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I'm on a bus.
I knew I was on a bus, but today was the first time I saw me on the bus. I wasn't on the bus at the time, but next to the bus. And I saw me on the bus. I don't think I've been on a bus before.
Then I did not get off the bus, but suppose I will at some point.
Anyway it was the worst thing on a bus since Brexit.
As the end of my Fringe approaches I continue to feel lighter (though I am undoubtedly getting heavier), almost like it's being at the Fringe that is causing me to feel bad. Oh hold on, it's been like that every time I've been up. You'd think I would have learned by now.
I had gone to see Tiff Stevenson's show at midday (picking up at least one extra ticket sale after being recognised in the queue) and enjoyed it very much. Then about an hour after that finished I got to talk to Tiff on stage in front of my first (and last) total sell out of the Fringe (a couple of others came close). I am hoping to sell 1500 tickets this year and it's going to be very close to that. Sounds like I'd make a tonne of money with that, right. Ah, my poor lamb, you haven't taken into account VAT, the venue's cut, the Fringe box office cut, the entry into the brochures, the accommodation (oh boy, the accommodation) and the travel and the sandwiches. I should be left with a bit though. Enough to justify being away from my family at this difficult time? Let's say yes, or it will be too depressing.
Luckily laughter is payment enough for me.
Ah well. None out of two ain't bad.
(the shows have actually been hilarious - both mine and other people's. I have laughed an awful lot)
Tiff and her partner and me then went out for a lovely late lunch at Chez Jules - I had to admit to myself that maybe I should have done this more. Then I headed up to the Filmhouse to see my friend Laura Jean Marsh (I played her dad in Giddy Stratospheres) in Snapshot, an exciting and experimental film set in 1888 (and supposedly filmed in 1888) around the time of Jack the Ripper . It's filmed with a pinhole camera, so the action took place in a circle in the middle of the screen and the footage cuts from one scene to another, sometimes just the briefest of snippets. I enjoyed it, though didn't necessarily take all of it in, mainly due to being tired and being in a warm room in a comfy seat and having to fight off the exhaustion of the end of a Fringe run.
I am all for experimentation and something different and this definitely encompasses both, plus some laughs and some horror and some jump cuts. Have a look if you get the chance.
The director and writer are both in their 20s or very early 30s and had had to convince investors that they knew it was possible for films to be rectangular, but insist on using the technology of the time (though it did also include synced sound, (which might have been almost possible due to wax cylinders, but that's not really the point). It’s a technical marvel and I want to see it again when I am more able to concentrate.
I had a drink with Laura and another Giddy Stratospheres actor, Beth, before heading back to the hotel for my final night. It feels like a very long time since I was going to see Paul Foot's show, but it was only a week and a half. Home tomorrow. Thanks for enduring this difficult fortnight with me!
