8pOJejWo34wozB_HWMjHdQ8foPYxzEK52iQjK30f3vX11ZktCyazgKCk95ipx1gdBXZqvXsxiERUmS/s320/FringeFlyerCover.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My face on the flyer = pressure</td></tr>
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<h4>
<span style="font-size: small;">Belief in your show</span></h4>
<span style="font-size: small;">The core message of <a href="http://goo.gl/9zsU1" target="_blank">The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide</a> is you should understand your motivation for performing. If you are clear about your purpose, you are more likely to believe in your show. And believing in your show makes all the difference when dealing with everything the Fringe throws at you. <br /><br />Having written the book, I knew this in theory, but it was great to see how true it was in practice. Call it self-delusion, call it hype, but I never doubted my show was essential viewing. That meant I went out flyering with an evangelical zeal. I surprised myself with my enthusiasm. <br /><br />Meeting my target audience, I genuinely believed they would enjoy the show. It was no effort for me to speak persuasively about it, because I was saying what I honestly felt. It would have been so much harder if I thought I was selling them a dud. In those circumstances, to go out flyering at all would have taken special reserves of energy, let alone talk to people.<br /><br />The experience reinforced the importance of doing a show you believe in, remembering why you are doing it and maintaining your enthusiasm and morale throughout the three weeks. <br /></span>Mark Fisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877407195452350555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593546502337181279.post-20293247364826773712012-08-24T17:36:00.004+01:002012-08-24T17:36:50.095+01:00The book was right: I have survived<b><span style="font-size: small;">THE last of my Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide: Live! shows was this morning and very well it went too. Had a great conversation with Camille O'Sullivan, Vicky Featherstone and Ben Harrison, and even did a bit of artistic matchmaking.</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">I hope to add some thoughts about the whole experience shortly - if you're impatient, you can read Philip Fisher's <a href="http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/the-edinburgh-f-pleasance-court-7892" target="_blank">four-star comments about it in the British Theatre Guide</a> or, indeed, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2012/aug/15/survive-edinburgh-fringe-drink" target="_blank">my own in the Guardian</a>. Or you can cut-out the middle man and <a href="http://www.pleasance.co.uk/podcast/pleasance-bytes-podcast" target="_blank">take a listen to the podcasts here</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">In the meantime <a href="http://www.wearebutlers.co.uk/mainmenu.html" target="_blank">here are my butlers</a> whom I commissioned to serve <a href="http://www.tattieshaws.co.uk/index.html" target="_blank">Tattie Shaw's fruit</a> for the middle two shows:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifgjv65-pgs_ozUERjJU72Pti4rsoBZecn9gtvuhdAa44Dy21cTVeAcDbpDtKv35z9HgymUbHWYyjyOm1M5PFsyiU54nmTqMbbz0pCzaN81QaG_ECtmoyjjl0L9stLYkpQYdUED16hAeA-/s1600/Butlers.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifgjv65-pgs_ozUERjJU72Pti4rsoBZecn9gtvuhdAa44Dy21cTVeAcDbpDtKv35z9HgymUbHWYyjyOm1M5PFsyiU54nmTqMbbz0pCzaN81QaG_ECtmoyjjl0L9stLYkpQYdUED16hAeA-/s400/Butlers.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>Mark Fisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877407195452350555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593546502337181279.post-52364552720767818782012-08-12T07:28:00.003+01:002012-08-12T07:28:20.698+01:00Lying In The Streets - Scottish Falsetto Socks at Edinburgh Fringe 2012<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/L8uciez8lE0?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />Mark Fisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877407195452350555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593546502337181279.post-30851493637841519242012-08-10T20:59:00.002+01:002012-08-10T20:59:42.198+01:00We have lift off<b><span style="font-size: small;">THE first two instalments of The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide: Live! have gone swimmingly, with illuminating contributions on Thursday from Kath Mainland, Orla O'Loughlin, Aneke McCulloch and Tess Waters; and on Friday from Lyn Gardner, Brian Logan, Miriam Attwood and Finn Anderson.</span></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The events have been sparking off lively post-show conversations and generating a bit of publicity, including <a href="http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman/scotland/fringe-chief-says-the-price-of-fame-is-well-worth-paying-for-1-2460385" target="_blank">this from Brian Ferguson in today's Scotsman</a>, in which he reports Mainland's view that there are more reasons than money to appear on the Fringe, including "raising their profile within the
industry, attracting media attention, seeing other world-class
productions, and enjoying the opportunity to learn from other
productions and performers".</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">The series continues on Thursday. Here's a reminder of the line-up:</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><img alt="MaureenBeattie2011current1" border="0" height="100" src="http://www.edinburghfringesurvivalguide.com/Resources/maureenbeattie201.gif" style="vertical-align: baseline;" width="100" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="Impact24"></span></span></div>
<div class="Bodytext">
<span style="font-size: small;"><strong>Thursday 16 August </strong></span></div>
<h2 class="subheading">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Impact24"><div class="Bodytext">
<a href="http://www.pleasance.co.uk/edinburgh/events/the-edinburgh-fringe-survival-guide-live" target="_blank">How to keep body and soul together</a></div>
</span></span></h2>
<div class="Bodytext">
<span style="font-size: small;">Essential advice about surviving week two and beyond from <strong><a href="http://thelist.stellarquines.com/" target="_blank">Maureen Beattie </a></strong>(pictured), star of Stellar Quines' The List, <a href="http://www.theatretoursinternational.com/"><strong>Guy Masterson</strong></a>, Oliver Award-winning director of Morecambe, <a href="http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/comedy/ian-fox-shutter-monkey-the-comedy-show-with-pictures-free" target="_blank"><strong>Ian Fox</strong></a>, author of <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007FN9FD8/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=markfisherssc-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=B007FN9FD8" target="_blank">How to Produce, Perform and Write an Edinburgh Fringe Comedy Show,</a> and <a href="http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/theatre/you-obviously-know-what-i-m-talking-about"><strong>Teresa Burns</strong></a>, co-director of How It Ended Productions. </span></div>
<div class="Bodytext">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><img alt="JosieLong1PLEASECREDITIDILSUKANDRAWHQ" border="0" height="100" src="http://www.edinburghfringesurvivalguide.com/Resources/josielong1please.jpeg" style="vertical-align: baseline;" width="100" /></span></div>
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<div class="Bodytext">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="Impact24"></span></span></div>
<div class="Bodytext">
<span style="font-size: small;"><strong>Friday 17 August</strong></span></div>
<h2 class="subheading">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Impact24"><div class="Bodytext">
<a href="http://www.pleasance.co.uk/edinburgh/events/the-edinburgh-fringe-survival-guide-live" target="_blank">Comics on comedy</a></div>
</span></span></h2>
<div class="Bodytext">
<span style="font-size: small;">How to have the last laugh as a Fringe comedian with <a href="http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/comedy/phil-nichol-rants"><strong>Phil Nichol</strong></a>, Edinburgh Comedy Award winner, <a href="http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/comedy/josie-long-romance-and-adventure"><strong>Josie Long</strong></a><strong> </strong>(pictured), Edinburgh Comedy Award best newcomer 2006, and <a href="http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/comedy/jessie-cave-bookworm"><strong>Jessie Cave</strong></a>, comedian, actor and Harry Potter star. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><img alt="HannahEidinow" border="0" height="100" src="http://www.edinburghfringesurvivalguide.com/Resources/hannaheidinow.jpeg" style="vertical-align: baseline;" width="100" /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="Bodytext">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="Impact24"></span></span></div>
<div class="Bodytext">
<span style="font-size: small;"><strong>Thursday 23 August</strong></span></div>
<h2 class="subheading">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Impact24"><div class="Bodytext">
<a href="http://www.pleasance.co.uk/edinburgh/events/the-edinburgh-fringe-survival-guide-live" target="_blank">Riding the highs and lows of Fringe fortune</a></div>
</span></span></h2>
<div class="Bodytext">
<span style="font-size: small;">How to deal with disappointment and make the most of a hit with <a href="http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/theatre/hand-over-fist"><strong>Hannah Eidinow</strong></a> (pictured), five-times Fringe First winning director, <a href="http://gridiron.org.uk/"><strong>Judith Doherty</strong></a>, producer of the multi-award winning Grid Iron, <a href="http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/theatre/desperately-seeking-the-exit-free"><strong>Peter Michael Marino</strong></a>, writer of West End flop Desperately Seeking Susan, and <a href="http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/theatre/metamorphoses-fables-from-ovid"><strong>Nicola Foxfield</strong></a>, assistant producer with Fringe first-timers Hecate Theatre.</span></div>
<div class="Bodytext">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><img alt="BigVicky" border="0" height="100" src="http://www.edinburghfringesurvivalguide.com/Resources/bigvicky.jpeg" style="vertical-align: baseline;" width="100" /></span></div>
