30th April, 2009 - 10 Anecdotes About Fringe 2009 - #3

It is 3.30am in our little flat in Fountainbridge. The cast and crew of our shows are all a little bit the worse for wear, and the party has been gatecrashed by a group of itinerant magicians who appear to be squatting in a flat upstairs which is being rented by some American actors.

And all of us - Scots, Americans and Magicians of No Fixed Abode are singing "I've Got a Brand New Combine Harvester" louder than we should be in a holiday flat with paper-thin walls.

Altogether now: "I drove me tractor through your haystack last night..."

29th April, 2009 - 10 Anecodotes about Fringe 2009 - #2

I had a wee target this year: to pick up a four star review from somewhere for my own show "21 Girlfriends". This is a bit of a stupid goal, since you can never tell if your show will be reviewed at all, and if it is, well, there's no accounting for taste. But nevertheless, I am a competitive beast, and I cannot help but set little targets. Until now I've only ever managed 3 stars, so it would be nice to feel that some progress is being made.

So it was nice to get one! From the British Theatre Guide. You can even read it here - it makes us sound like we know what we're doing (which is not really the case, even if we pretend we do). However, it is best not to get over-excited about reviews. Past experience tells me that a pat on the head is often followed by a sharp kick in the nuts. And I was not surprised to receive a blow to the testicles later in the week. This year The Scotsman was not so kind.

But as my mate David Bison pointed out in his usual laconic fashion: "The Scotsman? What do they know about the Fringe?"

28th April, 2009 - 10 Anecdotes About the 2009 Fringe #1

I am just back from my annual pilgrimage to the Edinburgh Fringe. It was my tenth consecutive visit. I have now reached the stage where I an scared not to go in case it presages my death.

This year I wrote a show called 21 Girlfriends which we put on at the Edinburgh College of Art. The show involved nearly 6 months of rehearsing, writing and re-writing. The script was developed through improvisation sessions with our totally brilliant cast, who out hours and hours into developing back stories and histories for the characters. For my part, there were 9 separate re-writes crammed around my already busy life - all in an effort to stage a show that is entertaining and funny.

However, after all the time I spent slaving over the lap top putting the script together, I have to say that it came as a bit of a disappointment to me to find out that the biggest laugh in the whole show is as a result of a pair of comedy false teeth. So - here is my tip to any aspiring comedy writers out there - forget your carefully constructed gags, and get more comedy gnashers into your scripts.

27th April, 2009 10 Songs That Mean Something to Me #10

"Life: It's the Name of the Game" is the theme tune to the Generation Game, and it is the latest of many songs that now mean something to me. I am not a paid up member of the Bruce Forsyth Fan Club or anything - not that there would be anything wrong with that - Brucie is after all Britain's premier octogenarian light entertainer.

However, the reason it makes this list is that we used the tune as as the music for the bows for our 2009 Fringe Production "21 Girlfriends" which will live long in my memory for all sorts of reasons. So, when I watch re-runs of the Generation Game (as I often do) I will now be transported back to the Edinburgh College of Art.