Edinburgh 2007 Blog
1st September 2007
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival has officially finished, and the Air Ballooners are making their way back to Australia – some via more interesting and extended routes than others! Exhausted but happy, we have said our farewells to Edinburgh and each other over two days, and sadly locked the door to the Palace of Awesomeness one last time. Some of us are heading back to Australia directly, but many are traveling via London to catch up with friends and relatives, see a few West End shows and generally soak up the tradition. Others are making their way through countries like France, Italy, Ireland and the United States, and other, more exotic destinations such as South America and Easter Island!
Our season finished up even better than we could have hoped, with great houses right up until the end, a great array of press and promoters in attendance, and, most importantly, smiling cast, crew and audience members. We’ve seen many wonderful shows, made new friends from around the globe, and had a collective experience that none of us will ever forget. And now, onto the next challenge: Adelaide Fringe 2008! A 3TAR team attended a briefing in Edinburgh hosted by Artistic Director, Christie Anthoney, and we’re very excited about this new step in our project’s development. Stay tuned for details of where and when you can catch Air Balloon on home soil once again!
In the meantime, keep an eye out for I Love You, Bro, directed by our own Yvonne Virsik and playing as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival, and Twelfth Night, this summer’s Shakespeare in the Vines offering from Essential Theatre, Sophie Lampel (aka Ham)’s theatre company.
Charlotte
7th August 2007
Today it came. The holy grail of reviews: 5 stars in the Scotsman!
To the outsider - even though it is 5 stars -it may seem like just another review. Not so at the Fringe. A 5 star review in the Scotsman promises you many more audience members and puts you in the running for a nomination for a Fringe First Award. Winning the award pretty much guarantees you'll sell out. Not only is this great financially, but it also means you have to worry less about working all day just to get an audience and can focus on actually performing the show.
We have also been awarded 4 stars by the Metro (an MX equivalent for all you Melbourne readers), 4 stars by one4review.com and 5 stars by Broadway Baby. See the reviews page on this website for the actual articles. It's a fantastic feeling to be so highly thought of amongst 2000+ international performances. I guess it proves what a ton of dedication, heaps of hard work and a team full of talent can do.
Speaking of talent, a big group of us went to see "Portholes into the Minds of the Vanquished" yesterday afternoon. All thirteen of us, even those who don't usually laugh out loud at comedians' shows, may have weed ourselves just a little. It was a phenomenal show summed up by sore cheek muscles, everyone leaving the theatre singing the tune of the finale, and Doug's gob-smacked expression and bemused comment once the applause had died down: "I'm lost." It is great to see an amazing performance, even better when it's Australian.
Oh, and I should mention that our set and costumes finally turned up! It's a bummer that we had to go to all that effort and spend all that money on rebuilding, but such a relief to have our old stuff back. As we suspected, it had gone through customs, but thankfully nothing was broken or missing. Better late than never!
Ellen
2nd August 2007
Last night was our first performance!
We trundled down to our venue, which is a short and pleasant walk from our accommodation, loaded up with costumes and props, everyone running through lines and lists of things to do. Our dressing room, which doubles as our set storage area is quite ample and since the show before us only has two chairs and a couple of props, our fifteen minute cross over to bump-in turns out to be plenty of time.
The Scots don’t believe in air conditioning because it gets so cold here, but that doesn’t help performers who have to work in jackets and jumpers al á Antarctica in a room all ready warmed by the hot stage lights. However, our cast soldiered on, making a great effort toward acting some sub-zero chill despite the sweat dripping down their faces.
Although I had full confidence in the cast, having witnessed their fantastic performances in Melbourne, I was worried about the technical side of things. We only got four hours to focus, plot and run a tech rehearsal – something that would usually take two days. This, coupled with the fact that none of our techs knew how to use the fancy lighting board and I had to read the manual myself, made for a rather hurried setup. Thankfully, the hiccups were small, and but for the time I dropped the prompt copy, I’m not sure anyone noticed.
