So thats another festival over and done with. I’m sorry there hasn’t been much blogging going on this year, but it has been a very busy year.
We had a total of 22 shows from 20 companies this year, including a last minue addition of ‘The Billie Holiday Story’ for four nights in the last week. We had a very large number of customers coming in through our doors, with of course mixed opinions of our programme but overall a very positive one. Some were brought to tears, some couldn’t stop laughing and some were just moved by what they saw. We had 4 and 5 star reviews almost across the board and we are so very proud of our award winners, Turandot and Sailing On.
My staff and the bar staff and the technical staff all did a brilliant job this year, nothing would have happened without them, so a big thank you goes out to them.
The outcome of this year for Universal Arts I think is, three awards, another two nominations, a first aid qualification, some brilliant new friends and I think the list goes on. There will be a lot of travelling the next few months to visit the people we have met in their hometowns and although everyone has dispersed I doubt that no one will see each other. In fact this week alone I have bumped into 3 company members already.
There have been ups and downs, ticket printers refusing to do as they are told, ticket systems crashing, flyers running out, programmes being sold, shows being sold out, our toilets miraculously converted into a theatre space and as before the list just goes on and on. I will miss this year I think and the people I met but hope to see you all again in 2012.
So til 2012…
Last three nights…..come and see Sneasons of Liz- 2 for 1 Friday Saturday and Sunday. Achoo!
We have a last minute new show starting tonight! The Billie Holiday Story presented by Nina Kristoffersen starts tonight! To buy tickets go to the following link:
The Billie Holiday Story
So…after all the craziness of the Fringe has died down and you are back at home without any more dark circles under your eyes and you are sitting with your reviews and stars…what next????
I thought the show was brilliant. Amazingly clever and fun songs. Very funny and innovative use of light and music. Loved every second.
Nothing to sneeze at!
thoroughly delightful, definitely an hour well-spent. By turns funny, poignant and sad, this is a show full of talent and bravado. The writing, singing and accompaniment were all top-notch. Well done, all!
A sweet little show – sentimental jazz standards and a gentle story that your sophisticated granny would enjoy (with a few strong words!). Delivered with style by a diva in the making and her quick-fingered piano man- this is a good way to start a night at the Fringe.
So I am in the box office, we are waiting for the last show of the day to come out and I am shattered. We now have such a busy venue and getting to grips with it all is proving a little difficult and ever so slightly overwhelming but you know what – I still love it!
The usual glitches need to be ironed out.
I am now just waiting to get out and go home as its another early start tomorrow.
If today i anything to go by, you should all book your tickets sooner rather than later.
Allergies have been the bane of my life. I wasn’t an easy baby, I was a wheezy baby! My mother says my first cry was a sneeze and my first word was Piriton. After a childhood of red eyes and an itchy nose I decided to pack up my man-sized box of Kleenex and travel the world. En route I discovered I was allergic to something on every continent such as Twinings orange peakoe tea, whelks, the ink of the program from the opera house at covent garden, Harris tweed, jellied eels, London bus seats, toad in the hole (which was handy as I found it disgusting), Venezuelan men, French wine, Spanish Flamenco costumes, Russian vodka, pasta and the girlie shows in Bangkok. As you can imagine trying to find a man who can cope with these irritants to my life hasn’t been easy, but I’ve given it my best shot.
As I come to Edinburgh I hope to try haggis, walking in the heather and flirting with Scottish men. I just hope that my inhaler will see me through the month.
The get in is now well under way! The canopy frame is up and most of the canopy pieces are too. There are stages in Majestic and Mysterious being finished off. My box office has been built, computers installed tomorrow, however we have had some insanely bad luck regarding our internet – basically we have been left very disappointed by our internet provider and won’t have it in the box office until Tuesday leaving us very little time to sort out the router, install Red61 and train staff on it and be open on Thursday. Worrying quite a lot just now about it, but that won’t fix the problem, so getting on with everything else is the priority now.
Other than that, Zena and Aoife have been helping me out this week to fill in for my Deputy Charlotte, so big thanks go out to them.
In the meantime as always, make sure to check out our shows and buy your tickets!
til next time…
