EDINBURGH 2013: Guest Blog - Freyja Edney Of C!RCA's WUNDERKAMMER

Freyja is a performer with Australian Circus company C!RCA, at Edinburgh Fringe performing Wunderkammer at McEwan Hall. She has been circus-ing since age 6, and more recently her interests have broadened to include food/nutrition and blogging.

Saturday morning in Brisbane, in the middle of winter. I got up a little early to treat myself to one last Aussie cafe breakfast, worth it. It was beautifully sunny, I had to keep reminding myself that it is, technically, winter.

The journey was a long one; Brisbane - Sydney - Dubai - London - Edinburgh, about 34 hours door to door. In spite of that, it was very easy and comfortable. On arrival in Edinburgh we were greeted by the amazing Rowan and Kelly from Underbelly; we spent the time waiting for our bags to arrive realising all the connections. It really is a small world. When we stepped outside into the chilly drizzle I thought back to the weather in Brisbane as I enjoyed my breakfast sitting outside...

Now to amuse our jet-lagged selves for the day before going in to the venue for a tech rehearsal tonight. Walking the streets of Edinburgh is like trying to recall a dream. I recognise the occasional shop front, a block here and there, a restaurant, but it's like trying to put together the pieces of a puzzle.

The tech crew have been working hard all day and when we arrive, we can't quite believe our eyes.

Although it's not quite finished, McEwan Hall is one of the most beautiful venues we've had the pleasure of performing in. It's clear that the staff at Underbelly have put a lot of work into making it look amazing. We've had a slight hiccup, the Chinese pole hasn't arrived yet, which means we'll have to find space in the tight schedule to tech it when it does arrive.

Like all shows in Edinburgh, we have a very tight turn-around; the show before ours will finish an hour before we go up. In that time, the previous audience has to leave, we have to lay our mats and dance floor, set up the lights, check the pole, set all our props and costumes, do a few last big tricks on the stage that we can't fit in the warm-up room, and get our audience in. So this tech rehearsal is our only time to try these things without that tight time pressure. Considering how long since any of us slept, and that it's about 5am in Australia, we did pretty darn well! Now just fingers crossed that our pole arrives in time for us to tech putting it up and taking in down, as we do that in the show, in full view of the whole audience, it has to be schmick.

After a solid first night's sleep (things are looking good), I woke up at 9am. Perfect. While making eggs and toast for breakfast I discovered just how sensitive the smoke alarms in the apartment are. Must take note. Today's plans include orientating myself a little better and perusing the Fringe program.

We've had a couple days off and a short and sweet pole tech, we're ready (as we'll ever be!) to open the show. The show before us is a kids' show, with big dinosaur puppets and a huge set that takes up a lot of space backstage so our first set-up was a little confusing and hectic but it can only get better from there.

The show went really well, a modest audience, but seeing as we have three preview nights, as do most shows here, I think it will pick up.

My first show at the Fringe as an audience member was Le Gateau Chocolat, and what a show! I've seen him before, but not his solo show. He is so amazing! That voice, like velvet! In the front row was a man who did not seem impressed but George made it part of the show and had him on side by the end. He really is incredible.

Thanks for reading, I'm off to get immersed in Fringe and will report back soon!

Wunderkammer runs from 14-26 August

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