What an incredibly full and fantastic day! Here's the lengthy run-down.
We had breakfast here at Pollock before going over to the Pleasance Dome venue to see The Big Bite-Sized Breakfast Show (you get a croissant, coffee, and strawberries as you enter). This was a short play festival that had previously played the Brighton Fringe earlier this year - they were also doing one of my plays, so I kinda had go see it. The performance of all 5 plays was solid. After the show, some of the kids got to talk with the producer and the two actors that were in my show. A very strong start for the day. You can get a taste (no pun intended) of what the show was like at their website. http://www.bite-size.org.uk/edinburgh-2014/
We had breakfast here at Pollock before going over to the Pleasance Dome venue to see The Big Bite-Sized Breakfast Show (you get a croissant, coffee, and strawberries as you enter). This was a short play festival that had previously played the Brighton Fringe earlier this year - they were also doing one of my plays, so I kinda had go see it. The performance of all 5 plays was solid. After the show, some of the kids got to talk with the producer and the two actors that were in my show. A very strong start for the day. You can get a taste (no pun intended) of what the show was like at their website. http://www.bite-size.org.uk/edinburgh-2014/
After the show we went back for lunch - yep that's 3 - count 'em, THREE meals in under 4 hours. and then gathered our show supplies for our technical rehearsal at the theatre. AHSTF bussed us over and we ran like clockwork. All of the kids' work really showed. We finished with almost 10 minutes of work time to spare, they were fixing all of their problems on their own as they went, and the staff was incredibly impressed at how effortless the tech was. I was definitely proud of them.
Tonight we had to eat on the run to our next show - unfortunately what was on the way was a Subway and a KFC - It was fast and easy, but not too UK. We went back to the Pleasance Courtyard - this time to their Grand Theatre - to see VOCA People. I think most people would describe them as the halfway point between Blue Man Group and acapella. REALLY impressive vocal work. As a bonus, we happened to be sitting directly behind Reed Martin from the Reduced Shakespeare Company and some of the kids got to say hi - we have tickets to see his new show - The History of Comedy later this week.
Next we hopped a bus and went across town for our next show. We arrived a little early, so they had about 20 minutes to check out the Prince's Street area around the Scottish National Gallery - tons of shopping (of course, we were there on a Sunday night, so it was more about familiarization) a great park, an artisan fair, and a ferris wheel to boot.
Our next show was The Sake at the New Town Theatre - a very cool mixture of elements from Kabuki mixed with high tech multimedia, electrified music, acrobatics, magic and more. I have a few clips from their show and their trailer posted below. The basic premise was a personification of the process of making sake.
You can find out all about it at: http://www.den-entertainment.com
OH - and James might have been called on stage... Twice.
Next, we rushed to get the bus to go across town again to our next show at C: Nova - The Bunker Trilogy: Macbeth. All I can say is WOW. You walk in to discover that rather than going into a theatre, you are walking inside of a small WWI bunker, with a number of benches around the walls. The company then performed an adapted version of Macbeth right along side you. Complete with explosions and effects, fantastic light & sound design, rock solid acting, great visuals. Truly an impressive performance. Info can be found here: http://www.thebunkertrilogy.com
An absolutely wonderful day!