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<div class="Bodytext">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="Impact24"></span></span></div>
<div class="Bodytext">
<span style="font-size: small;"><strong>Friday 24 August</strong></span></div>
<h2 class="subheading">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Impact24"><div class="Bodytext">
<a href="http://www.pleasance.co.uk/edinburgh/events/the-edinburgh-fringe-survival-guide-live" target="_blank">Life beyond the Fringe</a></div>
</span></span></h2>
<div class="Bodytext">
<span style="font-size: small;">Expert advice on developing your post-Fringe career from <a href="http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/theatre/appointment-with-the-wicker-man"><strong>Vicky Featherstone</strong></a> (pictured), artistic director of the National Theatre of Scotland, <a href="http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/music/camille-o-sullivan-changeling"><strong>Camille O'Sullivan</strong></a>, singing star of the Fringe and the <a href="http://www.eif.co.uk/rapeoflucrece" target="_blank">Edinburgh International Festival</a>, and <a href="http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/music/27-club-1"><strong>Toby Gough</strong></a>, Herald Archangel-winning director. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana;"></span></span>Mark Fisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877407195452350555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593546502337181279.post-90711270752457417602012-07-30T09:33:00.001+01:002012-07-30T09:33:36.426+01:00A flyer: tips on staging a successful Fringe show<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Mark Fisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877407195452350555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593546502337181279.post-65402806872954612442012-07-29T10:13:00.002+01:002012-07-29T10:14:35.622+01:00The art of Skyer's Words and Women<b><span style="font-size: small;">TODAY'S interesting photo of <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1408132524/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=markfisherssc-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1408132524" target="_blank">The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide</a> comes courtesy of Queen Allen who's acting in <a href="http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/theatre/words-and-women" target="_blank">Words and Women </a>with Skyers Productions at the Street as part of PBH's Free Fringe. What a fine production it must be.</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">A leading art critic writes: "The picture demonstrates admirably, and in some ways, subversively, the symbiotic relationship between the Fringe Programme and The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide, while capturing something of the tension, fragmentation and excitement that builds as the world's biggest arts festival approaches. It is a work of troubled genius - rather like <a href="http://edinburghfringesurvivalguide.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/babies-puppets-and-swimming-pools-read.html" target="_blank">that one with the grateful puppet</a>."</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS4b6mLAMSge1ZH_fBFd5g_9hnvx9HcOcFNs0x-1LFUXJHyOl69bETYE3ijtm4WDKgeu688Zm-zqspo1S4xG703_hw24L90c8Ca3WxLkzjE-p0W3yPZLig7T-QaI3nbgHu-Khy4N-Y_XCy/s1600/Screen+shot+Queen+Allen.14.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS4b6mLAMSge1ZH_fBFd5g_9hnvx9HcOcFNs0x-1LFUXJHyOl69bETYE3ijtm4WDKgeu688Zm-zqspo1S4xG703_hw24L90c8Ca3WxLkzjE-p0W3yPZLig7T-QaI3nbgHu-Khy4N-Y_XCy/s320/Screen+shot+Queen+Allen.14.png" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">Follow these links for yet more interesting pictures:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://edinburghfringesurvivalguide.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/hooray-for-blitz-sisters.html" target="_blank">http://edinburghfringesurvivalguide.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/hooray-for-blitz-sisters.html </a></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">And here:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://edinburghfringesurvivalguide.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/babies-puppets-and-swimming-pools-read.html">http://edinburghfringesurvivalguide.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/babies-puppets-and-swimming-pools-read.html</a></span>Mark Fisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877407195452350555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593546502337181279.post-15578166955255944112012-07-28T20:24:00.005+01:002012-07-28T20:31:36.035+01:00Full line-up of Edinburgh Fringe Surivival Guide Live!<h2 class="subheading" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Winners of Olivier Awards, Fringe Firsts,
Edinburgh Comedy Awards and Herald Angels join critic for stage version
of acclaimed Edinburgh Fringe book</span></h2>
<span style="font-size: small;">THEATRE critic <b>Mark Fisher</b> is moving across the footlights to present a show on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Following the publication of <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1408132524/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=markfisherssc-21&link_code=as3&camp=2506&creative=9298&creativeASIN=1408132524" target="_blank">The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide</a>
in February, the Edinburgh journalist is hosting a chat show, supported
by the Pleasance Theatre Trust, based on his celebrated book and
recorded as a podcast, live in front of an audience. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Line-up and booking details below.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><img alt="OrlaOLoughlin" border="0" height="100" src="http://www.edinburghfringesurvivalguide.com/Resources/orlaoloughlin.jpeg" style="vertical-align: baseline;" width="100" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Thursday 9 August</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Impact24"><div class="Bodytext">
<a href="http://www.pleasance.co.uk/edinburgh/events/the-edinburgh-fringe-survival-guide-live" target="_blank">How to make your show a success</a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Top tips about success on the Fringe from <b><a href="http://www.edfringe.com/" target="_blank">Kath Mainland</a></b>, chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, <b><a href="http://www.traverse.co.uk/">Orla O'Loughlin</a></b> (pictured)<a href="http://www.traverse.co.uk/">,</a> artistic director of the Traverse Theatre, <b><a href="http://seesault.com/">Aneke McCulloch</a></b>, producer with Seesault, Australia, and <b><a href="http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/comedy/sexytime">Tess Waters</a></b>, performer in Sexytime!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><img alt="LynGardner" border="0" height="100" src="http://www.edinburghfringesurvivalguide.com/Resources/lyngardner.jpeg" style="vertical-align: baseline;" width="100" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Friday 10 August</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Impact24"><div class="Bodytext">
<a href="http://www.pleasance.co.uk/edinburgh/events/the-edinburgh-fringe-survival-guide-live" target="_blank">Are you giving the media what they want?</a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">First-hand insights into getting your Fringe show noticed from <b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/lyngardner">Lyn Gardner</a></b> (pictured), Guardian theatre critic, <b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/brianlogan">Brian Logan</a></b>, Guardian comedy critic, and <b><a href="http://www.nationalgalleries.org/">Miriam Attwood</a></b>, former media manager for the Fringe Society now press officer for the National Galleries of Scotland and <b><a href="http://www.streetsthemusical.com/" target="_blank">Finn Anderson</a></b>, writer of Streets the Musical.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img alt="TMCRITICSTHEATREAWARDS087" border="0" height="100" src="http://www.edinburghfringesurvivalguide.com/Resources/tmcriticstheatre.jpeg" style="vertical-align: baseline;" width="100" /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="Impact24"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Thursday 16 August </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Impact24"><div class="Bodytext">
<a href="http://www.pleasance.co.uk/edinburgh/events/the-edinburgh-fringe-survival-guide-live" target="_blank">How to keep body and soul together</a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="Impact24"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Essential advice about surviving week two and beyond from <b><a href="http://corabissett.co.uk/">Cora Bissett</a></b> (pictured), Oliver Award-winning director of Roadkill, <b><a href="http://www.theatretoursinternational.com/">Guy Masterson</a></b>, Oliver Award-winning director of Morecambe, <b><a href="http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/comedy/ian-fox-shutter-monkey-the-comedy-show-with-pictures-free" target="_blank">Ian Fox</a></b>, author of <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007FN9FD8/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=markfisherssc-21&link_code=as3&camp=2506&creative=9298&creativeASIN=B007FN9FD8" target="_blank">How to Produce, Perform and Write an Edinburgh Fringe Comedy Show,</a> and <b><a href="http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/theatre/you-obviously-know-what-i-m-talking-about">Teresa Burns</a></b>, co-director of How It Ended Productions.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><img alt="JosieLong1PLEASECREDITIDILSUKANDRAWHQ" border="0" height="100" src="http://www.edinburghfringesurvivalguide.com/Resources/josielong1please.jpeg" style="vertical-align: baseline;" width="100" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="Impact24"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Friday 17 August</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Impact24"><div class="Bodytext">
