8 tips for performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival without losing your shirt..
By Marysia Trembecka – The Singing Psychic
Edinburgh Fringe is still, despite the cost and the competition, the mecca of the comedy world. It’s the largest arts festival in the world where you can test your sketches, comedy character or indeed entire shows on audiences who are wild, free and looking to be entertained. Plus of course there are scouts, bookers, great acts to watch plus it is networking heaven for finding other collaborators for your online work.
So here are some top tips especially written for the Comedy Crowd. I have both failed and ‘won’ in some measure at Edinburgh so this is a voice of experience, my bio is at the bottom of the article.
- Apply for the free fringe!
PBH’s Free Fringe was the very first to break the mould of having to pay 1000’s of pounds to have a run at Edinburgh Fringe. (I went with PBH last year and am with them again this year so a disclaimer on loyalty from me is necessary here.)
Costs of doing Edinburgh Fringe include:
- Securing a venue (this runs into £1000’s for a guarantee even on a one hour slot in a room above a noisy pub).
- PR costs (£1800 is about the price you expect to pay for decent PR).
- Accommodation costs in Edinburgh in the month of August, rivals London prices.
- The Ed Fringe brochure cost: £300 (early deadline March 15th 2017 ) or £400 normal deadline. Even 1-2 performances cost £96 to be in the brochure. If you do pay to get in the brochure, I suggest going to some of the talks that Ed Fringe provide as part of that fee as they have talks on everything from other fringes, to marketing and networking events. They also give great advice in the run up to the brochure on wordings and press lists. I always pay to be in the brochure but many don’t.
Full info here https://www.edfringe.com/participants/registering-your-show
There are other free fringes but start by applying here. http://freefringe.org.uk/
Free Fringe involves being part of a community: you will be asked to help out in a variety of ways including being required to hand out their brochure with all the shows in as well as your own flyer when you flyer and mentioning other free fringe shows when you close. You do get to wave a bucket at the end so practise a money getting speech! I got some pretty decent bucket collections and you feel like a proper troubadour waving cash and coins at the end of each night. PBH Free Fringe also have an amazing brochure and an app so even if you do not want to or can’t afford to pay for the Ed Fringe brochure you will at least be marketed and seen in the PBH brochure and on the app.
- Don’t do a full run
Everyone says you cannot get press in without doing a full run, and it is definitely much harder. However the sad truth is that even full run shows will not get the press in, with over 3,200 shows last year at Ed Fringe there are not even enough bloggers to go around. However going up for a week’s run or more in a paid or non paid venue is valuable for trying out the show, getting live audience reactions and seeing what the competition is like (it’s fierce) plus you may meet your next collaborators.
- Make videos to promote your shows
I know I am preaching to the converted here on The Comedy Crowd but the effort of making a trailer is well worth it. With so much competition you have to find a way to find your crowd and stand out, a trailer – less than 90 secs- will make a difference. Even 15 secs of you smiling and talking to the camera with one joke will help. In 2016 there were 2,475,143 tickets sold through the box office, that does not include the free fringe and non-ticketed shows. The audience want to find a reason to come see your show.
I had over 100 videos for my The Singing Psychic character online before I went to Ed Fringe last year and I think the most flyering I did was 20 mins a day and I had not paid for PR. I had largely sell–out audiences and booked two extra matinee shows at the end by popular demand as some nights there was no room to squeeze anyone else in. I had taken a show with reviews already there but the fact my bonkers character was backed up by so many videos meant it at least looked like I had not thrown it together on the motorway on the way up (I have actually done that … see next point).
- Be good.
Ed Fringe is a boiling pot of brilliant acts that have honed this show and their stage persona for months if not years. In 2016 there were 50,266 performances of 3,269 shows in 294 venues across Edinburgh (official figures.)
My Ed Fringe shows in both 2006 and 2007 were OK but definitely not ready for the Ed Fringe battlefield. In 2016 my Singing Psychic show already had done a previous run at Camden Fringe 2015, Prague Fringe 2016, the Brit awards party and a host of other gigs and the images and marketing were all on brand. People just kept on turning up in droves. Word of mouth really works in Edinburgh. If you are funny or provocative or just good, people will talk about you in bars, on trains and to random strangers they are in the queue with for another show.
If your show is not ready go try it elsewhere first till it is: London previews, Brighton Fringe in May, Camden Fringe in August plus there are amazing local fringes across the country from Leicester to Manchester as well. Or take up a 30 minute version of your best material and share your hour with another act.
- Be nice.
The stresses of doing daily shows, trying to get an audience in (the average Ed Fringe audience is said to be about 20 but there are some huge venues and I have watched lots of shows with a small handful of people in), the flyering, rushing from other gigs etc means you can get tired and emotional.
Be extra nice to everyone; other acts, people in front of you in the queue at Boots and especially nice to your venue and their staff. I used to host cabaret nights and whilst doing two full shows a day at Ed Fringe in 2007 certain acts drama-queen behaviour has stayed with me. To the point where I hear their names and I shudder still years on. This business is small, your tantrum will not be forgotten. Next year someone who watched your meltdown may be hosting a show you are desperate to get on (see next point) or indeed producing major comedy TV work.
