EDINBURH 2017: A Day At The Fringe- Guillaume Pigé

Guillaume Pigé blogs for BWW to give us an insight into a typical day at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

The morning begins at 7:30am with a shower and breakfast. At the flat, we share rooms and so I put away my air mattress and stretch for 30 minutes. I grab a box of last night's leftovers for my lunch and prepare my bag for the day, stocking up on plenty of flyers.

Myself and three of the cast walk to the Pleasance Courtyard and begin warm up at 9:30am. Our performance space is in a fitness centre and so access to the dressing room is via a maze of gym equipment and people on exercise bikes.

By 11am we've done our stretching and various other exercises, we get into costume and put on our makeup. The other two cast members are the musicians and they have joined us by this time and so we take 10 minutes to play certain games which get us alert and working together.

Among the many joys of the Fringe are the moments of absurdity. For me, one such moment is having to parade through a busy men's locker-room, dressed like a schoolboy and wearing makeup in order to use the toilet. I certainly garner some interesting looks.

Before and after every show we must set up and pack down. At 11:15am we are allowed into the theatre to begin. With turn-arounds at The Fringe so tight, we all have set tasks, both individually and as a team. Mic and line checks, lighting configurations and props checks all done, the doors open and we wait backstage.

Now comes that daunting moment... Will anyone come... We listen eagerly as the audience take their seats and have a group hug, wishing each other an amazing show.

75 minutes later, the bows complete, I quickly dash outside to meet audience members. Then it's time to pack everything away, change out of costume, wipe off the makeup and leave the venue.

We all meet in the courtyard to discuss the show and have our lunch. We talk through the plan for flyering and Bevin our Assistant Producer, informs us what shows we have been invited to see that day.

The afternoon is a combination of flyering at various locations and watching shows. I enjoy the flyering process as it gives me a chance to meet and chat with people and try to encourage them to see the show. Though tiring and sometimes disheartening, it is invaluable to us as a small company. Plus I get to do some magic tricks at the same time.

I check the Twitter feed and retweet kind words from those who saw the show that day. Emailing takes up any spare time left in the afternoon.

I walk home around 7pm and meet the rest of the team, who have all had an afternoon of watching shows and giving out flyers. Two of us cook for everyone and we all eat together, catching up on who's seen what that day.

After dinner, I read through any reviews which we may have received that day and pick out quotes, which we print and staple to hundreds of flyers for tomorrows distributing. By 11pm it's time to prepare for bed, unwinding with some music before I drift off to sleep, ready for another busy day at the Edinburgh Fringe.

The Nature of Forgetting - Pleasance Courtyard (Forth), 60 Pleasance, Edinburgh, EH8 9TJ

Thursday 3rd - Sunday 27th August 2017 (not 14th), 12:00

Photo credit: Danilo Moroni

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