<a href="http://www.pleasance.co.uk/edinburgh/events/the-edinburgh-fringe-survival-guide-live" target="_blank">Comics on comedy</a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="Impact24"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">How to have the last laugh as a Fringe comedian with <b><a href="http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/comedy/phil-nichol-rants">Phil Nichol</a></b>, Edinburgh Comedy Award winner, <b><a href="http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/comedy/josie-long-romance-and-adventure">Josie Long</a></b> (pictured), Edinburgh Comedy Award best newcomer 2006, and <b><a href="http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/comedy/jessie-cave-bookworm">Jessie Cave</a></b>, comedian, actor and Harry Potter star. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><img alt="HannahEidinow" border="0" height="100" src="http://www.edinburghfringesurvivalguide.com/Resources/hannaheidinow.jpeg" style="vertical-align: baseline;" width="100" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="Impact24"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Thursday 23 August</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Impact24"><div class="Bodytext">
<a href="http://www.pleasance.co.uk/edinburgh/events/the-edinburgh-fringe-survival-guide-live" target="_blank">Riding the highs and lows of Fringe fortune</a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="Impact24"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">How to deal with disappointment and make the most of a hit with <b><a href="http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/theatre/hand-over-fist">Hannah Eidinow</a></b> (pictured), five-times Fringe First winning director, <b><a href="http://gridiron.org.uk/">Judith Doherty</a></b>, producer of the multi-award winning Grid Iron, <b><a href="http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/theatre/desperately-seeking-the-exit-free">Peter Michael Marino</a></b>, writer of West End flop Desperately Seeking Susan, and <b><a href="http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/theatre/metamorphoses-fables-from-ovid">Nicola Foxfield</a></b>, assistant producer with Fringe first-timers Hecate Theatre.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><img alt="BigVicky" border="0" height="100" src="http://www.edinburghfringesurvivalguide.com/Resources/bigvicky.jpeg" style="vertical-align: baseline;" width="100" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="Impact24"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Friday 24 August</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Impact24"><div class="Bodytext">
<a href="http://www.pleasance.co.uk/edinburgh/events/the-edinburgh-fringe-survival-guide-live" target="_blank">Life beyond the Fringe</a></div>
</span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="Impact24"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Expert advice on developing your post-Fringe career from <b><a href="http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/theatre/appointment-with-the-wicker-man">Vicky Featherstone</a></b> (pictured), artistic director of the National Theatre of Scotland, <b><a href="http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/music/camille-o-sullivan-changeling">Camille O'Sullivan</a></b>, singing star of the Fringe and the <a href="http://www.eif.co.uk/rapeoflucrece" target="_blank">Edinburgh International Festival</a>, and <b><a href="http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/music/27-club-1">Toby Gough</a></b>, Herald Archangel-winning director. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Venue:</b> Cabaret Bar, Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Dates:</b> 9, 10, 16, 17, 23 & 24 August 2012</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Time:</b> 11.30am (one hour)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Tickets:</b> £4 (£3) </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="Impact24"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Box office:</b> 0131 556 6550</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Internet:</b> <a href="http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/events/edinburgh-fringe-survival-guide-live" target="_blank">www.edfringe.com</a> and <a href="http://www.pleasance.co.uk/edinburgh/events/the-edinburgh-fringe-survival-guide-live" target="_blank">www.pleasance.co.uk</a></span></div>Mark Fisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877407195452350555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593546502337181279.post-27338976933197172772012-07-23T23:03:00.001+01:002012-07-23T23:03:22.044+01:00Hooray for the Blitz Sisters<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHW5InX4W-Wf9Ub1otWZIow4bs3NtA5n2NXzA0BchWT8JUPg0rvDIF_4ZivqPAFvz0qAchXLCV_r8VThgCj7sa7arpE6JLaZl4d8mh-bS8kE1TSXO-RqOr8L4yINk4p8_UDBe4ePY4s7r1/s1600/The+Blitz+Sisters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHW5InX4W-Wf9Ub1otWZIow4bs3NtA5n2NXzA0BchWT8JUPg0rvDIF_4ZivqPAFvz0qAchXLCV_r8VThgCj7sa7arpE6JLaZl4d8mh-bS8kE1TSXO-RqOr8L4yINk4p8_UDBe4ePY4s7r1/s320/The+Blitz+Sisters.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two Blitz Sisters prove reading is good for you</td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-size: small;">HEY, people, if you want to get publicity, think the way the Blitz Sisters think. I heartily approve of all they do. <a href="http://via.me/theblitzsisters" target="_blank">More of them here</a>.</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">I have a similar liking for all the wonderful Edinburgh Fringe people on <a href="http://edinburghfringesurvivalguide.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/babies-puppets-and-swimming-pools-read.html" target="_blank">my earlier post here</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">If you have a picture featuring <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1408132524/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=markfisherssc-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1408132524" target="_blank">The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide</a> or tickets for <a href="http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/events/edinburgh-fringe-survival-guide-live" target="_blank">The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide: Live!</a>, then send it along just as fast as you can.</span>Mark Fisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877407195452350555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593546502337181279.post-61109899214060016572012-07-15T23:33:00.002+01:002012-07-15T23:50:09.430+01:00What the Avignon Off teaches you about selling your Edinburgh Fringe show<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicD3Myo-340yo5WR829_fb-8WdmRfFrYmTOokjLvdRjoqRTOQW0qxUhyphenhyphendPz9S2xsJKZllTiLP59Jl1NoZheMbhgqBUCn_59T-AEpE86X7_4qvJUHF-QmOgMJaldTDVcXSfBk81zmRcvd9P/s1600/Avignon+1+crop.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicD3Myo-340yo5WR829_fb-8WdmRfFrYmTOokjLvdRjoqRTOQW0qxUhyphenhyphendPz9S2xsJKZllTiLP59Jl1NoZheMbhgqBUCn_59T-AEpE86X7_4qvJUHF-QmOgMJaldTDVcXSfBk81zmRcvd9P/s320/Avignon+1+crop.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">LR: Faith Liddell, Kath Mainland and Rupert Thomson</td></tr>
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<b>I'M JUST back from a lightning visit to the Avignon Festival courtesy of the Institut francais d'Ecosse and Festivals Edinburgh. In addition to catching <a href="http://www.ifecosse.org.uk/It-s-so-nice.html?lang=en" target="_blank">It's So Nice, a delightfully deadpan tribute to Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I</a>, my main purpose was to participate in a presentation about the Edinburgh festivals to would-be participants.</b><span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">In the panel discussion, Jonathan Mills, artistic director of the <a href="http://www.eif.co.uk/" target="_blank">Edinburgh International Festival</a>, talked about his prestigious cross-artform programme; Kath Mainland, chief executive of the <a href="http://www.edfringe.com/" target="_blank">Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society</a>, laid out the open access principles that underpin her work; Faith Liddell of <a href="http://www.edinburghfestivals.co.uk/" target="_blank">Festivals Edinburgh</a> gave an overview of the city's 12 major festivals; Rupert Thomson of <a href="http://www.summerhall.co.uk/" target="_blank">Summerhall</a> and Vincent Guérin of the <a href="http://www.ifecosse.org.uk/" target="_blank">Institut francais d'Ecosse</a> gave an insight into the way their programmes work; and I conducted an interview with recent and imminent French visitors to the Fringe.<br /><br />Knowing I'd be there for little more than 24 hours and wouldn't have the time to see more than one show, I had made no attempt to find out what else was on. That meant it was only while sitting in a pavement restaurant in Avignon that I first laid eyes on the programme for the three-week <a href="http://www.avignonleoff.com/" target="_blank">Avignon Off</a>, the Francophone answer to the Edinburgh Fringe.<br /><br />Was this, I wondered, what it felt like for a newcomer to be confronted by the Fringe Programme for the first time? For here was a 396-page guide that was stuffed with plays I'd never heard of, performed by companies I didn't recognise, taking place in venues that could have been anywhere in this unfamiliar town.<br /><br />Such a profusion of artistic activity was both tremendously exciting and utterly bewildering. The Avignon Off - "le plus grand theatre du monde" - is not as big as the Edinburgh Fringe, but even at 10am, you have your pick of over 30 shows. That's more than enough to overwhelm anyone.<br /><br />I realised straight away that, if I had been able to see a show, I would have been highly susceptible to the twin factors that drive audiences in Edinburgh: flyering and word of mouth. <br /><br />It would have taken me far too long to study the programme and make guesses about how good the shows were likely to be. What would have made all the difference is a conversation with an actor promoting their show (flyering exists in Avignon much as it does in Edinburgh) or a recommendation from someone who sounded like they knew what they were talking about.<br /><br />With a few more hours in Avignon, this is almost certainly how I would have decided what to see.