- Do spots on other people’s stages.
There are lots of variety shows from pure stand up shows to cabaret and even magic. You can even go up for a week without a venue, just pre-book some ten minute spots in. Warning though: don’t have all your mini bookings at one venue as if things go wrong for them (shows do get cancelled or moved) you will have paid for accommodation and travel and have no gigs. This happened to a friend of mine last year and we were all trying to find her gigs.
Even if you have a full show, see where you can do a spot on someone else’s show, it is a great way of getting audiences in and getting word of mouth. Practise a very funny five and ten minute set before you go up. With my Singing Psychic show I was doing probably ten spots a week of 5-10 minutes on other people’s stages. Try and book early, there are Ed Fringe Facebook groups that will advertise from April they are looking for acts.
Plus you never know who you meet. I was too late in getting my Singing Psychic gig for a ten minute slot on a certain Ed Fringe variety show last year, but I have had weekly comedy/compering work with a company since directly due to that contact.
- Pace yourself.
It is very easy to go drinking every night, especially if you have friends who have come up to see you but your voice will get dry, you will get more irritable and you simply will not be as funny. I have to sing on stage as well so I chose to drink once a week (in the last week that slid somewhat as did my notes…)
Eat well – fried Mars Bars are fun but nutrition makes a huge difference on a long run. Sleep when you can. My last weekend in Edinburgh I had booked extra matinee shows as well as my evening ones and I discovered I can sleep backstage in a wig and false eyelashes just yards away from someone else’s show blaring loudly.
- Make the flyer brilliant.
This is where spending a bit of cash on a real graphic artist or indeed spend time doing a photoshoot is the best use of any spare cash. Become a barista in Starbucks for a month if you have to, to afford this. Make sure your flyer looks like your show (I have made that mistake and had people in the flyer who were not on the stage and people get disappointed). If you have any reviews, stars, claims to fame use them all shamelessly, I had reviews as the show had already done a fair few gigs and it had a lot of stars on it plus a brilliant image (not done by me I hasten to add).
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In 2017 not only am I taking a new version of last year’s show up – The Singing Psychic Game Show but I am also planning a brand new character and you can guarantee that ‘AWARD NOMINATED CREATOR & STAR OF THE SINGING PSYCHIC…’ will be proclaimed loud on the front. (My show was a finalist and nominee for Best Show, Funny Women)
Why listen to me?
I am an actress and cabaret artiste who has done shows from Edinburgh, Montreal, Prague and Brighton fringes and London’s West End. As a straight actress I have been in many films, some such as the multi award-winning Sunday Dinner With The Morgans, were screened in over 30 festivals worldwide and reached the semi-final nominations round for an Academy Award in 2015. I am the yummy mummy in The Vamps ‘Shall We Dance” hit video.
Last year as my SINGING PSYCHIC character I performed to full houses at Edinburgh Fringe 2016, the Brit Awards 2016 Official After-Party at the 02, Cannes Film Festival, Prague Fringe Festival and other sell-out shows in London both before and after Edinburgh.
I have done a few full runs of other shows at Ed Fringe, including in 2007 doing my own solo show plus running C Venues Midnight cabaret – 68 shows in 28 days. In 2016 I took my Singing Psychic show to Edinburgh Fringe and had to book extra shows by popular demand. Many shows were so packed that people were squeezing under the DJ booth and right to the back bar. My show was a nominee for Best Show, Funny Women 2016 and although I only got maybe four press people in I did break even, every review was at least 4 stars and I got radio coverage and more TV coverage plus more gigs when I got back to London.
Online my SONGS OF BREXIT web series ended up with me being in BBC2 and London Live TV and I continue to be interviewed as myself or my character monthly on TV and radio. I have made 4 web series for the character and every one of them has opened some very interesting doors.
My new version THE SINGING PSYCHIC GAME SHOW is monthly at The Phoenix Artist Club in Soho, London. Plus I performed at Vault Festival in Feb 2017.
In 2017 my new show ‘Queen Of The F*cking World’ is being showcased at the Tristan Bates Theatre, Covent Garden April 24th, then previews at the Phoenix in July before premiering in Ed Fringe 2017. I am also taking THE SINGING PSYCHIC GAME SHOW for a run at the Voodoo Rooms, Aug 5-27th 21.30.
Reviews of my solo work:
- “Completely bonkers in a good way” (London Theatre 1)
- “A stunning 4 star performance” (Comedy Coroner)
- “Good vibes that will leave you laughing long after” (Younger Theatre)
- “Can work a crowd like no other” (Grumpy Gay Critic)
- “A gloriously entertaining night out” (Female Arts) “Certainly knows how to entertain” (Three Weeks).
- “No one sings those songs like you do” (Jeff Beck)
Watch her 90 second Singing Psychic trailer video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l0wKXyQiOg
Twitter @marysiat @singpsychic
Facebook:/YouTube/Insta The Singing Psychic