Culture Works blog

1^st September

This is the way the Festival ends, not with a bang but a whimper. I am actually back home now so technically I’m cheating still calling this my Edinburgh blog… The last 3 nights brought 0, 9, and 1 in the audience and I call that a whimper.

Lots of lessons learned.

8^th September

Last Tuesday was supposed to be the final entry but a week of reflection has somehow emerged; aided in no small way by a massive computer breakdown which meant, amongst other things, trawling through two and a half years worth of emails to recover an address book. Oh the joys.

I should sum up. I am, secretly, a bit pleased with myself for having done this. It was in turns dispiriting, futile, dull and deeply satisfying. I stood up on my own for 70 minutes a night for almost a whole month and delivered a piece of art I created (with some help from a great poet of course) at a standard I can be proud of. As a performer I have learnt and grown. As my Director kept telling me, I should not get too carried away by becoming competent, its no great shakes, but the challenge was met.

On the other hand I could have taken a luxury round the world trip and broadened my mind that way. I compared what I did to vanity publishing (where you pay for it) to a friend the other night and she pointed out that it was, in some respects, even worse than that. If you pay to have something published you do at least have the printed copies to then market; a live show exists only in performance and is thus dependant upon creating a buzz if it is to continue. Now I have a choice: look back and say that was a great episode, move on now; or spend more time and money on pursuing development and promotion of the project.

The only interest I seem to have generated, one week post Festival, is from the remarkable 78 year old Californian Lynn Ruth Miller. She has emailed twice to ask how I am getting on; and she didn’t even see the show! I am lucky to have had the resources to do what I did and certainly I spent more than I needed to; that’s one of the lessons learnt. Even so you would be hard pushed to do what I did for under £4,000. Free accommodation would help of course but otherwise the only route for the performer(s) who don’t have that kind of cash is the Free Fringe.

I would like to think that changes will happen to the Fringe, especially curbing the power of the half dozen major venues, but whilst there are poor saps like me out there willing to put their money on the line to try and achieve recognition then I must be sceptical. Its a challenge for the City Council who, as I understand it, are ultimately responsible. Personally I am convinced that the edge lies with the Free Fringe. Aspects of the Fringe have become bloated and budget driven, some advertising budgets must be quite substantial, and maybe the times they are a changing.

Thank you CULTUREWORKS for inviting this blog / reflection. Apparently over 900 visits have been made to my words. That’s about nine times the number of people who watched the show over the 27 performances. Maybe I am in the wrong business.

OK  Peter, so now it’s over - what tips for anyone setting up their pitch in Edinburgh next year?

28^th August

I gather there is quite a debate gathering around the future of the ‘Fringe’ as a resentment is growing around the antics of the ‘big boys’ – the promoters and controllers of the major venues who pack ‘em in, but rip-off the artists through up-front payments, tight conditions and poor deals. These guys then essentially take their profits out without re-investing in the people and the City. As a significant number of these big venues are actually Council owned there exists scope for making change; if the political will is there.

Yesterday I was tipped off about a support meeting for one-person shows. I go along and at the least seem to have encouraged a few other performers to get along to see the show; we’ll see tonight when the first of them has promised to come. Last night was another 1 person audience, bless her, she was so enthusiastic at the end she offered to take my flyers round. At least this morning has brought a 4 star review and that’s bound to cheer up the lonely beleaguered performer. The support meeting is a kind attempt by the Fringe to help and it certainly was encouraging to share the loneliness of the under-appreciated performer.

Four more shows to go but already my Director and I are talking about a re-write and re-vamp. I ran into Mario, the Dario Fo pupil, yesterday and he had encouraging words for my work. “Make it more theatrical”, he says, “but you have a good story”. Will this constant round of improving and refining my work ever end? I can’t work out whether I need a break or to plunge back in whilst its still all ‘hot’ in my head.

26^th August

Always look on the bright side; last night a complete technical breakdown during the show which meant the dvd had to be restarted and played through from the beginning until the point we had reached, which was about 1/3^rd of the way through the show. At least there were not many in, to witness the embarrassment. In fact there were no real punters in at all sadly. Just a friend of mine up from Newcastle and a friend of the Director’s; both watching the show for the second time. That of course is both flattering, that they wanted to see it again, and interesting to talk about, as the show has evolved and it is useful hearing the responses to changes.