<br /><br />My conversations with the performers I interviewed for <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1408132524/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=markfisherssc-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1408132524" target="_blank">The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide</a></span><span style="font-size: small;"> confirm this to be the case. Of course, there are people who make a serious analysis of the Fringe Programme and select their shows on the basis of what they know to be good. You need only do a quick search on Twitter to see comedy fans announcing what tickets they've been buying for their favourite stand-ups. Those people may be persuaded to see more shows, but much of their time and money is already committed.<br /><br />Most people, by contrast, are not arts specialists and are likely to be as bewildered by the 376-page Fringe Programme as I was by its Avignon equivalent. If they are in Edinburgh in August, they will most likely be willing to see something; they just don't know what. This is a great opportunity. Unless your show is aimed at a specialist niche market - like my own <a href="http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/events/edinburgh-fringe-survival-guide-live" target="_blank">Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide: Live!</a> - these people are your potential audience. <br /><br />And the exciting thing about the Edinburgh Fringe is you have the same chance of attracting them as every other company. Here in mid-July, everything is still to play for. That's a valuable lesson from Avignon.</span>Mark Fisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877407195452350555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593546502337181279.post-90222466461592198842012-06-30T22:26:00.000+01:002012-06-30T22:28:08.525+01:00Babies, puppets and swimming pools read The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<b><span style="font-size: small;">IT HAS become fashionable to take pictures of your copy of <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1408132524/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=markfisherssc-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1408132524" target="_blank">The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide</a> in all sorts of locations and situations. Frankly, it gets around.</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Here are some examples kindly provided by Peter Michael Marino (<a href="http://www.seekingtheexit.com/desperately/DSE.html" target="_blank">Desperately Seeking the Exit</a>), Sam Gough (<a href="http://www.venue150.com/" target="_blank">Venue 150 @ EICC</a>), Theatre Témoin (<a href="http://www.theatretemoin.com/">www.theatretemoin.com</a>) Kris Haddow (<a href="http://about.me/krishaddow" target="_blank">krishaddow</a>) and Thom Dibdin (<a href="http://thomdibdin.co.uk/" target="_blank">Annals of the Edinburgh Stage</a>).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">If you have further examples of your own, do tweet me at <a href="https://twitter.com/markffisher" target="_blank">markffisher</a></span></div>
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</div>Mark Fisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877407195452350555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593546502337181279.post-15374152712089784272012-06-19T16:18:00.001+01:002012-06-19T16:18:12.875+01:00RIP Victor Spinetti<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1408132524/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=markfisherssc-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1408132524" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMn-jH39-He_83uwyvQzffG4g8y465YwOUaK6Aw-8peFFtJmf2t67vuhNwNpMQbvwU7Eo4NFF-Y_PR_3YeYCBtpJHIw4x4c8aNqDgvBSgjRR5dZYtFUXb-DVntBaPjuFk6KHp1BmRHVW2t/s320/EFSG+front+cover.png" width="209" /></a></div>
<b><span style="font-size: small;">THE SAD news today <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-18148017" target="_blank">is that Victor Spinetti has died at the age of 82</a>. As recently as 2007, the actor was appearing at the Pleasance on the Edinburgh Fringe. Here's an interview I did with him for Scotland on Sunday then:</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">He's not one for holding things in is Victor Spinetti. His
autobiography, Victor Spinetti Up Front, is an anecdotal romp through a life
that began in a Welsh mining village and flourished in the London of the
swinging 60s with roles in Joan Littlewood's Oh! What a Lovely War! and a
string of films with the Beatles, a period he has capitalised on as a
professional raconteur ever since. </span>
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<span style="font-size: small;">But even though he is frank, funny and candid about his
private life – whether he's recalling stories of the sexual advances of the
soldiers in a military hospital, his male "life companion" Graham
Curnow or his steamy affair with his room-mate's girlfriend – he never
pigeon-holes himself with words like gay or bisexual. It’s partly because he's
never been part of a gay scene ("I've never even worn a pair of
jeans," he says), but more because he's always been open to sexual
expression in whatever form it takes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">"If there's somebody you like or love, it's possible to
do something, even if you just hold each other or lie with each other,"
says the 73-year-old. "But it never occurred to me to be straight or gay.
If there are people you really like and enjoy, you can lie in bed and there's always
something you can do. I can't bear labels, but on the other hand I support Gay
Pride. In the 60s we were persecuted as much as anybody for living together. We
were advised by our lawyers to tear up all the correspondence we'd ever
written. Finishing a letter with 'all my love, Graham' was enough for a court
case. I grew up without knowing about it [homosexuality]. I found out about it,
luckily, through somebody who became my 'significant other'."</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">He's saving some of his racier anecdotes, including "true
stories about Edinburgh", for an "Uncut" performance of A Very
Private Diary Revisited at midnight on August 24. Those seeing his daytime
show, which opens this week, will be spared the more outrageous details in
favour of comic tales and expert imitations of Marlene Dietrich, Frank Sinatra,
Princess Margaret, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Sir John Gielgud, Laurence
Olivier and John Lennon. It's an off-the-cuff show he first tried out on the
Fringe in the early 80s and recently returned to at London's Donmar Warehouse
to much acclaim.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">His only problem is how to get so many stories into a single
show. Will he, for example, have time to tell the one about being denounced by
the Pope for directing a production of the hippy musical Hair in Italy? "I
arrived in Rome wearing a suit and tie, cufflinks, a hat, a brolly and a
briefcase," says Spinetti, a man never lost for words. "All these
kids were sitting in the Sistina Theatre waiting to audition for Hair and
they'd expected a hippy. There was a table with the producers and their
girlfriends, sitting like a tribunal. I came in and said good morning. Then in
my Italian that I had only just learned, I said, 'You have read in your papers
that there is a scene in Hair which is the nude scene.' </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">"As I was speaking I was gradually taking off my
clothes. When I was finished, I was absolutely naked and I said, 'Ecco la scena
nude. It's the easiest scene in the show to do.' Some people got up and left in
disgust, so they would have been useless anyway, the others applauded and the
producers fled because they were with their girlfriends. Twenty minutes later Franco
Zeffirelli phoned and said, 'Victor, I hear you're showing your cock at the
Sistina Theatre.' I said, 'The only thing that travels in Rome is
gossip.'"</span></div>Mark Fisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877407195452350555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593546502337181279.post-88349686894274438482012-06-02T09:43:00.000+01:002012-06-02T09:43:03.171+01:00Edinburgh Fringe dreams<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1408132524/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=markfisherssc-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1408132524" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH1EKVvE3NWSSO_tDcWYeVCXBzgHNFh-BC_ObUFQbG9XZb6_UfwT01LiAknRVT2hfl8jzuVP-5M0oCDSguQ5-t2LzIKXkAckudXb43GyU9Yv2g_nky6rOaxUDogODMeAkG8dVvmIEYPAM3/s320/Cover+EFSG.png" width="208" /></a></div>
<b><span style="font-size: small;">THIS MORNING I came across a couple of tweets from Fringe participants about having festival-releated dreams or nightmares. It reminded me of an article I wrote in 1997 for The Herald. That's a long time ago, I know, and few of the people quoted are doing the same jobs, but it was lovely piece to research and the idea still stands. I've copied it here. It'd be great to hear your own Fringe anxiety dreams in the comments below:</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">IT ALL started a few weeks before the Festival when I woke up convinced that Brian McMaster's programme had taken a bizarre new twist. I had dreamt that Peter Stein's Cherry Orchard was going to be done not in the respectable confines of the Edinburgh Festival Theatre, but in Glasgow, as street theatre. How would they sustain an audience's interest in Chekhov for three hours on Sauchiehall Street, and how would I get back to Edinburgh to get my on-the-night review phoned in?<br /><br />It struck me that if I was having such dreams, then so too would Festival workers across the city. I wasn't wrong.<br /><br />Fringe supremo, Hilary Strong dreamt she'd arrived at the office to find it closed with a crowd of people waiting to get in. "I looked in the diary and realised I'd forgotten to do a live radio link with the Today programme, which had been scheduled for 7.30am," she says. "By this time, I was due to attend a formal award ceremony, but for some reason, I was wearing painting overalls, and my shoes were covered in white emulsion that left footprints all over the carpet in the City Chambers."<br /><br />For performers, the anxiety of revealing themselves on a daily basis inevitably plays havoc with a peaceful night's sleep. Gerry Gowans, starring in Garland, Judy With Love, at Hill Street Theatre, dreamt she was coming to the Fringe, not as an actress - but as a stripper. "I went on stage, but found it impossible to get my clothes off," she quivers. "The show was a flop."