Greetings Fringe-ers!

You know, around this time, on the other side of the globe, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival is in full swing. Everyone’s heard of the Edinburgh Festival, haven’t they? It’s the biggest, oldest, bestest Fringe in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD! Well…possibly. “Oldest”…yes, it may well be. “Biggest”….certainly. But “Best”? There, I’m not so sure.

I’ve been to Edinburgh with shows many times. Usually as an actor, once as a director, and often in the dual role of photographer! However, I’ve been lucky. Very lucky. Every time I’ve been with a Theatre Company up to the Edinburgh Fringe, I’ve been on a wage. None of this profit-share stuff where there’s never any profit. And none of this can-everyone-chip-in-to-fund-the-trip stuff. I’ve always been on a decent wage with a professional company. So I could always ENJOY Edinburgh. I could afford to go to see shows! Mind you, I always felt sorry for my Producers. They may as well just take a bucketful of money, pour petrol over it, and strike a match. Unless you’re a stand-up comedian, Edinburgh is no place to try to make money. The venues are expensive…and you don’t just book into a venue, you book into a time slot. So needless to say the “prime” slots are much more expensive than the graveyard shifts. You also have to sort out the venue yourself…AND your digs. And needless to say, at Festival time ALL rooms become ridiculously expensive. Canny, those Scots!

And if being fleeced by the venue and the digs isn’t bad enough, you also have to pay a fortune to get up there (petrol is more than twice as expensive in Britain, and as for trains….you might as well take a mortgage out on a ticket!). And after that….nobody comes to see the show. Apathy. Well, not quite that bad, but there is something of an overkill on the number of shows. Competition is fierce. No, competition is CUT THROAT. And none of this co-operation between theatre companies or artists: EVERYONE IS A RIVAL! Those are MY PUNTERS you’re flyering. Get off my patch, you amateur!

Enough said. You’ve probably got the gist by now. And OK, for the sake of dramatic license I’m laying it on with a trowel somewhat. But look at it this way: I could be in Edinburgh now, if I wanted. But I’m not. I’m here in Edmonton.

So, why Edmonton? Well, it all started because I have some family here. Not family I’ve grown up with, of course, as I grew up on a tiny island off the coast of France. But family nonetheless. It was a good connection. So, I started coming to the Edmonton Fringe in 1999, then in 2001, 2002, 2003….and now, after a 6 year gap…in 2009. Edmonton Fringe is GREAT! You pay your Fringe Fee, and then you get Venue sorted out for you, as well as Technicians, Box Office and Admin, Front of House, Artist Services, and a whole lot of infrastructure which allows you to just concentrate on the task in hand: getting the play up and running.

Not only that, but the Artists are supportive of each other. They give out passwords so they can see each others shows for free. They stop and chat in the street when they meet you flyering or postering. They ask how the show has been going! This isn’t like Edinburgh at all! The people are friendly, the Administration is magnificent, the Volunteers are just INCREDIBLE….and you get your billet organised if you need one! What more could an artist want. Oh sure…it’s profit share, but if we only break even, we’ll consider ourselves rich. A great time in a great country…and all paid for by Theatre!

You know, Edinburgh could learn a lot from this!

A la prochaine!

Marcus

Tags: Edinburgh, Edmonton, England, flyering, Fringe Festival

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 16th, 2009 at 4:00 pm and is filed under Edinburgh, Edmonton. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.