Today we let Katie Pritchard take the reigns and talk about the perils of insisting on using props, costumes and instruments…

It’s Edinburgh Fringe at 10am, and I am packing my bag for my day ahead. I’ve got two shows and a guest spot on a show to pack for….I’m gonna need a bigger bag!

The good thing is, when I go out shopping for bags, I test out their sizes by getting inside them and seeing how much wiggle room there is in there. At 5 feet tall, I am very well designed for bag measuring, as I can fit into most things.

“This year’s show, I smugly discovered, was my smallest bag show yet! “

Every year, I set myself the challenge that all my props, costumes and instruments for the show must fit inside one bag, the thing is though, I never specify that I have to be able to carry that bag myself, only that I can find a bag big enough for the task! There’s always a bag big enough for the task.

I’ve always been this way. When I was at high school, my classmates didn’t need to push my bag down in that cruel (but admittedly hilarious) prank to get me to fall backwards – if I accidentally packed just one book out of place, it could send me completely out of kilter, resulting in me rolling haphazardly down the school corridor.

As an adult, I learned to play 12 instruments, my old agent was a real enabler and used to tell me to take all my instruments along to my auditions. So, what did I do? I found a bag that could cope with the burden of what was essentially full orchestra and try to carry that around. I’d enter the room and everyone on the panel would be like “Who invited in The Bag Lady ™️ to audition??” I would then proceed to pull out all my instruments, one by one – the set up alone would take up 15 minutes of my precious 10-minute time slot. It was chaos! But it was a great bag to be fair to it.

“At 5 feet tall, I am very well designed for bag measuring, as I can fit into most things.“

People do not understand how much of an issue this bag situation is. Sure, I can help you find the perfect bag of your dreams, but if you’re putting heavy stuff in there, you’re gonna need a good physio on call! Why don’t bags come with tiny cranes to help you lift them onto your back? Or, better yet, why don’t bags come with a way to remove the weight of what’s in the bag? That would be nice! Ooo balloons!

This year’s show, I smugly discovered, was my smallest bag show yet! With everything fitting in just one Ikea tarpaulin bag with backpack straps. Yes, when I have it on it runs from my butt all the way to about a foot above my head. Yes, the bag is very loud. Yes, the shoulder straps always break. And yet, AND YET, it is my best packed show to date. But please, if you see me out and about, don’t push down on my bag – I don’t want to go rolling down the Mile like a sort of human skittle, knocking street performers and improv troupes out of the way as I plow my way through and fall all the way down down into Cowgate (no offence)!

Come along to see ‘I Kiss The Music at Roxyboxy at Assembly Roxy (Venue 139) – at 5.45pm between the 30th July-24th August

Thank you again for all your support in reading and engaging with the website.

If you want to help support the website then you can! You can buy Holly a cup of tea (and a biscuit!)