It is festival season and that means that in the next month there is so many great comedy festivals to look forward to! This month we are looking at some of the great shows that you can see at the Edinburgh Fringe. So take note because we are going to give you all the information you need for just a handful of some of the great shows happening this year!
Helen Bradley: Painter and Storyteller
Location: Cellar at Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33)
Dates: Aug 5th-18th, 20th-30th
Time: 11:20
Price: £13 Concessions £12
Ticket Link: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/helen-bradley-painter-and-storyteller
Hello! Tell us all about your show!
My play is unusual, unique even. The audience gets to know a well-known artist and watch her complete an oil painting within the hour. It’s only me of course – portraying said artist. A mix of history, biography and art in an easy digestible form – with a healthy dose of humour. This is the sixth of my ‘painter plays’ and I am authorised (by my preview audience) to say it could be the best yet!
Well I should be getting the hang of it by now as I’ve been writing and performing these for the last quarter century! My subject this year is the Lancashire artist, Helen Bradley (1900-1979), whose books combining her naïve paintings with the family stories they described brought her international fame in 1970s, the last decade of her life. She is a warm and witty companion to share an hour with!
What other acts are you looking forward to seeing at the fringe?
Too early yet to know what will be around but I do always like to see other one-person-shows, and also see those sharing my venue, to see just how different a theatrical space can appear depending on what’s playing there. I will always go to Showstoppers – many times. And I will have my ear to the ground in the first few days to hear what must not be missed. I love the way you can talk to anyone in the street and ask them what they’ve liked best!
Have you done the fringe before? What are the key pieces of advice you have been given or would give to new groups or people performing at the fringe.
Yes I have been at the Pleasance for the last two years but also had experience in the early days of the Fringe in the 1960s (as a student) and later also in the 1990s. My advice would be: Don’t expect to make a profit! Know your own demographic and target them with your flyers. Approach them specifically and get chatting. This does work. Tickets do indeed get sold on the day, so don’t panic if your numbers are low in advance. Personal recommendations on Instagram can do a lot for your sales (I was lucky enough to get Graham Norton’s thumbs up early on and I think that was an enormous help.) Don’t think a sell out in Edinburgh will mean a sell out somewhere else following the Fringe. I’ve sadly found that true. Edinburgh enthusiasm does not follow you to Earls Court for example!
Talk us through your daily routine for a day at the Fringe
I have always had an early show (even earlier this year!) and so, from waking, I am in preparation mode and that, for me, means mixing my oil paints and preparing my palette immediately after breakfast. I then set off on my bike across the Meadows (thankfully we get the same flat each year for the whole family and it feels like a second home.) My palette is carefully balanced in a box strapped to my panier but it is important not to fall off my bike as it would ruin the paints. I did fall off once last year but happily saved the paints! I arrive at the Pleasance and do the show. Afterwards I may hang around for a bit but soon return bike and paints and dirty brushes to the flat (a bit of a hill on this last trip!) Then it is lunch and a quick nap!
I usually opt for fresh air next and walk on Arthur’s Seat or Blackford Hill or I could even take the car and have a wander on the beach at Portobello. Then I will be ready to take in a show or two or cook dinner for any member of the family around who is hungry. I would normally stay up till at least 1am hearing what everyone has seen or playing silly games for fun. This year with an 11.20am show I may go to bed at midnight.
Ok, where is your favourite place to eat at the Fringe?
A bacon roll at the Richmond Café (West Richmond Street near the Pleasance) For celebrations – The Outsider New find – The Three Birds – small restaurant good for dinner for two in Viewforth St.
Best thing about performing at the fringe?
The audiences Quite certainly the best thing is the Fringe audiences. They are so keen and eager to take in as many shows as they can and fill every hour with something new. They will take a chance on an unknown quantity and are untiring in their dedication to the experience. Nowhere else do you get an audience like that. Everyone on the street is excited about where they are going or where they’ve been. Either that or they are a performer themselves! It is wonderful to be part of such an artistic and widespread community.
Do you bring anything special from home to make it feel more special whilst you are away?
My grandsons. My daughter. My hot water bottle. For a good twenty years I came to the Festival each year as grandmother to help my daughter (Nina Conti) with her two sons as she performed nightly at the Fringe. The town is full of memories of that time and happily both boys (now 22 and 15) love Edinburgh and want to spend every August there. I was born in Glasgow but my parents moved to Edinburgh when I was twenty and for forty years or so I came to see trips up to Edinburgh as coming home. So I don’t feel I’m in a strange land. I feel I’m home.
What are your best hacks to save money whilst at the Fringe?
I am not good at saving money at the Fringe. But if I was to give advice: Bring your bike! It may make a trip from a cheaper accommodation further out a more reasonable thought. And Edinburgh cycling lanes are great! Don’t bring a car. Parking is extortionate. (but I still do it because the beach or the countryside calls!)
If people want to find out more about you where can they follow you on social media?
My website is the most informative source to find out more about me. http://www.karawilson.co.uk
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