Ooh. The joys of the Fringe

TMI?

Ooh, the glamour of working on the Fringe

Every August the population of Edinburgh swells by who knows what percent as thousands of culture-seeking tourists flock to the various festivals.

Some year-round inhabitants complain about how long it takes to get anywhere through the crowds. Most of us love the added colour and buzz, and relish the fact that our beloved city is the centre of international attention.

But it isn’t just the audience numbers that mean you can’t get a table in a decent restaurant. It’s the cast of thousands that put in the hard hours to deliver the shows that we all want to see. That’s “cast” in the loosest possible sense – not just the performers, but the stage managers, the front of house bods, the lighting technicians, the chippies, the flyerers (a word that can only get widespread use in Edinburgh at this time of year), the list goes on.

From the outside looking in, the assumption is that, for the protagonists, August in Edinburgh is 31 days of working hard, playing harder, shared experiences, lifelong memories and bonding (interpret “bonding” any way you will).

But what is it really like?

Is it all glamour and camaraderie?

If you’ve been involved, in any capacity, it putting on a show or event at this year’s Fringe it would be great to hear about your experiences. What’s the funniest, grossest, weirdest thing that has happened or been said? Please share via the comments on this post.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, August 20th, 2009 at 6:02 pm and is filed under Behind the scenes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.