It does make you question the meaning of life when you play the culmination of two years quite serious work to two friends; and tonight was no better, again two friends, augmented by Tom whose ‘Freedom Come Freedom Go’ stand-up routine I watched last week.

There are of course sensible people open to serious discussion through art, all around, its just reaching the buggers. But you do have to wonder if spending the thick end of £7K to have chums travel hundreds of miles to watch you, has got me anywhere?

I am back to thinking about the ‘Free Fringe’.  If Edinburgh is serious about a vibrant ‘Fringe’ that is the future in these difficult times, for the City of RBS, HBOS and the like.

 No-one I know has spotted Fred Goodwin yet.

24^th August

Reflection: The Royal Ballet of Flanders danced beautifully this afternoon, ‘The Return of Ulysses’; large dollops of Henry Purcell interspersed with a catholic spread of C20^th cool crooners: Doris Day, Perry Como, Mel Torme, The Exciters. I want ‘When I am laid in earth’ at my funeral, please.

Tonight the man reportedly touched by the inheritance of Dario Fo views the show, “Needs to be more theatrical” is the response I am relayed. It’s the old ‘show not tell’ motto. He is with an old acquaintance but neither wait to meet me after. My Director does. She’s back and making my life a misery again. Just when I thought I was hitting the right note I’ve been brought up sharp. Too much energy being exhibited is the nub; but in the pub, after, she notices the ‘Fringe Review’ have me as a ‘Recommended Show’; along with several others. Big technical problems at the show tonight, hope they get sorted for tomorrow.

Just one week to go, 8 more shows. Flanders has prodded me into maximising my Edinburgh experience.

23^rd August

That’s it, I’ll keep a pack of flyers in my pocket, but from here on in I am going to enjoy other people’s work at this Festival. I had been discretely dropping them off at the Traverse Theatre but yesterday I accidentally flyered the House Manager and got hoyed out. Well not literally, but I better not do it again.

Trying to keep my ear to the ground to pick up on other shows / acts that pose questions around politics and society. Seen two, neither of which, frankly, put much together. Yesterday was ‘Freedom Come Freedom Go’ an amiable ramble in mid-afternoon mainly driven by NO2ID. Mild jokes and a couple of parody songs to the instrument of the moment, the ukelele. The other was an equally amiable show based on guitar backed songs with a bit of stand-up in between. I met the performer of that on in the street where he was about to busk. An interesting vingnette of alternative thought here. His show had its heart in the right place but was pretty incoherent politically. He is committed to Peace Camps and the like, alternative direct action. All fine and dandy but equally containable by the state; especially in the context of the surveillance society ‘Freedom Come Freedom Go’ so clearly articulated. However in our discussion in the street I clearly peed him off by suggesting there was more to the BNP than crude fascism.  So I don’t expect him at my show! 

But I do have a problem with crude sloganistic political positions as life is more subtle. Support for the BNP is a serious reflection of contemporary politics, caused by a vacuum left by the Labour Party’s firm encampment at the centre of the political spectrum. Never have Margaret Thatcher’s words been more correct, “there is no alternative”.

mmm…the idea of doing it for free is a theme of late. A few weeks ago I read Lewis Hyde’s ‘The Gift - how the creative spirit transforms the world’ - published in 2006 so pre- meltdown. It tracks the gift culture from pre-history through to the present and takes in Ezra Pound, Mussolini, usury and a whole lot of intriguing ideas along the way. It set me thinking - Red Umbrella business in the eighties - Star and Shadow today - keeping alive the idea that people can do more than toe the line of whichever dominant economic theory thinks its in power. Then I went to the MFA show at Ncle Uni on Friday and met Harry Palmer, editor of The Eccentric City, a free electronic newspaper that ’serves to review, preview, present and promote the nuances of personal and creative pursuits, interests and fascinations!’ (try the website: www.eccentriccity.co.uk) - we shared some pre-occupations about counter culture and just to gee up your spirit, here’s a quote from his paper - ‘whilst calamities continue to beckon, arguably it is as crucial as ever that eccentricity needs to be harnessed and celebrated, turning the attention from personal greed into the triumph of the peculiar’. So - ‘as Krishnamurti once said in respect of having a fulfilled life - Do what you love!’…thanks Harry, and so far as Edinburgh is concerned, if you’re doing what you love and you can pay the rent, you’re on to a great thing!

