Edinburgh Fringe 2008 – World Festival Network Hub at the Roman Eagle Lodge

August 21 2008

Edinburgh Fringe 2008 – World Festival Network Hub at the Roman Eagle Lodge

So we are now on day 21 of the festival, which means it’s 27 days since I left home to and arrived in this festival Jungle. We have only 3 show days left and 2 days of get outs until I will be returning to Newbury and back to our own beds.

I am struggling against the ‘wind down’, which can arrive too early and sap all the adrenalin you had left to keep you going to the end. To combat this I am treating myself fairly kindly and not going out to late and getting too drunk… Sounds a bit dull I know but as I have said before this festival has been a whole new and more sensible experience.

The Lodge has been a huge success, most of the events we have had had larger than expected audiences and the attendees have really appreciated it. I have had some performers and company members who have come along to loads of events and have said how much they appreciate somewhere where they can learn and meet people.

The ITC had almost double their usual audience; the Fringe ‘How To’ workshops have been at capacity and the Big Bite-size breakfast show is now on its 8 consecutive sell out day. All in all a busy venue, I recon about 1600 people will have seen bite-size by the end of the run. So yay!!! snooooze….

I have had the most amazing help this year at the Lodge, some incredibly dedicate and hard working friends and family. First of all my sister Aimee came up for 5 days, then Cath (of Brighton Fringe) for 10, then Zoë (formally The Lodge and Brighton Fringe) for 5 and now my sister Lorna and her two mates for the final week. That’s not to mention Geoff (the only paid member of staff) and Alex my partner (I hate that word – I wish there was a word in-between partner and boyfriend, how about ‘boytner’???) who has been up here helping and filming for World Festival TV.

World Festival TV has been great; Alex has managed to interview some amazing people for ‘In the Chair’. We have had Simon Merrells from ‘On the Water Front’, Guy Masterson, who knows one man show and producing success for many years in Edinburgh. The cream de la cream though was Steven Burkoff who Alex tracked down to the Book Festival. We took ‘the chair’ (the interviews were conducted ‘In The Chair’) and parked it near the press tent. Burkoff agreed to the interview and as he came over I said ‘Hello Steven nice to meet you, thank you for coming over’ and I shook a very disappointingly limp handshake. He is one of the most famous people I have met (other than Mick Jagger, Michael Caine and Anika Rice) and its funny listening to an interview-pro. It seemed he half listened to the question, got the gist and talked about what he wanted. You can see the clip on http://www.yournews.itvlocal.com/Clip.aspx?key=F8927E988F9CC65D

It’s a good one!

August 2008 - Diaries of an Edinburgh Fringe Venue Manager

08/08/08

Diaries of an Edinburgh Fringe Venue Manager by Holly Payton at the Roman Eagle Lodge

So it is the 8^th of August and I have been her for 14 days – two weeks exactly. So far the roller coaster has literally bought blood sweat and tears but also meetings, greetings, fun and silliness.

It’s the 14^th day and today is the first time I went down the Royal Mile despite my venue being at the top of it… not sure how that has come about other than I haven’t really left the front doors of the Lodge accept in the morning when I arrive and at night when I leave. I also haven’t frequented my usual haunts either. I went to the obligatory first night of too much rose at the Spiegeltent but other than the fringe launch and the IF.comedy launch that’s it…. Now this isn’t the usual me, who spends the same amount of time in a fringe bar (mostly Udderbelly, Library, Assembly and Spiegeltent) as in my own venue; so what has happened?

I am testing out a new way of experiencing the Festivals in August and that is mostly sober and spending all my day and night in front of this computer.

I have changed the Roman Eagle Lodge from an all-daylong theatre venue to an Industry Hub. By this I mean I have created a space that is neutral to all festivals, in and outside the city, for the ‘ Arts industry’ and media to use. I have programmed in lots of workshops, talks, debates, networking events, seminars and of course a few carefully chosen theatre shows. We are also still programming as well.

The idea is to have a venue that is unique and somewhere people can come to make the most out of their Edinburgh experience. I have seen so many companies throughout the years that believe once they have arrived here in Edinburgh their work is done. They don’t know where to begin when it comes to networking, speaking to the right media and the promoters. The Fringe has Eileen at the festival offices, who is the font of all knowledge when it comes to this but she can’t possibly speak to everyone. When a company came to me saying they are lacking in audience and asking what should they do – I replied “well you know those flyers you had printed, you could try and hand them out!” the genuine response was of a penny dropping and them saying “that’s a really good idea”…. I was a bit bamboozelled… So, the aim of the Lodge is for it to be a haven for proactive performers, the media and festival staff.

went to an amazing talk by EUCLID this morning who were talking about how to tap into European funding. Fascinating and very inspiring, I had a brilliant idea about festival research, which I have started writing a proposal for.

The hard work has been due to my lack of staff. There are 3 of us, which means the get-in was really hard, things I couldn’t lift last year I can now just pick up with ease. There is normally a team of 10 lifting in the theatre rake, granted in the past we had a truss, stage and loads of scaff as well, but it was still hard.

After driving all the way from Reading on Saturday with Geoff and Alex we had to unload, then the next day attempt to find the container, holding the theatre rake, lights, scaff and loads more. The container lives year round on a farm out side Edinburgh, normally we get it dropped outside the venue but this year the Tattoo meant we couldn’t get a lorry close. It look longer than I thought to build the venue but now its done it looks amazing, The foyer is a red walled, carpeted, wireless internet café, the studio is an open conference and rehearsal room with an amazing photographic exhibition and the theatre is open staged, back dropped with beautiful wood panelled walls.

Bite-Size Breakfast Show is doing brilliantly. Every morning they serve up coffee, croissants and strawberries to a very healthy house. Theatre awakens the venue and leaves a perfect atmosphere throughout the day.

There isn’t really any gossip to speak of due to the lack of going out and getting drunk, the things I have heard I couldn’t possibly tell you. I am getting quite a lot of secrets from ThreeWeeks magazine who are based in what was the dressing room, and is now a news hub of reviewers, editors and podcasters.

It’s great having ThreeWeeks here as we get a constant trickle of people who are fresh off the shows. They know what’s hot, what’s really not, who’s the best and the worst. We get low down on good and bad press managers, all the reviewers know someone in a venue so gossip comes from there too; who’s a good boss, what venues are collapsing, which ones are thriving… hehe my ears and eyes are open, but being an integral and trust worth kinda gal – I will never gossip and tell.

So all in all its great, I have had one view out the venue for 9 days, I have un-blocked a poo loo, cleaned, hoovered, chatted, skatted, cried, smiled, laughed, gone to bed late, got up early but basically been getting into Edinburgh for the 6th year in a row.