Edinburgh Festival Fringe: Meeting the Neighbours

Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Day 5: 19th August

I’d been thinking more and more about the lack what I had thought the Fringe would be like. I’ve started making friends with Niamh and Brian, who are responsible for the Pulp Fiction play, but maybe I’m not doing enough myself? With that in mind I decided to pop in on ‘Comedians Learning to Play the Drums’. I had bumped into the host, Paul Richards, every evening as he has the show after mine, and so as he wandered around the venue with flyers I thought I’d give it a go. It seemed like a nice idea but the room never seemed busy when I saw it, so a great chance to support a show and maybe get to know some other performers. It was so amazingly silly I fell in love. The premise is two comedians going head to head, learning very simple drum patterns while also having to complete some basic challenges. The two comedians I saw Heli Kostadinova and Isla MacLean were great. The pair were excited to be drumming, and clearly up for having fun. Isla, though new to drumming and so hardly an expert, had so much more natural rhythm and ability to separate the music from other things that Heli had no chance. Seriously. None. She was surprised every time the drum kit made noise even when she was the one drumming. But she kept going, occasionally letting out a weird moan of anguish, and the audience loved her for it. It was silly, funny, and well worth an hour of my time. The pair, who obviously adore each other, co-host a regular event called Bitch Night, billed as a female friendly variety show. If you get the chance, check it out! I also had a bit of a chat with Paul too after, so that was nice.

After that it was more flyering. I had hoped I’d be able to say more about my days at Edinburgh than this, but really, that is the crux of what I do. Flyer, flyer, flyer. Oh well...

My show was good. I’m definitely starting to get there, and beginning to make it more and more personal, having confidence to move away from the scripted mental health facts and more into personal feelings and thoughts. The gratitude I’m getting from some people is, frankly, overwhelming.

TFT