<br /><br />Mervyn Stutter, he of Mervyn Stutter's Pick of the Fringe, at the Pleasance, was convinced he'd hit the big time. "I got a call from the BBC saying they wanted to broadcast my show on prime time TV," he says. "I was in the wings waiting to go on. The audience went into a hush. Then a voice: 'Ladies and gentlemen, live from the Edinburgh Festival, will you please welcome your host - Julian Clary!'"<br /><br />Perhaps the most revealing dreams are those for which the dreamers have asked to remain anonymous. A member of the Traverse Theatre's production staff, for example, would sooner keep quiet about finding him or herself in a dentist's chair which had somehow appeared on the set of Knives in Hens during a sell-out show. "For some reason I had no clothes on and was in the dentist's chair. I soon realised that Helena Christiansen was there, also naked - but what could I do in front of the audience and cast? The rest is a bit sordid."<br /><br />Then there's the Fringe Office worker who had to go out for a night on the town, and had to get dressed in a hurry. "I couldn't find anything to wear except a huge pair of pink underpants that came up to my armpits," he or she confesses reluctantly.<br /><br />For reasons of diplomacy this dream about our own arts editor is also anonymous: "Last weekend I woke up next to my partner, who looked at me rather frostily and said, 'Who's Keith Bruce?' I had been having an angst-ridden dream about The Herald's switchboard, and had been calling out, 'Get me Keith Bruce'. When I told him Mr Bruce is the arts editor of The Herald, he raised his eyebrows as if to say, so it's true you'd do anything for press coverage."<br /><br />The Fringe of slumberland is an even more amazing place than the real thing. Stephanie Noblett, press officer at the Famous Grouse House had a radical new vision for Chambers Street: "I dreamt there was a show-jumping gymkhana as part of our programme. The whole of Chambers Street had been turfed over, and all our performers were on horse back. I woke up in a cold sweat when of the Wrigley Sisters (one of the folk music acts) took a fatal fall."<br /><br />Theatre Workshop publicist Jane Molyneux was in populist mode: "I dreamt Diriamba! would have more commercial appeal if done as a version of Cliff Richard's Summer Holiday on the Meadows. Cliff was very obliging and was quite happy to belt out several songs with Theatre Workshop's Nicaraguan and Scottish performers from the top deck of one of Edinburgh's open-top tour buses, but things started to get out of hand when I found myself on a Keystone-Cops type chase, following after a convoy of three buses, heading across the Meadows, straight for Nicaragua, with Cliff singing the theme tune to Ken Loach's Carla's Song."<br /><br />While Mike Griffiths, the Traverse's production manager, was trying to figure out how the main theatre had been turned into a swimming pool, stage manager Gavin Johnson was discovering how the Festival budget had been overspent: "I went to the green room to find the fridge full of bread - and no matter how much I pulled out, there was still more and more. It wasn't even the right kind of bread, because I needed wholemeal and this was all Sunblest white."<br /></span>Mark Fisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877407195452350555noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593546502337181279.post-13571409555653229532012-05-29T12:03:00.001+01:002012-05-29T12:03:19.441+01:00Press release: Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide: Live!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1408132524/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=markfisherssc-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1408132524" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMn-jH39-He_83uwyvQzffG4g8y465YwOUaK6Aw-8peFFtJmf2t67vuhNwNpMQbvwU7Eo4NFF-Y_PR_3YeYCBtpJHIw4x4c8aNqDgvBSgjRR5dZYtFUXb-DVntBaPjuFk6KHp1BmRHVW2t/s320/EFSG+front+cover.png" width="209" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;">THE EDINBURGH FRINGE SURVIVAL GUIDE: LIVE! </span><br /><b>A show presented by Mark Fisher</b><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">Directed by Sue Emmas</span><br /><br />AS PART OF THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE 2012<br /><br />Venue: Cabaret Bar, Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33)<br />Dates: 9, 10, 16, 17, 23 & 24 August 2012<br />Time: 11.30am (one hour)<br />Box office: 0131 556 6550<br />Internet: <a href="http://www.edfringe.com/">www.edfringe.com</a> and <a href="http://www.pleasance.co.uk/">www.pleasance.co.uk</a><br /><br /><b><span style="font-size: small;">Critic turns presenter for stage version of acclaimed Edinburgh Fringe book - and promises audience an extra dose of vitamin C</span></b><br /><br />Theatre critic <b>Mark Fisher</b> is moving across the footlights to present a show on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Following the publication of <b>The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide</b> in February, the Edinburgh journalist is hosting a chat show, supported by the Pleasance Theatre Trust, based on his celebrated book. <br /><br />"I made my first appearance on the Fringe in a student show in 1983," says Fisher, 47, a freelance contributor to the Guardian, the Scotsman, the List and Edinburgh Festivals Magazine. "I've been addicted to it ever since. I can't wait to be back on stage."<br /><br />For each of the six shows, Fisher will be joined by top Fringe actors, comedians, directors and producers who will share their secrets about staging a successful Edinburgh Fringe show. "With over 20 years' experience writing about the festival, I can guarantee every show will be crammed with great advice," says Fisher, who will record the shows and make them available as podcasts on iTunes.<br /><br />Thanks to the sponsorship of Leith Walk greengrocer Tattie Shaws, Fisher will be handing out fresh fruit to help audiences survive the pressures of the Fringe. "This is the world's most exhilarating festival and also the toughest," he says. "Every apple, orange and banana counts."<br /><br /><b>"A WONDERFULLY PRACTICAL BUT ALSO INSPIRATIONAL BOOK FULL OF GOOD ADVICE" <br />Lyn Gardner, the Guardian</b><br /><br />Published by Methuen Drama in 2012, The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide draws on the experiences of the festival's leading figures to help readers make their show a success. Among those sharing their expert advice in the book are playwright Simon Stephens, comedian Phil Nichol, actor Siobhan Redmond, producer Guy Masterson, Tiger Lillies front man Martyn Jacques, theatre critic Lyn Gardner and Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Award director Nica Burns. The book also has an introduction by playwright Mark Ravenhill.<br /><br />Website: <a href="http://www.edinburghfringesurvivalguide.com/">www.edinburghfringesurvivalguide.com</a> | Twitter: markffisher<br /><br />Sponsored by Tattie Shaws, 35 Elm Row, Edinburgh: <a href="http://www.tattieshaws.co.uk/">www.tattieshaws.co.uk</a><br /><br />For further information and images, please contact:<br />Mark Fisher on 0131 556 3255 or 07799 033407 or <a href="mailto:mark-fisher@blueyonder.co.uk">mark-fisher@blueyonder.co.uk</a><br /></span>Mark Fisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877407195452350555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593546502337181279.post-4833251759172002472012-05-10T21:07:00.000+01:002012-05-10T21:07:49.793+01:00Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide: Live!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/events/edinburgh-fringe-survival-guide-live" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF7ylQPNMNS1Nf2DIitMDaVYWWs1wZLRYg580PXJiolFzT6fGPytcNIifYeBaNr1SNtE7qfJkPYTUEYl8y35ZUmD5Nq0jTE_VmDAJzGp_uQKAMCQXuFAnaknjka0NwGaUxckdmIyQscwSh/s320/Fringe+Screen+shot+2012-05-10+at+21.03.00.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>IN other circumstances, I'd be attempting to say something deep and meaningful about the Fringe Office's decision to draw attention to mildly rude words by adding asterisks to them. However, I've been caught up with co-convening the <a href="http://www.criticsawards.theatrescotland.com/Shortlists/11-12.html" target="_blank">Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland</a> (2012 nominations just out) and I can no longer tell my prick from my elbow. Read <a href="http://thejohnfleming.wordpress.com/2012/05/10/barking-mad-censorship-continues-at-the-edinburgh-fringe-programme-office/" target="_blank">John Fleming</a> to get an idea of all the hoo-har.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">What I can pass on, however, is the news that <a href="http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/events/edinburgh-fringe-survival-guide-live" target="_blank">The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide: Live!</a> is both asterisk-free and on sale at <a href="http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/events/edinburgh-fringe-survival-guide-live">edfringe.com</a>. Six shows at the Pleasance Courtyard at 11.30am, Thursdays and Fridays, doing the same kind of thing the book does, only with extra spontaneity. Tell your friends. See you there.</span>Mark Fisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877407195452350555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593546502337181279.post-19345202563378362312012-04-26T16:39:00.002+01:002012-04-26T16:41:15.868+01:00Edinburgh’s Assembly Rooms to reopen in time for Fringe 2012<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvPILoaC8Cp1vGAEIgeGrv7Z-qrhwuhW1ROcOp5XyNmQKP_SoGakRVqybmMiuz2HoxLurKa4fuI5T10Dr0mbVz6kJNT3OlEtEclQ3fiO_XtCCvMYQniswdWIQDzTRqqpLIs50Sqv2r48z3/s1600/stewart+lee_126_photo+by+steve+ullathorne.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvPILoaC8Cp1vGAEIgeGrv7Z-qrhwuhW1ROcOp5XyNmQKP_SoGakRVqybmMiuz2HoxLurKa4fuI5T10Dr0mbVz6kJNT3OlEtEclQ3fiO_XtCCvMYQniswdWIQDzTRqqpLIs50Sqv2r48z3/s320/stewart+lee_126_photo+by+steve+ullathorne.jpg" width="213" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Stewart Lee</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.list.co.uk/article/41882-edinburghs-assembly-rooms-to-reopen-in-time-for-fringe-2012/" target="_blank">Published in The List</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /><b>SAY what you like
about modern-day dress sense, but when Edinburgh's Assembly Rooms
returns to life, today's fashionistas will have some stiff competition.
