In 2019, I took my one woman show to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It was a long journey to get there and completely overwhelming. It was also one of the steepest learning curves I’ve experience thus far and invaluable because of that.
Charlotte and I were talking about the shape of the blog and she suggested that a series about this journey could be helpful and of interest. I definitely wish that I had dug into other people’s experiences more and asked more questions from people who had taken a show up to the fringe. There is so much information out there and you’re also only going to fully learn by jumping in and doing it (post pandemic, fingers crossed!). However, there are some bumps though that can be ironed out and a few know-hows that can prove useful.
Over the course of my next few blogs, I am going to explore some of the following topics:
· The journey of my show before Edinburgh
· How to apply and who to have on board
· What to read – there are so many resources out there and some of them are non-negotiable
· The nitty gritty – where to stay, what to pack, how to shop
· The acting itself
· Tips in Edinburgh
· Post show: what to do next
These are just ideas and if you have any questions or thoughts – I would love to hear them!
I wanted to leave you with one thought before I finished this introduction. Imposter syndrome is so real. I used to really cringe at calling myself an actor. It felt fake, like I was lying to the person I was talking to. The one thing – above all else – that Edinburgh gave me was a sense of truly being an actor. I lived it for a month, completely and totally. I performed every day, I advertised my show, I saw more theatre than I can remember. The next time someone asked me what I did, I was able to reply confidently.
“I’m an actor.”
Read the next parts here: