An email to a 🇨🇦 friend thinking of going to Ed Fringe for the first time
Trying something new here. A friend (and former Solo Show Creation Lab) student wrote me asking advice about taking a solo show to the Edinburgh Fringe for the first time. I often get asked questions about this.
CONTEXT: She’s a Canadian writer/performer with close to 20 years of experience in Canada. She’s EXCELLENT.
Here’s her email, followed my my response. I’ve done the Ed Fringe 3 times, in 2013 with my show OH MY IRMA, in 2016 with I’m Doing This for You and in 2022 with Age is a Feeling. The first two times I was self-producing. The third time Soho Theatre produced my show.
Her Email / Questions (sent to me in Dec 2022)
I’m writing because my solo show that I started in your class is almost ready to get up on its feet, and I was wondering if you have some insight on venues at the Edinburgh Fringe that would be the right fit for a solo piece. I’m not sure where to begin with it and so I thought of all your experience there and hoped to be pointed in a direction or two. Or three. Or four. And so on.
My Response (sent in Dec 2022)
** THIS IS A VERY SUBJECTIVE POINT OF VIEW! Talk to lots of people about the Fringe and get multiple view points!! I’m not an authority. PLEASE TAKE IT WITH A PINCH OF SALT!!**
I love/hate the Edinburgh Fringe. I’ve done it three times and all three have been great for me in terms of opening up opportunities, especially the third time this last summer. But it’s a real beast! And I know a lot of people who did it this past year, with great shows, who had really underwhelming experiences. Edinburgh is more or less a cash-cow and it’s often the artists who take the financial risk. It’s terrible that way. Housing is insanely expensive. And audiences were down by something like 25% this past year—probably due to Covid but it was really tough for a lot of artists.
This last year, I was an artist with a large company behind them. The Soho Theatre was producing my show—they took the financial risk and they’re able pour a ton of money into PR and marketing for their slate of shows. The shows with this kind of support tend to rise to the top in terms of audience numbers because of the marketing heft behind them. And as an artist, purely having to focus on performing, rather than all the elements involved in self-producing was game changing for me. I did it on my own in 2013 and 2016 and it was really, really challenging. That said, I’m glad I did it and it gave me such an appreciation for the position I was in this past August.
I hope this doesn’t feel like being doused in cold water. I would just hate to encourage anyone to take it on without really being honest about the challenges. I think you and your work would thrive there and I so encourage you to do it when you feel ready.
If you’re going to do it, here are a few recommendations:
Start laying the ground work now. I didn’t really get on the ball for Edinburgh until January/February last year and the pickings were slim for venues and it was hard to get Chloé the PR (I had to go on a waitlist to work with her).
Try to get some arts council money to support it. It costs about $30k to do (you rent the venue, pay for your own tech, pay for travel, accommodations, per diems, marketing and PR). And it’s very hard to break even there, let alone make a profit.
Hire a PR company — I can’t stress this enough. I worked with Chloé Nelkin. https://www.chloenelkinconsulting.com/ Contact her now and try to get on her slate. She’s excellent and getting preview press and reviews early on is everything.
VENUES — contact them now and start the conversation! I’d recommend you going for a small (40-60 seats) space at The Pleasance, Assembly Rooms or The Gilded Balloon. I was at Summerhall — they’re great too but mostly do theatre and experimental performance stuff. If your piece is skewering away from comedy Summerhall would be great too. But my instinct is that the three I listed would be best for you. Anyway, small venues are great, because selling tickets is SO HARD, you give yourself the chance to play to houses that feel full-ish and that’s hugely encouraging. Also, the financial risk will be lower. My venue this year only seated 58 people.
TIME SLOT - your time slot is very, very important. My show this year was at 12:10pm. You want to avoid 6/7-9pm because that’s when the BIG ACTS have their shows and you don’t want to compete with that. Depending on the vibe of your show (i.e. do you want drunk people there or not) I’d recommend and afternoon slot (before 4pm) or a late night slot (after 9:30pm).
Venues will try to push you to do your show EVERY DAY of the festival and take only one day off in the middle. Don’t agree to this. I took one day off a week. Do this.
Invest in a graphic designer / photographer to create your poster/show image. This is so important. There are so many shows, and so having a poster that looks great and demonstrates that you’re a pro is really important.
Put stars on your poster/show materials. Edinburgh runs on stars (it’s so annoying but they’re currency there). If you don’t have reviews of your new show (which you probably don’t yet) use stars for other things you’ve done and include them on your poster.
Book your accommodation ASAP — if you’re unsure about going, book something you can cancel for free, but book it now/January.
TWO CENTS from me — I’d recommend premiering your show in a place that isn’t Edinburgh. Do it at some festivals in Canada, get some great reviews, hone the show (make it bullet proof through practice and tweaking) and then take it to Edinburgh. Give yourself time to get the money together to do it. And then go and have fun, knowing that your show is in great shape and you are bleeding your own money. There is no rush to do Edinburgh. It will always be there.
I hope this helps and that it doesn’t feel too discouraging. Edinburgh is incredible. You meet the world and get to share your work with a huge array of artists and audiences. And as I said, I think you would thrive there.
Oh—also—talk to other Canadians who’ve done it about their experience… Derrick Chua can likely help connect you with people who’ve done it. And he’s a great resource too.