Edinburgh Day 12 (8/9)

Today we had an 1130am call at the Pleasance Courtyard to tech for our appearance on Mervyn Stutter’s Pick of the Fringe, so I was up early to get the routine in, and then the house mobilized to grab a bus and head into Old Town.

I hadn’t yet been into this part of town, and it is definitely a lot hillier than the neighborhoods I’d been in so far. The Courtyard was already pretty hopping when we got there, and it took us a minute to figure out where we needed to be. Pretty soon though, our production team got us sorted and we made our way into the ~250 seat space we’d be preforming in later. We talked some with the show crew to get our bearing about the space and the day, and then got on stage to tech the piece we’d be performing. It turned out to be a great space for us, and things sounded great there.

Our tech finished, we all got shuffled into the large dressing room backstage where we got to meet the host of the show himself. Mervyn is a songwriter and performer who’s been working in the business for more than 50 years, and he has a personality to match the big accomplishments in his long career. We chatted with him for maybe 10 minutes, as he got the info about our show that he’d share with the audience later, or ask us bout during our interview segment. Then the next act was in to talk to him, and we packed off to the Courtyard to grab a quick bite in the half-hour break before we’d be back to prep to go on.

The Courtyard outside had only gotten busier, the intermittent rain showers not dampening the crowd in the least. Then, after a mediocre noodle bowl lunch, it was time to head backstage to get dressed and ready, and then it was showtime!

Mervyn went on at the top, to welcome the audience, let them know what the show would contain and to warm them up some before the guest acts went on, of which we were first. His first bits were riffing on American Politics (!?!), which included a parody song about Joe Biden set to the tune of the theme from Rawhide (!?!?!). I think he had planned to do more music following that number, but due to some sound issues with his guitar, he abandoned that plan and pivoted to a call and response act where he’d sing the first half of what sounded like a commercial jingle, and the crowd would respond by completing it. Clearly an outsider, I didn’t recognize a single one.

Then, before we knew it, he was introducing our show and inviting us on stage. Our 5 minute set went very well, and sounded even better in a full house, and they seemed to enjoy it too. We then got interviewed by Mervyn, allowing us to give the audience some context about our show, and bluegrass in general. Then, as quickly as it started, we were off stage, and by 2pm were released for the rest of the day until our show that evening. I walked with a cast mate back to the venue to drop off some costume pieces before heading back to our flat for a quick nap.

The full primary cast was onstage for our show tonight, and we played to our biggest house of the Fringe thus far, hopefully establishing a trend of growing audiences. It went well, and the audience seemed to enjoy it too.

Post-show, a bunch of us went out to grab food and drinks at Wagamama down the street, before heading back into Old Town to see a late show.

That show was an 1115pm curtain for ‘Silence! The Musical’, and comic musical send-up of the film Silence of the Lambs. We had a great time (once we found the venue…)and left humming some of the *very* inappropriate music. Then it was home on a bus to get some sleep before another full Saturday which would include our 60 minute music set at Sandy Bells!

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Edinburgh Day 13 (8/10)

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Edinburgh Day 11 (8/8)