I have now fulfilled a long-term ambition and performed a solo hour show at Edinburgh Fringe.
I wasn’t able to do too much flyering yesterday as I had some last-minute things to buy for my show. The weather was also particularly bad when I did try flyering, with the wind and rain making it particularly punishing conditions for umbrellas.
I doubt I even managed an hour. As a result, I didn’t think I would end up getting much of an audience.
But I have written numerous times about never trying to predict what the Fringe will do, because in spite of not doing anywhere near enough flyering I managed to get about 25 people in.
I am helped by having a fairly strong gimmick for my show this year and most of my audience had seen my listing in the Free Fringe brochure.
I’m not going to pretend the show went perfectly, because it didn’t. Several lines either fell flat or received a muted response, and it was a bit shambolic in places. I need to get the material tighter and rewrite bits, but there is time for that. I was pleased with how it went as a whole, it was by no means a disaster and the audience seemed to enjoy it. Now there’s a quote I wish I could use on my posters.
Not only was it the first time that I have ever done an Edinburgh solo show, but it was also the first time that I haven’t had to split the bucket collection afterwards. I made a grand total of £37.30, which is also the most I have ever received from a Fringe performance.
My 2014 Fringe has now begun, the hard work is all in front of me and Deech hasn’t even got here yet.