Yes, they'll be excited about the opening ceilidh in July and the
high-profile Fringe line-up that includes Stewart Lee, the National
Theatre of Scotland and Phil Nichol, but will they be any match for the
audience of August 1822, when King George IV came to town?</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Back then, eyewitness Thomas
Mudie was so taken by the guests at the Peers Ball, he wrote a whole
book about it. 'The ladies were in most elegant white dresses, richly
bespangled, and had on plumes of white ostrich feathers, their plumage
in constant undulation, appearing to the eye like an ocean of foam,' he
wrote.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Stick that in your Topshop and smoke it.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">But even if our glad rags
don't have quite the same class, we'll certainly be able to savour the
refreshed elegance of a building brought back to its 18th century
splendour. After an 18-month closure and a £9.3m refit, the George
Street venue where once Dickens, Scott and Thackeray gave readings has
been returned to its Georgian prime - with a Jamie Oliver restaurant
thrown in for good measure.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">'What people will notice is
it's going to be much lighter, airier and more contemporary when they
come in,' says general manager Shona Clelland. 'Then, as they go up the
stairs, they will be blown away by the restoration in the first-fl oor
rooms. It's going to be back to the grandeur that it originally had.'</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Visitors
will now find ground-floor shop units where previously the Wildman Room
and the box office stood, as well as a branch of Jamie's Italian in the
old Supper Room, with a second entrance on Rose Street. Upstairs, the
Ballroom, Music Hall, Crush Hall and the East and West Drawing Rooms
have had plasterwork, cornicing and chandeliers spruced up. Walls have
been repainted in muted tones, gold-leaf finishings have been replaced
and decorative rosettes restored.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">'People will notice the
obvious things like the decoration and the restoration,' says Clelland,
who's lining up a programme of book readings, dances, conferences,
dinners and craft fairs, 'but all the infrastructure - new sound
systems, new heating and ventilation system, all the behind-the-scenes
things - will make being in the Assembly Rooms so much easier.'</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The scheme has not been
without its critics. Longstanding festival resident William
Burdett-Coutts was forced to move his main Assembly Fringe operation to
George Square after last year's closure. He was concerned the loss of
the smaller groundfloor spaces would put an end to the building's
ability to present work on all scales and force promoters to concentrate
on the more commercial end of the market.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">It is not an argument that
convinces Clelland. 'The Assembly festival created lots of spaces within
the building, but for the rest of the year, those spaces were not
utilised fully,' she says. 'OK, there's not so many spaces downstairs
during the festival; however we've still got four spaces upstairs, two
of which are small. I've never been concerned about that, because I have
to make the building work year-round. For the citizens of Edinburgh, we
want this building to be somewhere people come - they might come for a
meal or for a shop, but at least they're coming to the building.'</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Equally convinced is Tommy
Sheppard, director of the Stand Comedy Club, who has been awarded the
five-year contract to programme the venue in August. He's broadening his
previous programming range to include theatre and music, while holding
on to the ethical values that have made his existing venues such a hit
with performers. 'We're going to translate to the Assembly Rooms the
attitudes we think have underpinned our success on the Fringe,' he says.<br />'Broadly
speaking, we are taking the risk on the programme and we should be able
to ensure the profit-making shows subsidise the loss-making shows, so
we won't be transferring those losses to the individual artists.'</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The programme ranges from
Stewart Lee's Carpet Remnant World to the National Theatre of Scotland's
An Appointment with the Wicker Man, from Irish chanteuse Camille to
Phil Nichol in The Intervention, a serious drama about an alcoholic. The
smaller shows will have a top ticket price of £10; the bigger ones
shouldn't go much over £15.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">'We're in it to do something
good for the city and the festival,' says Sheppard. 'We've taken
advantage of moving up the road to allow a number of the people we work
with to move to that platform. Stu and Garry, who have done a show every
Sunday for nine years, are going to be doing a lunchtime improv show
every day at the Assembly Rooms. And there are a few people who we've
worked with, like Bridget Christie, who are going there, not so much
because it's a step up but there's a different tone to it - it's a bit
more theatrical.'</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">If negotiations with the
council are successful and if traffic can be diverted off George Street,
he'll be putting a tent on the front of the building to create a
festival hub and to give audiences an extra place to hang out. Even if
that doesn't happen, the venue will have a less hurried ambiance than
elsewhere on the Fringe, chiming in with the more classy approach of
neighbouring venues such as the New Town Theatre, the Traverse and St
Stephen's, as well as the Edinburgh International Book Festival. 'The
sub-Glastonbury atmosphere being created in the university area is a
million miles away from where I want to be,' he says. 'The emphasis in
the bars and the programme at the Assembly Rooms will be the best
possible quality at the lowest possible price. And if I can get through
August without having a single queue, I'll be happy.'</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">In the meantime, Sheppard is
like a child with a shiny new toy: 'The Assembly Rooms always was the
best venue on the Fringe and the council has spent £10m on it, so
imagine the Assembly Rooms being fully air-onditioned, with new sound
systems, 100 per cent new seating, new floors, sound-proofed, new bar
areas and better circulation space, and then with a programmer saying,
"You won't have to queue - and you'll pay less than you paid before."
I'm feeling extremely positive about it.'<br />Flingin' wi' Ceilidh Stomp, Sat 21 Jul, Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh. Fringe programme, Fri 3-Sun 26 Aug. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">© Mark Fisher, 2012</span>Mark Fisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877407195452350555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593546502337181279.post-24220910301704510052012-03-20T20:22:00.000+00:002012-03-20T20:23:32.699+00:00A step closer for The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide: Live!<b>COMING soon to a Fringe Programme near you:</b><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5tagueYOVMsrdu9Or8ZhageA1rGzxArlweHSv9pZNKmQUBbE-ZD31cvWGC0fYZXds2V9cwrmOeqfqfW8kqO-_1WNg4ZAR79bgxeg4o525CAkdwx4LHgxp2eE7u2WDEDYIipas4cfJxYp2/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-03-20+at+18.35.53.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5tagueYOVMsrdu9Or8ZhageA1rGzxArlweHSv9pZNKmQUBbE-ZD31cvWGC0fYZXds2V9cwrmOeqfqfW8kqO-_1WNg4ZAR79bgxeg4o525CAkdwx4LHgxp2eE7u2WDEDYIipas4cfJxYp2/s400/Screen+shot+2012-03-20+at+18.35.53.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Mark Fisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877407195452350555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593546502337181279.post-75869070353347053992012-03-19T11:12:00.000+00:002012-03-19T11:12:19.808+00:00Review: Ian Fox's Edinburgh Fringe Comedy ebook<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007FN9FD8/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=markfisherssc-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=B007FN9FD8" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXeTMTFRPt3EAQgbQoOZHzsO55iDPfm1A2YuaD1gdc2dSUkBXHZDOlKmmIpybjMaDRwWi20IldsEZ3fRqso6Y_xg-753tu6a6Lef2EbksVwn8e_oxggfsIKXFVuQhni9r5vgF95uAp30DH/s320/cover.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ian Fox's ebook</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>IN the course of researching <span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1408132524/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=markfisherssc-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1408132524" target="_blank">The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide</a></span><span></span>, I conducted about 70 interviews with actors, comedians, venue managers, producers, publicists, critics and editors. What this brought home to me was something I knew instinctively: that everyone's experience of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is unique. No two stories are quite the same. I could have interviewed another 70 people and discovered 70 more unique perspectives on the world's biggest festival.</b><br /><br />My approach when writing the book was to encapsulate as many of those perspectives as possible. Your experience of the Fringe won't be exactly the same as any of them, but I hope it has similarities to a few. More to the point, by establishing a set of general principles, <span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1408132524/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=markfisherssc-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1408132524" target="_blank">The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide</a></span><span> </span> offers a template you can use to tackle the Fringe on your own terms. Get the basics right and you can make it work for you.<br /><br />Comedian <a href="http://www.ianfox.net/foxblog/" target="_blank">Ian Fox</a> has taken a different approach. In his self-published ebook, <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007FN9FD8/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=markfisherssc-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=B007FN9FD8" target="_blank">How to Produce, Perform and Write an Edinburgh Fringe Comedy Show</a>, he writes primarily from his own perspective. He is someone who has been performing on the Fringe since 2002, doing solo shows and ten-minute spots as well as producing mixed bills. Much of his experience has been on the Laughing Horse Free Festival, so he knows about the ups and downs of doing comedy to an audience that hasn't paid, in a room in a pub that is often not designed with stand-up in mind. He's also performed on the paid-for Fringe, so understands some of the advantages and disadvantages there too.<br /><br />This first-hand experience is the book's strength. Whether he's telling you about the likely costs, the challenges of dragging your props through the streets of Edinburgh or the hazards of doing accommodation on the cheap, Fox has been there. In the final section of the book, he slips into anecdote mode and recounts a whole series of entertaining stories involving drunken, impoverished, egotistical and unlucky comedians. No reason any of the same things should happen to you, but they serve as a warning of the kind of thing that could take place.<br /><br />I'm probably not the right person to judge, but it seems to me Fox's book complements <span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1408132524/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=markfisherssc-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1408132524" target="_blank">The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide</a></span><span></span>, but is not an alternative to it. There's a small amount of overlap between the two books, but mainly what Fox offers is an extra level of detail from his own very particular perspective. If in doubt, buy both - you'll still have change from £15. