Evening, all!
Time for another late-night blog entry from the EmptyBox ranch - and yet again, as I'm the last person awake I typing quietly. Either the rest of the company are going to bed far too early, or I'm embracing these Edinburgh evenings a bit too much...
After the exciting developments of Monday, today was always going to be a weird one - could we keep the energy going into the rest of the run? As we all arose for the new day, I have to say it felt more relaxed in the flat than at any other point so far - to the best of my knowledge, the rest of the company seemed to have shed any nerves and were much more relaxed about doing the show.
This morning we welcomed The River People - old friends of mine, and a FANTASTIC theatre company - to watch the show. As they have established themselves as masters of puppet theatre, it was both lovely that they came to see us - and nerve-wracking to think of whether or not they would like the show! As the audience arrived, and clearance was given, I dimmed the house lights and watched from the tech gallery in anticipation...
And I've never seen the show as good as it was today. The more relaxed atmosphere saw the guys really go for it, and they felt confident enough to try some stuff which really paid off. The audience themselves really added to the performance, as they were great - they were incredibly supportive, and really seemed to enjoy themselves. The child who told the mosquito to "go away" is welcome to come back and see the show any time, as he is a legend.
As the audience left, Ed from The River People gave a thumbs up to the gallery - and the guys clearly enjoyed the show. If they like it, then I'm happy - they know what's good in puppetry!
When I came down from the gallery Naomi was ushering people out - and as we exchanged a glance we both clearly agreed that today's performance was great. Naomi didn't give any notes as there was nothing that really needed to be said - if every performance can be at least as good as today's, then we should enjoy a successful run from now on.
With the show under the belt, the rest of the day was free for us to use as we please - after some flyering, of course! Naomi and I flyered the audience coming out of Charlie & Lola at the Pleasance Courtyard, in order to try and encourage them to see us too - why try to compete with such a beast of a show when we can try and capitalise on its success?
Personally, I took the chance to meet up with friends who are in Edinburgh, and to enjoy a refreshing drink after a week's hard work! The evening was topped off by a visit to see Clever Peter at the Pleasance Dome - and if you're looking for comedy, I can't recommend them highly enough. Seriously, go see them and expect tears of laughter to roll down your cheeks.
So, that's our first week of Edinburgh Fringe 2010 out of the way! Soon we'll be back in London and crashing to reality - but for now, here's hoping the rest of the run continues to excite and reward as much as it has thus far!
- Dan
