actor, comedian, singer/songwriter and playwright
Susan and Sarah in Belfast.
Photos of Belfast. Murals of Belfast. Pubs and Political Protests.
Photo #1. My dinner: Haggis Fritters in Whiskey Sauce in Bennet Pub 1830. #2. Me in the Bennet pub located beside the Kings Theatre, excellent decorative tiles and Haggis.
#3. Kings Theatre, #4. Ross Theatre, Outdoor Princess St. Garden Theatre #5.Scottish Cultural Centre on Royal Mile #6. Central Cathedral St. Giles #7. Red Interior The Hub, where workshop was held #8. Stained glass St Giles #9 &10 Flowers at University of Edinburgh Pollock Halls.
#11. Ross Theatre.
Last night I had the great privilege of seeing Ariane Mnouchkines four hour epic play, Les Naufrages du Fol Espoir (Aurores), The Castaways of the ‘Fol Espoir’ (Sunrises….and the name of the ship that goes aground off Cape Horn.)
The set was built in an enormous airplane hanger and the huge wooden shipping crates were used to decorate the entrance and delineate the space. One of the most beautiful and unique sights at the entrance way were the actors dressings rooms, visible to the audience through lace curtains. Each station was like a museum exhibit from 1914 (when the play is set, at the beginning of WW1), the actors had decorated their own areas with books and trinkets unique to each performer. We were voyeurs to their quiet, calm pre-show preparations.
“In a dancehall, a socialist visionary is shooting a silent film adaptation from a Jules Verne adventure, using cooks and waiters as his cast. Long before the ship runs growing on Cape Horn, high idealism and base motives are vying for the souls of all on board.” (from program notes. )
There were about 40 performers. Evidently each show takes years to develop and rehearse and from “Mnouchkine to the cleaning lady they are all paid the same tiny wage so they can take as long as it takes to get it just right. This show could almost be a metaphor for their own idealism.”
A surfeit of Fringe Plays. I took in 5 shows yesterday: Sarah Jones Does Not Play Well With Others, a young vantriloquist from Australia who is best described as whimsical; Swamp Juice, a very imaginative shadow puppet show which includes three d effects; Mr Braithwaites’ New Boy, a gay pretty woman story; Sarah Kendell, a very funny female stand up comic from Australia who I enjoyed best of the day, she made insightful comments about motherhood and wanting to be a good example for her daughter and rewrote the ending to The Ugly Duckling. Ending the evening with an angry, exhausted male comic, that I went to just because I happened to be at the venue and I was also exhausted.
Photos of Museum of Edinburgh Exhibits, Library “let there be light” , looking up at the Castle, fringe posters last day on Royal Mile , Pleasance Venue at sunset with the bluffs in the background.
Best play so far: Love Letters To Public Transport System. I bought the last available ticket. The play was recommended to me by Kerry Sandomirsky, who had been here two weeks before me seeing plays with her son Ben. The play was written and performed by Molly Taylor and produced by the National Theatre of Scotland. Gorgeous writing, simple, full of love and gratitude for the people that help her get where she is going on life.
It reminded me of the gratitude I felt to the Handy Dart Bus drivers when Mum was in the extended care hospital at the Saanich Pensula Hospital for a year and a half. She was in a wheelchair and we would not had been able to take her home for visits without the help of the Handy Dart Busses. I think of those drivers as ‘angels of mercy’.
Photos of Edinburgh, Market, Jamie Oliver’s Italian Kitchen (best food so far…mint and pea ravioli with asperagus sauce. My “No Carb Diet” has gone out the window…this is the land of carbs…plump women are appreciated over here.)
Unbelievable shows yesterday. Contrasting styles of theatre from The Summerhall , a man ripping out his heart in the surrealist Polish Theatre ‘How a ManCrumbled’ to an award winning show featuring a naked Italian actress sitting on a high stool in a stream of consciousness monologue, called The Shit, spewing rapid fire about what’s going on in her mind as she prepares for an audition, to Adam Kay’s Bum Notes ( funny rude songs recommended by Steven Fry) and the Traverse offering of Mess, an imaginative look at anorexia… It was a mind blowing day of theatre!
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“The Shit at Summerhall – a piece so naked, raw and angry that you leave the theatre feeling as if you’ve had all your skin scraped off” Lyn Gardner “The List”.
Climbed Arthurs Seat, located just behind the Unversity of Edinburgh, where I am staying while attending the Festival. Swam at Commonwealth pool, also near by.
World debut of my new character, Simi Starfish, singing “Happy St. Valentines Day” at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival as part of Aurora Winterborn’s Candid Cabaret. Performed my new piece for a full house, very enthusiastic reception, bit of a thrill to perform here. Met lots of interesting Fringe performers doing a variety of pieces to promote their shows. It’s a real marathon for the performers over here 26 days of flyer-ing and promoting and performing.
I’d love to do my show ‘Stripes’ here but the costs of producing are prohibitive. I’ve heard that is costs about 30,000 pounds to produce your show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
In the Scotsman newspaper today Clare Smith talks about with it really costs to put on a show at the Fringe. “Among circuit comics, the cost of bringing a show to Edinburgh and staying here for thee weeks is reckoned at an average of 6,000 pounds. But if an act really wants to make a push for the big time the costs start to escalate. PR alone can cost 6,000 Pounds and a big poster campaign for one artist last year was said to cost 30,000 Pounds.”
So, I’m grateful to have the privilege to see so many great shows and to have performed at the famous and ‘expensive’ Edinburgh Festival, for the cost of a vacation.
Seeing “Mess’ at the Traverse Theatre at 12:45, then ‘How a Man Crumbled’ at Summerhall 3:30, then ‘ Love Letters to The Public Transport System’ at 6:15 if I can get a ticket and then ‘The Shit” at Summerhall at 9:15.
Met Robert McDowell, the man in charge at Summerhall, with over 500 rooms Mr McDowell says they are the biggest private performance / art exhibition space outside the Paul Getty space in California. He said that “Canada has fallen of the mind map of Britain culturally, that Australia has over taken. He recommend I see The Shit and How a Man Crumbled…so I will.
Had the Pleasure of seeing three cabarets yesterday. Witty songs charismatic performances . Bourgeois and Maurice a brother and sister team were my favorites from last visit they did not disappoint, Serving up pink marshmallows on a silver platter at the beginning of their show Sugartits. I was thankful for the vanilla smelling marshmallow, i could hold under my nose to smell, as the venue itself smelled of stale beer and mold. The spaces that pass as venues are small as basements and pumped full of smoke. Still very entertaining and inspiring work from the hard working performers, who are all a bit weary nearing the end of there 26 day run.
Thrilled to be back in Edinburgh. Smooth passage. Bus from glasgow to Edinburgh. Arrived University of Edinburgh. No sleep made for dazed first day. Went to see Carly Tarett’s new show Sinfull, cleaver take on 7 deadly sins. Missed my 10 pm show, opted for sleep. Will make it up after tomorrows performance in Aurora Winterbournes Cabaret.
Sarah Hayward 