21^st August

Well at least it’s a sunny day. I don’t dare even start to add up the cost of this outing to Scotland but as I said in an email to my mother this morning, I could certainly have had a luxury trip around the world. Possibly two. The experience has of course been a fast learning curve and if I were to do it again, a highly unlikely scenario right now, I would certainly find a way of doing it more cheaply. The Free Fringe is bigger and stronger, I gather, than before and it clearly shows the way. Get the punters in for a ‘free’ show and then hit them at the end for a donation. A couple of experienced Fringe performers I have chatted with tell me that they are actually making a bit of money for the first time this way. I would recommend this approach. In fact I am considering approaching my management with the suggestion we do just that next week. It gives me the likelyhood of a decent sized audience to play to, which I know from the double figure shows I have done is so much more rewarding. If I get 35 in and they give just £2.10 each I still make as much as 10 full priced tickets, which I have only sold twice; indeed I don’t know if they even paid full price.

Schools went back earlier this week here. I’d be so pissed off if I were a local kid. Imagine one of the world’s most diverse arts festivals happening in your town and you have to go back to school. Bummer.

Last night my only contact in Edinburgh, a sculptor I’d met in Newcastle earlier this year, came with a family party; 5 in all. One other audience member made it. I spend hours flyering as my venue management say it’s the only way; but on the evidence so far I would need to do around 35 hours a day to pull in a decent crowd. No sign of a new review from the people who came on Weds.

20^th August

Another victory for the Toon last night; despite my son’s disdain for him (I reckon its to do with the fact they were at school together) Shola Ameobi has now scored 4 goals in the last 2 games and we are up there towards the top of the table unbeaten. He’s probably right actually, my lad, the Championship is at a level Shola can cope with, he had begun to look woefully out of it in the Premier League.

As promised I have ditched the car and for the past 10 days or so have cycled or walked everywhere. I am a bit of an anarchist when it comes to cycling, I take almost no notice whatsoever of traffic regulations, lights, one-way streets, pedestrian only areas and so on. This has led to some grumpy locals complaining at me. At a set of lights I was ignoring someone leant out of their car window and reminded me that the lights applied to cycles too. As is so often the case in these instances I thought of a great riposte about 30 secs later when I was 100 yards down the road. Something along the lines of ‘No, actually, they’re for atmosphere polluting, precious planetary resource depleting, city choking cars like yours, Jimmy’. Just as hindsight is that most exact of sciences so are the best ripostes conceived in the privacy of your own mind.

Edinburgh has a significant number of pedicabs plying their trade. I allow myself a small inner glow of pleasure at this. When Lord Mayor of Newcastle I made a bit of an issue of commissioning a Lord Mayoral pedicab and achieved some positive publicity for the concept. It still hasn’t really caught on in Newcastle but here its obviously gaining ground.

Best show of the run last night, I felt very positive afterwards as I found myself really enjoying making the performance. Two critics in to watch as well. Mind you only two critics, no-one else. A message this morning suggests I have somehow set Edinburgh a twitter. One of last night’s critics obviously does this twittering thing, and good on him, if he’s telling people to come and see me. I need all the help I can get. As far as I can make out he is the replacement critic for the dreadful ignoramus I complained about from 3 Weeks. So we will see what he says in the paper review but even if it only upgrades me by 1 star it will prove the worth of not taking bad criticism lying down.

Its pouring with rain, not good flyering conditions; and this of course is where cycling’s limitations are exposed. I don’t really fancy getting soaked slogging out on the road to Fringe Central to post this blog and get emails. Oh where is my dedication? And I must go shopping as we are out of toilet paper.

31^st July

Edinburgh is a rolling boil of traffic. The civil engineering for the new tram system, nine months behind schedule and massively over budget we are told, makes the city one big road-works. It drives the sat-nav crazy. Get some interesting tours of back street architecture though. Nice city.

Picked up the posters and flyers from the printers first then out to our rehearsal rooms in Portobello; my Director is a sadistic bastard who keeps making me think. We make a few cuts, agree new elements, and I promise to write them up after lunch. I go to sleep. Eventually I attack it in the middle of the evening. Now its midnight and I need to look at it again. Good job we don’t start until 10 a.m.

3rd August

Tonight rig up at the venue and technical rehearsal. At last the show seems to be settling in my head. As its a one person jobbie I am rather crucial to this. My Director has become my therapist in this respect. There are some hard lessons about your ego when you act. As over half ( I haven’t counted) of the lines are by one of the half dozen or so really important artists of the C20th, its really his ego that is important. We have decided that f***k the Bankers, or perhaps a slightly more modulated form, should be our ‘on the street’ selling point. The news tonight of billion pound profits for two banks only strengthens our arm.

The technician tonight had to take over responsibility, shall we call it late. Theatre is full of this stuff, especially at Edinburgh; no-ones fault. As we tidied up he volunteered his verdict: “That was good, I really enjoyed it, interesting”. Dress rehearsal tomorrow and then we just have to get the punters in!

By Thursday I should be able to lose the car and rely on the bicycle; hope it ain’t gonna rain too much.

6^th August

Opening night last night – my Director, her friend, my son and his girlfriend; oh and a reviewer from Festival paper 3 Weeks. Hope audiences pick up.

7^th August

The venue organisers insist that leafleting the streets is the only way to get audiences but I am not having much success! The Stage came last night (along with my son again and 2 other punters), so that’s 2 reviews. I decide to try busking as a way of attracting attention. I start in High Street, also known as The Royal Mile, and play the Internationale to start with. I immediately get 50p from a local delighted to hear a revolutionary anthem played in the heart of the Scottish establishment. The Scotsman turns up at tonight’s show, again with 2 punters.

8^th August

Every morning I go to Fringe Central, the performers’ resource centre and check emails and see if reviews are in. The guy I am renting the flat from promised I could piggy-back on a friends wireless connection but unfortunately they are on the top floor, I am on the ground, and the signal is not strong enough. So I have to slog into Fringe Central. Its quiet in there and I leave at 12.30 to have some lunch before returning to ‘meet the press’; an opportunity to talk to journalists the Fringe have introduced this year. When I return the queues are out of the door and down the street. I curse myself quietly and queue. After an hour and a quarter I finally get to the head of the queue to meet the Edinburgh Evening News. He seems unimpressed and half-heartedly says he will try and send a reviewer. I cannot bring myself to queue for another 30 mins just to see another, so I go off leafleting. Tonight 1 ticket is sold, but they don’t turn up. Early bath. In fact I wander around the City, inconclusively. Musicians: Banjo, Cello and Percussion, singing from 2 of them, are busking on the High Street. I like their approach and we chat, they are playing down the street later and give me a flyer. Its all about sex. At my age this has lost its attraction and I head home; too early. I have no sooner arrived back at the flat than an enormous fireworks display starts up. I love fireworks but have to watch it from the backyard with a restricted view.

10^th August

At last reviews. They are, well frankly poor. 3 Weeks don’t like the politics one little bit and fail entirely to mention the poetry, which makes up about 2/3rds of the text. The Stage is a better considered notice, but he doesn’t think it works and strangely doesn’t think the poetry is strong. Have to disagree with him there. So its leaflets, leaflets, leaflets again. Returning home for lunch my car, which has been parked in the same spot for 10 days, has a parking ticket. Made my day! At least I had 14 in last night and for the first time it felt like a proper show.

Reality bites though tonight; back to an audience of 3. I’ve looked again at the 3 Weeks review; what a stupid ignorant shit the reviewer is. “We are still living in ‘the Dark Ages’; that is the conclusion of [this] one man show” it starts. At no time during the entire show do I refer to or speak about ‘Dark Ages’; dark times, yes, but with the fall out from Iraq, the seemingly endless struggle in Afghanistan, and the melt down of banking we are all going to pay for, that these are at least arguably dark times.

11^th August

However cross I am about the 3 Weeks review the consensus cannot be argued with. Both The Stage and The Scotsman also give poorish reviews. Both find the conceit I employ of comparing my life to the poet’s unsatisfactory; and thus the show a failure. Both make complimentary remarks about the performance at least, but only 2 stars. This is likely to prove fatal at the box office, last night’s audience was 1. With so many competing shows vying for attention a poor review feels like a bit of a death knell.

