Edinburgh International Fringe festival

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is a huge festival for performing arts and cultures. An aspiring performer may be able to find their place in the Fringe. The free fringe variant provides an entry level alternative for artists to practise their craft with less added pressure to sell out for the organisers and venues. Little Plaza is one of the free fringe venues for the second year.

It’s show-time – Confidence – Communication – Resilience

The Fringe represents a step in a career in the performing arts. I observed how the performer interacts with the audience. It takes a lot of confidence to stand and perform in front of an audience. How the performer communicates with the audience within the finite of time is fascinating. The performer can use visual presentations, music, and my favourite is interaction with the audience. Interaction with the audience adds variations to the show. The audience has not seen the script so an element of improvisation makes each show unique and interesting. I really like shows where there is a lot of interaction with the audience and kids enjoy being part of a show.

The another factor is resilience. Putting on a show is fun, especially if there is a full house. The feeling and rewards must be great. However, if there is no audience, one can feel despondent. If there are one audience, then the performer still have to put on the show. The show must go-on. The feeling between euphoria to despondent and everything in between shows the mental fortitude required for a career in performing arts.

The Fringe gives kids the opportunity to see something new, try something, and increase their confidence by taking part.

What is the magic ingredients?

The venue has seen over 10 different shows of various successes now. It does depend on what the criteria are. A lot of performers can do what they want (that is successful). Little Plaza is delighted to give the artists a platform to perform. Some performers picked this as their career and popularity, publicity, and financial reward are measures of success. The Magic shows are great for families and young children. A zoo puppeteer did well for young children. Children book authors do well with book launches and talks during the Fringe. A Star Wars improv comedy show was a huge hit. It’s great to witness the journeys of these artists.

Some performances are in niche subjects so in terms of popularity or money generated was not so successful. A cultural puppet show with a story that is not suitable for children. There will be someone interested, just not that many. That is art and is important to encourage. However, money is always an important criteria as it keeps the world moving or more importantly bills paid. These shows will typically have funding from other sources, but not for the venue.

A good time slot helps, when the audience is actively looking for shows. Clearly, some time-slots are better than others. Not too early, not too late, not during lunch time and not too close to dinner time etc. People have places that they have to be in the evening.

In Summary,

I think there are 5 measures, 1. Title of the show, 2. Passion / Vibs, 3. Subject, 4. Audience, 5. Timing. The right title can draw an audience. Passion and vibs through Social Media can add more audience.