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Edinburgh Fringe
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Fringe 2010 Blog - 1Prologue (or close encounters of the smelly kind) - Thursday, 8th July 2010So welcome to the first entry of the tour blog! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. I must warn you, there's a lot in store and we're in for a bumpy ride. It's not the longest of tours, nor is it the most difficult of tours - it's only a month and a half in three locations - but it's long enough! Believe me, there's plenty in it to make it interesting, not least camping at Latitude Festival and the month-long, rain-soaked party that is the Edinburgh Festival. So yes, it's going to be quite a journey. But first, how about some background info as to how I got here? During the autumn/early winter months of last year, I was lucky enough to tour the country playing Iago in a production of Othello. It was a wonderful experience (which I blogged about on my website) and I made some very good friends. A few months after that tour ended, a bunch of people involved in the production got together for a night out. It wasn't like we hadn't seen each other in ages; we'd continued to meet up regularly after the tour. After a pleasant evening in the pub, a few of the people announced that they were heading on to a farewell party of someone they knew - an actress who was leaving the UK to go try her luck in the States. They invited me along. I didn't want to go. I was tired, I had my viola with me (like a violin only bigger), I was dressed in the same clothes I'd been in all day, I needed a shower... basically, not in party mode. I'm still not sure why I went. The party was in one of those bars that employ far too many bouncers than is necessary for the number of people in the venue. Loud music and many, many people I didn't know, all dressed much smarter than me. I was made to open my viola case and have it searched by the bouncers before I was allowed inside. Every step of the way my brain kept yelling at me, telling me to go home. But I didn't. Not for any reason in particular (although I think the Othello director, Max, had promised to buy me a beer, but I'm not sure). In short, I found myself surrounded by lots of stylish, good-looking people who I didn't know, wishing I wasn't there. The effect of too many beers also began to take effect. My mouth tasted like I'd just licked a carpet clean. There were so many people in the room that I ended up next to the fireplace and was soon sweating like a racehorse. To look at me, you would have seen a seriously shabbily dressed man clutching a violin case, with his tongue hanging out and rapidly expanding sweat patches emanating from his armpits. No wonder everyone ignored me. Well, almost everyone. One person came to chat. Her name was (and still is) Anna. She's the sister of a guy called Nick, who played Roderigo in the Othello tour. Anna had seen the show in Harrogate and had even come backstage to visit us afterwards, but to my shame I didn't recognise her. I must have come across pretty badly. I stank, didn't remember her name and kept leaning away from her (aware that my breath probably stank of stale alcohol). It was a rather one-sided conversation. In an effort to open my mouth as little as possible, I resorted to simply nodding and humming as many variations of "mm-hmm" as I could think of. Not my finest hour, I'll admit (although not far off!) The basic outcome of the conversation was that she'd written a play and that it had been performed to great success in Islington, and that she was now taking it on tour. Would I be interested in being in it? "Mm-hmm". That's as far as the conversation went that night. Well, it couldn't go much further could it? Not with Mr Mm-hmm and his sweat patches refusing to talk and all. A few emails were exchanged and a few weeks later I had an audition. Before that, however, I had another audition. As always tends to happen, unemployment hounds you for months and suddenly all auditions happen on the same day. The other audition was for an open-air touring production of one of Shakespeare's comedies. Now I know what you're thinking: How did Paul the octopus manage to predict all those football results? A good question, but not one that's got much to do with this story. So anyway... I did the other audition and it went very well. In fact, it went beautifully. It was one of those auditions from which you leave thinking that it couldn't have gone any better. It was the sort of audition that you wish every audition would be like. I was offered the job. A supporting role, but a potentially show-stealing part. Plus the character had to speak with an outrageous French accent, which I do very well! I then auditioned for Anna's play, called Fair Trade. I met the director, Lotte, at the audition, and it also went very well. One problem: The other production company had given me until the end of the week to let them know if I would accept the job offer. As the days went by, still no word from Shatterbox (the Fair Trade production company). Eventually, after much deliberation and to-ing and fro-ing, I called up Anna and explained the situation. I wanted to do Fair Trade, but if I wasn't going to be given a part in it, I would accept the other job. I was very much aware that I didn't want to put her into a position where I'd be forcing her to give me the job, it's just that I had a deadline to keep. Not that I would have minded doing the other job in any way. It sounded like good fun, the part suited me, the company seemed lovely and it was slightly better pay. It's just that this project sounded more exciting. I can always do Shakespeare. I won't always be able to work on a project like Fair Trade. Yes, this project had its downside too - Edinburgh Festival for one (I'll explain this later), but it still excited me more than the other tour. Eventually, the call came saying that if I wanted the part, it was mine. There was very little thinking left to be done on my end. It was a risk in the sense that it's an unknown play, my part had not yet been written and I might end up playing the viola more than acting in it; but on the other hand, it wasn't really a risk at all. The people involved, the plans they had for it, and all the things Anna had told me about the project and her passion for it... I was sold. I accepted the role gladly. It was horrible letting the other company down. Still, that's one of the reasons to have an agent I suppose! And so, just like that, I was returning to Edinburgh. Ah, Edinburgh! The city that everyone seems to love. A 2009 YouGov poll saw Edinburgh top the list of 'most desirable places to live in the UK', a title it also won in 2007 (in 2008 the title went to the Hampshire village of Hart, Elmbridge in Surrey, or simply Buckinghamshire, depending on which newspaper you read). Whilst other cities are busy fighting off knife crime or unemployment, Edinburgh's biggest problem seems to be a bin dispute! It's beautiful too, with the castle on the hill, lots of open spaces and people running around with those funny accents. How can you not love Edinburgh? I've been there once and hated it. Why? I'll let you know soon enough. So that's how I got here, how I got the job: By acting like an idiot at a party. Story of my life really. |
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