I am also having a trying time with the venue. When, on out first day in Edinburgh, we popped into the venue to say hello we were greeted with indifference and this has sort of continued. On my Director’s advice I did not raise issues about the inadequate lighting and lack of prominent publicity until the venue management had a few days to recover from the hectic strain of getting the venue up and running. But the stressful times still continue and last night I walked into a powder keg which I accidently ignited. Things are now so bad that today I consulted my Trade Union for advice on how to handle the situation. I await their view. Not what you need when everyone should be pulling together to try and build up attendance.

16^th August

A few in Thursday, few more Friday, boosted by two friends visiting and staying a couple of nights. Saturday night creeps into double figures and a very warm curtain call; they must have clapped enthusiastically for nearly a minute, quite hard work for 11 or 12. Back to harsh reality tonight, 1 again, a very friendly Dutchman, as usual very complimentary. My visitors, professionals themselves, give me one very helpful observation and as a result I have made a change to the show which improves it; I hope. I am finally feeling secure enough in both myself and the material to inhabit the stage and move around confidently. Out on the flyers tomorrow, got to try and build an audience somehow. I have an awful suspicion that the 2 poor reviews may have put off the other ‘quality’ reviewers, no-one else has been now for a week.

My Trade Union suggested that the best way to handle the staging and publicity issues was friendly negotiation, so I have asked politely for lighting changes and they have not happened yet. Hey Ho. There is no point in getting angry; they hold all the cards, and they know how to write a contract!

18^th August

Last night I was told by the venue that if I wanted improvements to the lighting, I need a simple accessory known as a ‘barn door’ which shutters the light and will prevent spillage onto the projection screen which is currently bleaching out, I would have to buy them myself. Then during performance a projection cue came over 1 minute late. It’s a computer problem apparently but the venue management are showing a distinct lack of interest, the head technician has not returned my phone call after 3 hours.

At the performers Resource Centre today I meet up with a remarkable 78 year old American woman who is performing 3 different cabaret shows. She affects interest in my show and promises to help with contacts and is full of schemes to promote discussions about the political during the Fringe. She even suggests I come over to California at the invitation of Stanford University with whom she has close contacts; we’ll see what comes of that one!

The venue do get back in touch and promise to address the problems and, when I arrive this evening, a new lamp is in place. We make some adjustments but it all seems so pointless when 1 person arrives to watch.

Being on your own in a strange city can be intimidating. When you have to put yourself out on the line every night and hardly anyone comes to watch, and there is nobody to share feelings with, its hard. Makes you want to go home and curl up with a bottle and the TV. Mind you 3 nights a week that is what I can do and indulge in my obsession with The Wire. Last night however I had to forgo that comfort routine as an acquaintance, Naomi, was making a stand-up debut. A friend of my director she has been to see my show once in London and twice here in Edinburgh. I appreciate that kind of support and have to give it back. Before she is on at this ‘open mic’ venue an American troupe called the Concrete Generation perform poetry and songs. Seems they had a show about Miles Davis and John Coltrane on in the Jazz Festival, but now they are off back to the States. I get chatting with them, a lovely bunch, the actor playing Miles is introduced as Omar. I crack a line about The Wire and we all laugh. They dig it too and we share admiration for its breadth of vision. They give me CDs and DVDs of their work. Naomi’s stand up routine goes well too so the evening ends on an upbeat note. On the way home I pay £4.50 for a mediocre fried fish – talk about London prices, wow!

This week I shall keep trying the flyers during the day but increasingly I don’t feel its worth the time and next week I shall spend the afternoons seeing other shows. Naomi highly recommends the Woody Guthrie show so I’ll make sure I see that one. She also notes that most of the theatre, outside of the full time theatre venues, seems to be on in the afternoon and that stand-up dominates the evening. Its certainly true that this once mainly theatre focussed festival is increasingly a comedy event. Some statistics from the Fringe programme:

10 pages of Childrens’ shows; 94 pages of Comedy; 12 pages of Dance and Physical Theatre; 8 pages of Events; 4 pages of Exhibitions; 30 pages of Music; 12 pages of Musicals and Opera; and 64 pages of Theatre.