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The
Edinburgh Fringe
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Fringe 2010 Blog - 16A Personal Invite to Some Nudity (Maybe) – Monday 16 August 2010We’re a second week into Edinburgh and things are going well. We’re really getting into the swing of things now. There are a few pressing concerns, such as the empty glass that keeps reappearing in our bathroom (I’ll explain that in a later blog) but on the whole, things are good. The show continues to sell out. I know I’ve said this before, but it never ceases to amaze me how much the play affects people. Well, not amaze as such - I know the play depicts some powerful stuff - but the impact on the cast tends to lessen somewhat after however many shows we’ve done, and it’s good to be reminded about the impression it makes on an audience. Whenever I have friends in to see the show and I meet them in the bar afterwards, they’re always a little shell-shocked and teary. “I don’t want to say I enjoyed it,” seems to be the usual response before continuing, “but I really did.” I know what they mean. It’s not the sort of play you can enjoy as you would enjoy, say Noises Off, but you can enjoy it in other ways. We’re playing to packed out houses and reviews have been great. I can’t say how wonderful it feels to walk into the Pleasance Dome every day and see the words ‘Fair Trade’ written on a blackboard under the heading ‘Sold Out’. I find myself walking down the street with a little bounce in my step as if to say, “Yes, I’m in a sold out show. Can you get in? I don’t know!” However, even though we were selling out every day, we continued to advertise the show. That’s the way things work in Edinburgh. Get the audiences in early so that word of mouth spreads and the rest of the run will take care of itself. And so on several occasions, I grabbed a bunch of flyers or posters and headed out onto the streets of Edinburgh. I know I’ve gone on about flyering, but it never fails to fascinate me. For example, an incident happened recently which left me rather, I don’t know, put out. I was walking along with some friends and we passed by a professional flyerer. Now I know I’ve referred to these people as flesh-eating zombies in the past. I would like to retract that. Only some of them are. I’ve since made acquaintance with a professional flyerer named Moira, who is lovely and who as yet hasn’t shown any blood-sucking tendencies. Anyway, we passed by this flyerer who was handing out flyers (as they do!) She was simply distributing them in no special way, just stating the name of the advertised act. She gave one to my friends, but when she saw me, she placed a hand on my arm, thrust a flyer at me and said, “You will love this.” She put an emphasis on the ‘You’ as if to mean me, Chris Dingli. I didn’t know her from Adam, but took the flyer and said thanks. I then looked at the flyer. It showed a picture of a heavily bearded and rather hairy man wearing a swimming cap, goggles and nothing else. Apart from those two swimming accessories, he was completely and utterly naked. His manhood was covered by the title of the show, and he was pointing out of the flyer in a way that suggests, “Hey you! Woo-hoo!” Question: What is it about me that made her think that I in particular, out of all the other people on the street, would love to see this guy? What sort of vibes am I giving out that suggest that naked men with beards and bathing paraphernalia are my sort of thing? I was worried. Now for the confession. Intrigued by that incident, I kept the flyer for further study. Back in the comfort of my lodgings, I took a closer look at the blurb on the back. Well, it sounds awesome! It sounds just like the sort of show I would love! The flyerer was spot on. I’ll be honest, I still don’t know what the naked man in the bathing cap and goggles has to do with anything, but the writing on the back of the flyer makes it sound superb. Who would have known? Beards, birthday suits and goggles. Sometimes Edinburgh is just too weird. |
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