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">What he has to say will be most useful if you are his intended reader - a stand-up comedian, probably performing in one of the free festivals - and will be less relevant if you're not. Even then, you'll still find it interesting; the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is an endlessly fascinating place and this book adds more colour to the picture.<br /><br />On the downside, <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007FN9FD8/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=markfisherssc-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=B007FN9FD8" target="_blank">How to Produce, Perform and Write an Edinburgh Fringe Comedy Show</a> does bear the hallmarks of being self-published. Fox has complained about how long proofreading took, but it should have taken a lot longer. I'd say there was an average of one typo per Kindle page. It's probably my bad reading rather than his bad writing that persuaded me the entire cast for one of his shows had testicular cancer, but you get used to skipping over repeated words, filling in the missing phrases, mentally adding the apostrophes and translating the homonyms. <br /><br />There are also some factual errors: the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe began in the same year - 1947; the population of Edinburgh doubles during August, it does not increase seven-fold; and it is not illegal to hand out flyers in places other than the High Street and your venue.<br /><br />As I understand it, e-publishing allows Fox the chance to make corrections, so I imagine he'll iron out these details, thus improving a valuable attempt to make sense of a multifarious festival he loves as much as anyone.</span>Mark Fisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877407195452350555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593546502337181279.post-70607937762663791812012-03-11T11:39:00.001+00:002012-03-11T11:44:47.818+00:00Top ten ways to sell your Edinburgh Festival Fringe show on Twitter<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvEGJDyg6OWavguSnOrFPpsqUKpFzzgXKI8S6qfHbQfbw_GRm-m4uq4bAqbuQdY6jq7E3YV66voWlpoGgy6gOT4S-l9d8dBh7L8spLovs-l5nHXGzvz02d5tIT2AfmAYR3tnj663jpYN0Z/s1600/Mark+Fisher+author+of+Edinburgh+Fringe+Survival+Guide+pic+Lotte+Fisher+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvEGJDyg6OWavguSnOrFPpsqUKpFzzgXKI8S6qfHbQfbw_GRm-m4uq4bAqbuQdY6jq7E3YV66voWlpoGgy6gOT4S-l9d8dBh7L8spLovs-l5nHXGzvz02d5tIT2AfmAYR3tnj663jpYN0Z/s320/Mark+Fisher+author+of+Edinburgh+Fringe+Survival+Guide+pic+Lotte+Fisher+2.JPG" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Author Mark Fisher</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><span style="font-size: small;">AS THOSE who follow me <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/MarkFFisher" target="_blank">@markffisher</a> will confirm, I've been using Twitter relentlessly since the start of the year as a way of promoting <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1408132524/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=markfisherssc-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1408132524" target="_blank">The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide</a></span></b><span style="font-size: small;"><b>. I've been doing this for a number of reasons:</b></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>I have</b> something to sell and <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/markffisher" target="_blank">Twitter</a> is a way to communicate with would-be buyers.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>A hell </b>of a lot has been said about social media marketing (usually by new-media "gurus") and this was an opportunity to put it to the test, separate fact from fiction and see if the self-appointed experts were blinding us with science.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Having written</b> a book that gives advice to <a href="http://www.edfringe.com/" target="_blank">Edinburgh Festival Fringe</a> participants, I feel the least I can do is put some of that advice into practice. If I'm telling you to get on <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/markffisher" target="_blank">Twitter</a> and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Edinburgh-Fringe-Survival-Guide-How-to-Make-Your-Show-a-Success/267060496691133" target="_blank">Facebook</a>, I better get on it too</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-size: small;">So what have I learnt? Here are my top ten observations based on my own use of <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/markffisher" target="_blank">Twitter</a> and on what I've seen of other people's use of it.</span><br />
<ol>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The potential is astonishing.</b> It's easy to forget <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/markffisher" target="_blank">Twitter</a> did not exist before 2006 nor <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Edinburgh-Fringe-Survival-Guide-How-to-Make-Your-Show-a-Success/267060496691133" target="_blank">Facebook</a> before 2004. Until very recently, if you had wanted a respected figure to endorse your show, you would have had to go to considerable effort to contact that figure, let alone persuade them of your worth. Having done that, you would have had to go to the expense of producing vast numbers of flyers. If we're talking about a figure such as <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/stephenfry" target="_blank">Stephen Fry</a>, you'd have to print 4 million flyers to reach the same number of followers - and even then, you would have no certainty the right people would see them. Compare that with <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/markffisher" target="_blank">Twitter</a>: you send a tweet to the respected figure; if you're lucky, the respected figure retweets it; straight away, many thousands of interested people will see it. A process that would have taken weeks can now happen in a couple of minutes - and at no cost. This is in addition to your regular followers who, by choosing to follow you, have already identified themselves as potential audience members.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>People are smart.</b> They know if they're being sold to. They know if they're being hoodwinked. If you use <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/markffisher" target="_blank">Twitter</a> purely as an advertising medium, they will see through you.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>People want to read something interesting.</b> I am at an advantage with</span><span style="font-size: small;"> <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1408132524/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=markfisherssc-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1408132524" target="_blank">The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide</a></span><span style="font-size: small;">, because it is packed with quotations from experts on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. If I send a tweet saying "'If you've got a 2-star review, get a 3-star review next time,' <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/StephensSimon" target="_blank">@StephensSimon</a> in Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide <a href="http://t.co/a859PjMO">http://t.co/a859PjMO</a>," it is unquestionably a plug for the book, but it is also pretty interesting - at least to my target market who recognise Simon Stephens as a leading playwright and a voice to be reckoned with. <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/lyngardner" target="_blank">@lyngardner</a>, the Guardian theatre critic, retweeted that one to 14,000 followers. That's 14,000 more people who know about the book. But this brings us to the next thing:</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Know your market.</b> It may give your ego a boost if someone with lots of followers retweets you, but if those followers are unlikely to be interested in your show, you aren't going to achieve very much. Think about your show, think about what's interesting about it, think about who it will interest and target them. In his recently published e-book <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007FN9FD8/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=markfisherssc-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=B007FN9FD8" target="_blank">How to Produce, Perform and Write an Edinburgh Fringe Comedy Show</a>, comedian Ian Fox says he noticed his 2006 show <a href="http://www.ianfox.net/foxblog/?page_id=176" target="_blank">The Butterfly Effect</a> attracted a crowd who were interested in chaos theory as well as the usual comedy punters. The theme of your show could attract a new audience for you and <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/markffisher" target="_blank">Twitter</a> can help you find them.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Save a set of relevant Twitter searches.</b> Work out the phrases your potential audience will be using, search for them on <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/markffisher" target="_blank">Twitter</a> and select the option to "save search" each time. You can then check the results every day or so. The people who are interested in the same things as you could be the audience you are looking for.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Go for the soft sell not the hard sell. </b>What you're trying to do is build up a community of interested people around your show. They won't stay interested if they see only adverts. They will stay interested if you continue to give them interesting things to read or look at. By associating yourself with a shared interest, you will build and sustain interest in your show. It won't happen over night; you have to think long-term.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Back Twitter up with blogs, videos and other updates.</b> When I post this blog, I will send a tweet about it. It is quite possibly the very tweet that led you here. You were interested in the topic I mentioned in the tweet and you thought you'd check it out. Sorry to get postmodern on you, but in the process of finding out about social-media marketing for an Edinburgh Fringe show, you have learnt there is a book called <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1408132524/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=markfisherssc-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1408132524" target="_blank">The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide</a></span><span style="font-size: small;"> and maybe it's the kind of book you'd like to read. Spend some time figuring out the equivalent for your show and produce blogs, videos and other updates on subjects that will interest your audience. Don't be cynical about it. Although I'm winding you up with all this self-referential stuff, I'm genuine in my interest in the subject.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Use all the media available to you.</b> Some of your potential audience will use <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/markffisher" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, some <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Edinburgh-Fringe-Survival-Guide-How-to-Make-Your-Show-a-Success/267060496691133" target="_blank">Facebook</a>, some Tumblr. Try to be there for them in every case. I confess, I have limited presence on <a href="https://plus.google.com/102307050345393115687/posts" target="_blank">Google +</a> and <a href="http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/mark-fisher/31/a03/432" target="_blank">Linkedin</a> and no presence on Tumblr; my kids told me it wasn't my kind of thing - were they right?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Don't forget old media.</b> At times, I have felt a little embarrassed at the amount of messages I've been sending out. For a while, the first thing people would say to me when I bumped into them was, "I see you've been busy with your social-media marketing." It was hard to know whether to be pleased the message had got through or ashamed for being so blatant about it. But frequently, the next person I bumped into would say, "Oh, have you written a book?" However much noise you think you're making on the internet, there will be many, many people who will not hear it. Either they're not in your social-media circle or they're not big computer users. You cannot afford to lose these people. For them, you need all the traditional and Fringe-specific marketing methods I describe in the chapter called <a href="http://www.edinburghfringesurvivalguide.com/marketing.html" target="_blank">The Marketing Campaign</a>.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Don't rest on your laurels.</b> Having built a community of people around your show, you need to keep them interested. Not only are they your potential audience, but they are also your potential advocates. Their word of mouth and endorsement will be invaluable. Keep them on side and don't neglect them.</span></li>