By all accounts, the audience reception was very positive. Some fellow Australian performers came to see our show – the team from “Porthole into the Minds of the Vanquished” and Amelia Jane Hunter. They all loved the show so much they gave us free tickets to theirs! The four important people – the director of the festivals, Traverse Theatre representatives, and a reviewer – all seemed to enjoy the show as well. Yay!
Things bode well for tonight too with at least twenty bookings. Let’s hope this lasts past cheap previews!
Ellen
30th July 2007
This morning we were still without our original set, however, our phenomenal cast and crew have rallied together to rebuild our entire production in less than a week. Our first few days in Edinburgh have been spent frequenting op-shops and hardware stores, sewing and gluing on the lounge room floor, and spending money we don't have. But our hard work has paid off, and we now have a full wardrobe, substitute props and a set to work with!
This is the Edinburgh Fringe, and with 1800 other shows all on simultaneously, it is imperative to jump at every opportunity for publicity you can, and one of our cast members, Georgie, suggested we shamelessly capitalise on our misfortune by taking some photos of our half-naked costumeless selves somewhere in the city. Despite the chilly Scottish clime, the idea was greeted with hearty enthusiasm (a little too much enthusiasm from some of our cast eager to get their kit off...)
So, just before lunch, we traipsed down to the Meadows, picking the lush green of the grass and iconic Edinburgh buildings as a backdrop to pasty white skin and uncomfortable expressions. After a couple of fully clothed dry runs, the cast quickly disrobed and hurried through some group poses. The Scottish people seemed less alarmed than you might think at a bunch of half naked people running around the meadow, but I suppose with the Fringe Festival almost upon them, they must expect such shenanigans.
I won't say any more, because I know all you want now is to see some evidence!
No, they're not acting - it really was that cold...
Ellen
26th July 2007
The view from my window: Lush, green grass; tall, broadleafed trees; an old, stone building; a grey, overcast sky; and a gentle blanket of rain. Yes, we're in Scotland!
We're all here now (except our designer who arrives today), in what has been dubbed "The Palace of Awesomeness": a large flat with eight bedrooms and double beds galore! No more three single beds squashed into a room with not even enough room to walk between them. But we're certainly not complaining.
Our address is Warrender Park Road, a lovely cobblestone street, just near The Meadows. For those who haven't been to Edinburgh, The Meadows, true to it's name, is an area in the middle of the city consisting of fields of beautiful, thick green grass. People can be seen playing ball sports, having picnics or just chilling out in this little haven. It's a wonderful place to find some peace, especially coming from the dry, thirsty environment of Australia.
Claire and Charlie arrived on Sunday, and I on Monday, ready to visit our venue and the Fringe Office, prepared with questions and the documents they requested. However, neither was ready for us! The Fringe Office is still setting up it's section for performers and our venue - The Pleasance Dome - doesn't yet exist. They're still in the process of building it! We're so super organised, we beat the festival to Edinburgh.
However, it means that the festival crowds haven't yet arrived either, so we can walk the streets and go exploring without bumping shoulders with the punters. And the streets of Edinburgh have to be some of the best to walk! Everything is beautiful here. All the old facades of the buildings have been preserved and the large monuments and prominent castle that looms over the city remind you of how steeped in history this country is and how ours just doesn't compare.
So far, (nearly) everything is going to plan. We have passed customs, scored an amazing apartment, received our posters and flyers, and had time to familiarise ourselves with the neighbourhood. The one hiccup, which isn't a small one, is that the airline has "misplaced" two pieces of luggage. They happen to be the set and costumes... So somewhere in Heathrow, two bundles of clothes and cloth and wire are roaming the baggage department without a home.
The frustrating thing is that, although at first they said they knew exactly where our luggage was, they can no longer trace it. It was even suggested to us that we start rebuliding our set. I don't think they realise what exactly is involved in this... But we remain confident that it will turn up. The question is when. And whether we should start spending lots of money we don't have and building a substitute, just in case.
Nonetheless, things have gotten off to a great start! We even have some rather important industry people (director of the festivals!!) coming to our first show. Today we go postering and introducing ourselves to the locals :)
Ellen