What’s not to love?

The gigs are all going well, we are near the end of the run, I got Three Five Star reviews, two three stars and one two star, now that’s a show! I have to admit that this show is my favourite one in ages and the most successful as far as future work off the back of it.

After my publicity stunt at the McTaggart Lecture, I got heaps of telly people come see me. I stood outside the lecture hall and said “I might have the idea that saves your career” folk gawped at me then I whispered “There are secret camera’s watching to see who takes the flyer” and even Murdoch took my one off me, everyone snatched them and took them into the McTaggart lecture for me. Only one bloke knew I was lying he sniggered “There are no camera’s are there?” I said “no” and he laughed out loud and took a bunch of flyers off me and took them into the hall. I liked that man; he is lovely and waited for me after my show came out for a chat! I didn’t know who he was, now I do. Edinburgh is good for that kind of thing.

This fringe has been harsh as well though.

The venue owners always say ‘Record breaking sales’ but they fail to tell you that 2 for 1s and free tickets are included in that count up, also there are more shows on, so the audiences were spread thinner across the board.

The first two weeks were great and these last two weeks have been pretty quiet for the majority of acts. People who have their PR/agent etc…with them this year will be scratching for a profit, its all swings and roundabouts. Without your manager/agent/pr you miss out on good press opportunities and will be missing the chances of some top TV people coming to your show. But it really shouldn’t be like that, why do comics need a manager to push the TV people their way? Isn’t it the TV scouts job to go find them? Do they need talked into it?

The Edinburgh Fringe has grown a huge industry of folk to ‘help’ your show become a success, none of them actually stand onstage and do the job but by fuck do they get their share of the profits!

The big hyped shows do sell well, but most of the cash (if not all of it) barely touches the hands of the performer, but then Edinburgh Fringe isn’t about what happens at The Fringe but what happens AFTER it, and that’s where the agents/pr/managers come into their own. I have always been naive, I always believed my shows would stand up for themselves and I wouldn’t have to line the pockets of swathes of folk to promote/publicise and manage me, surely it will always work out ok in the end and the talent is the thing that gets you work….but then I always believed in fairies as well!

In the Sunday Mail, there is an article about Scottish actress Siobhan Redmond, she explains about how she read my book Handstands in The Dark to help her prepare for the role as a gangster’s wife in her latest play The House of Barnarda Alba, you can read it here http://tinyurl.com/nm6xox
I also wrote the foreword for the Scottish National Theatre’s programme and the play opens at Citizens Theatre on September 15th in Glasgow.

The good news is all is well in Godley’s World, I will leave here with a happy heart and excitement and anticipation in my veins…I love The FRINGE and nothing can change that!