The Edinburgh festival is looming, and companies, comedians are already well into the midst of their preparations for the coming August month of mayhem and madness. Scripts are being rewritten, set is being built, graphics are being sent to large format printing companies for posters, billboards and banner stands. I myself have already seen several “fringe previews” of people testing out material, trying out their latest sketches and jokes, and seeing if their work is actually any good.The strange thing is though, that companys whom I know that by the time they reach Edinburgh will be part of what are probably going to be exciting and busy shows, in the early stages seem to produce shows that really aren’t up to scratch. I saw a performance of something last week (and I’m not going to mention the specific show because I actually think that like previous years, by the time they get to the festival they will be superb). The show at this stage though was really quite poor – in fact let me be completely honest and say that they were awful! They were really quite bad! Yet I’m sure that by the time August comes around they will be excellent. So what is it that makes this change occur?
I think that it may just be preparation. When they land at the festival, they will have 25 straight shows to do, and they really do want to be good. By putting the word “preview” on the front of their shows before hand, it somehow takes away the pressure that it is a show in front of a paying audience and makes it seem more like a practice run. Now yes, if you go and see a preview it is clear that it is exactly that – one of the first showings. But let’s remember here – if you are charging the audience they are paying customers and they should receive something that has been rehearsed to a reasonable standard. Yes changes in the script/action/jokes are probably still being made, but please at least have prepared for it properly. Unfortunately I am not sure this is the case.
As a supporter of the fringe festival, I’m probably not helping the cause by saying this, but think carefully before going to see a “preview” show. If you are planning to visit the festival, you may find yourself better off waiting till everything has been brought up to speed before paying out.
In other news, I've just finished work on the Red Diesel page.