</ol>
<span style="font-size: small;">These are some initial thoughts, reached by trial and error and still open to refinement. If you're anything like me, you won't always get it right, but sometimes you'll strike a chord and, when that happens, you should learn from it and try to strike that chord again.<br /><br />No doubt you'll have ideas of your own. Please add your comments below.</span>Mark Fisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877407195452350555noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593546502337181279.post-22034667559444010382012-03-08T13:06:00.002+00:002012-03-08T13:07:22.441+00:00Edinburgh festivals boost and World Fringe Congress<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1408132524/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=markfisherssc-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1408132524" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir6UyRRQyOUOW414M54-VrHCCIl0Gn0uqnM85mIGnOzEZuyMRXTV2MazIvOXSo4Uoc6RTILM5oxWxLYqb1CW4l4YrXsM7AxJ57eSixMhUKUrfShMVdZw-B6S1FunMGsZdfzNtRvOkq-AB4/s320/Cover+EFSG.png" width="208" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>JUST back from a press conference in which the Scottish Government and other public funders announced enhanced support for Edinburgh's year-round festivals, including the Edinburgh Fringe. Part of the package is a plan for a conference that should give Fringe participants increased access to international bookers.</b> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Collectively, the Scottish Government, the City of Edinburgh Council, EventScotland and Creative Scotland are funding the city's 12 festivals to the tune of £3.2m in 2012. Of particular significance to Scotland's theatre and dance companies is the Scottish Government's extended commitment to its expo fund. The total budget for this has gone up to £2.25m to be shared among the festivals and spent on projects such as the <a href="http://www.edfringe.com/news/made-in-scotland-showcase-2012" target="_blank">Made in Scotland programme on the Fringe</a>.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">As well as this, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society has been funded by Creative Scotland to host the inaugural World Fringe Congress, bringing together fringe organisers and directors from around the globe to exchange ideas, foster international collaborations and create lasting networks.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Taking place in August, the formal meeting aims to "inspire and inform the fringe community and build lasting ties". Organisers hope that out of all the networking will come international collaborations and exchanges.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">"There is currently no forum in existence where the co-ordinators of fringes from around the world can meet their counterparts to exchange experiences and ideas," said a Fringe spokesman. "Although festival directors from around the world come to Edinburgh each year to book work for their own festivals, this will give Edinburgh Fringe participants increased access to these bookers."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">A more detailed breakdown of who is attending will be made available closer to the time. Meanwhile, check out <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1408132524/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=markfisherssc-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1408132524" target="_blank">The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide</a></span><span style="font-size: small;"> and the chapter called <a href="http://www.edinburghfringesurvivalguide.com/next-step.html" target="_blank">The Next Step</a>, which offers expert tips about how to network and maximise opportunities for your post-Fringe career.</span>Mark Fisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877407195452350555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593546502337181279.post-67981624513612351482012-02-25T16:30:00.002+00:002012-02-25T16:35:08.088+00:00Edinburgh Festival Fringe: telling it like it is<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1408132524/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=markfisherssc-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1408132524" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMn-jH39-He_83uwyvQzffG4g8y465YwOUaK6Aw-8peFFtJmf2t67vuhNwNpMQbvwU7Eo4NFF-Y_PR_3YeYCBtpJHIw4x4c8aNqDgvBSgjRR5dZYtFUXb-DVntBaPjuFk6KHp1BmRHVW2t/s320/EFSG+front+cover.png" width="209" /></a></div>
<b><span style="font-size: small;">THE only thing bigger than the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the internet, which top scientists estimate is now 7.6 times bigger than the universe. This means, despite doing loads of research for <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1408132524/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=markfisherssc-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1408132524" target="_blank">The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide</a>, I have only now come across two blogs that would have fed into the book very nicely.</span></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The first of these is <b><a href="http://ontheflesh.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">In the Name of the Flesh</a></b>, a record of Ernesto Sarezale's time on the Fringe of 2010. Sarezale describes himself as "</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.sarezale.com/" target="_blank">a Basque cognitive scientist, published poet, performer, stand-up and cabaret act, and video artist living in London</a>" and performed his show, In the Name of the Flesh, at the Banshee Labyrinth on Niddry Street as part of the PBH Free Fringe.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;">If you dig back to his earliest posts, you'll find standard publicity info about the show, but then from <a href="http://ontheflesh.blogspot.com/2010/08/first-night-of-in-name-of-flesh.html" target="_blank">this post about the first performance</a>, you start to get a flavour of what the whole wild experience is really like. This remark is typical:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: small;">It was nerve wracking to have to get the bar staff to assist me with the
video connections. Especially when I left briefly for the toilet and
found a queue of punters waiting outside to see my show!</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: small;">From then on, mixed in with his comments on other shows that he's been seeing – themselves revelatory about the eclectic mix the Fringe offers – he gives updates on the show's progress and its variations from performance to performance: one post is even called "<a href="http://ontheflesh.blogspot.com/2010/08/every-night-is-different.html" target="_blank">Every night is different</a>". </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Sarezale</span><span style="font-size: small;"> is honest about lessons learned along the way, such as the realisation that it might have been better to list the show as <a href="http://ontheflesh.blogspot.com/2010/08/my-show-is-not-conceived-as-comedy-show.html" target="_blank">theatre and not comedy</a> in the Fringe Programme. Anyone thinking of appearing on the Fringe for the first time would do well to cast their eye over his </span><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://ontheflesh.blogspot.com/2010/11/15-or-so-lessons-learnt-at-edinburgh.html" target="_blank">"15 (or so) lessons learnt at the Edinburgh Fringe 2010</a>" (he gets extra points for linking to <a href="http://www.edinburgh-festivals.com/viewpreview.aspx?id=1373" target="_blank">an article I wrote</a>). </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">His post-Fringe comments are particularly good, being frank but not cynical, and giving a clear sense of the battering and the exhilaration you can get from a run in Edinburgh. Rather charmingly, in "<a href="http://ontheflesh.blogspot.com/2010/08/was-it-worth-it.html" target="_blank">Was it worth it?</a>" he puts the lows in a tiny point size and the highs nice and big. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Still in reflective mode, <a href="http://ontheflesh.blogspot.com/2012_02_01_archive.html" target="_blank">his very latest post</a>, from just the other day, looks back on what he wanted from his Fringe run and what has happened to him since; as the <a href="http://www.edinburghfringesurvivalguide.com/next-step.html" target="_blank">penultimate chapter of my book</a> suggests, the Fringe stays with you long after the final curtain.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Then last year, Sophie Caswell blogged about her experience bringing</span><span style="font-size: small;"> to Edinburgh a show called</span><span style="font-size: small;"> I Know What You're Thinking by her mind-reading partner Doug Segal. Her <b><a href="http://fringetrimmings.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Fringe Trimmings</a></b> blog starts with details of the earliest <a href="http://fringetrimmings.wordpress.com/2011/07/26/woohoo-sold-out-on-the-last-night-with-2-weeks-before-we-start/" target="_blank">marketing campaign</a>, then after a couple of updates, pauses for a few days because the pace, in her own words, is "<a href="http://fringetrimmings.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/frantic/" target="_blank">f**king frantic</a>". </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">As with </span><span style="font-size: small;">Sarezale's blog, it's the reflective posts that give much of the flavour, whether it's "<a href="http://fringetrimmings.wordpress.com/2011/08/14/my-top-10-ed-fringe-moments/" target="_blank">My top 10 Ed Fringe moments</a>", capturing the craziness of it all, or "<a href="http://fringetrimmings.wordpress.com/2011/08/27/farewell-edinburgh-you-sexy-sexy-beast/" target="_blank">Farewell Edinburgh, you sexy sexy beast</a>" admitting how hard it is to say goodbye.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Then in "<a href="http://fringetrimmings.wordpress.com/2012/01/22/come-to-edinburgh-where-the-streets-are-paved-with-opportunity/" target="_blank">Come to Edinburgh where the streets are paved with opportunity</a>", she reveals how the show was spotted by a comedy promoter, leading to a return trip in 2012:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: small;">Edfringe is like playing SuperMario
you have to leap over a lot of barrels to get to the boss fight at the
end, by which time you’re exhausted – but if you win, you get to the next
level…. and that next level has totally different challenges … and
comes under the category of ‘uber-exciting-scary and even harder work’.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: small;">Naturally, as every good social networker knows, this can only mean one thing: a new blog, this one called <b><a href="http://furtherupthefringe.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Further Up the Fringe</a></b>. Watch that space. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">I'm sure there are many similar blogs out there - do tell me if you know of any good ones. There's also one promised by magician <b><a href="http://www.iankendall.com/" target="_blank">Ian Kendall</a></b> who told me when I met him the other day that he had a 21-year track record on the Edinburgh Fringe and had never lost money. If he really "can't get [his] bahookie in gear," as he said in <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/IanKendallmagic" target="_blank">a recent tweet</a>, that'd be a great place to start.</span>Mark Fisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14877407195452350555noreply@blogger.com2