Edmonton Fringe-a-go-go

DAY ONE, FRINGE FANS:

This was a good day to start. All days should be like this.

10 AM I go to a Fringe Forum on a new Capital Fringe being started in Washington. I walk into the boardroom, not knowing who else will be there. I slip in, surreptitiously, but look up when I hear my name: "Nicole!" Hey! It's Trevor S! And Darrin Haggen! (BitchSlap!) And there's Jocelyn! She's looking gorgeous and enormous - 1 day before her due date. Hey - and there's Belinda! Awesome! Things are off to a good start with all these friends in the room.

The forum is being held by a man named Damian - ha! now that's funny, considering I'm doing a show featuring the devil in various guises. He's a member of Woolly Mammoth Theatre in Washington D.C. whom I've heard great things about. He is here to scout and promote for a new fringe festival in Washington. Before I show up I think going to Washington for a fringe sounds like a crappy idea. But Damian makes it sound like a really incredible idea, and so now I am thinking about it... Damian also points out that the new Capital Fringe will take place just before New York's highly competitive juried fringe, which is just ahead of Philadelphia's. He also hints that he knows both of the organizers for these festivals as well, the gist being that if he likes your show maybe he can make it possible for a Canadian to come down and do three really cool fringes in a row. It sounds awesome.

As for billeting in Washington - funnily enough, I met a great retired couple at a show last year in Vancouver, who live in Washington, and who invited me to stay with them any time I was down that way. That's what's great about events like the fringe - you meet friendly like-minded people from all over the world, who are supportive of artists (if they aren't already artists themselves).

Damian says he's read my write up in the program and is looking forward to checking out the show, and tells me to look for him in the beer tent this weekend so he can buy me a beer. Sounds like a good deal to me.

Trevor and Darren are starring as Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in BitchSlap! and Trevor offers to sneak me in the back door at 6:30 pm. Fantastic. This show's is bound to be hilarious.

11 AM I stop in the Arts Barns heading for the bathroom. I stop at the long line of handcards by the ticket boards, checking to see if mine are still there... and who do I see standing next to me? It's Confessions of a Class Clown - Ryan G. He's got his first show today at 12:30. He offers me his password - I guess I'm going to my first show today.

Outside the Arts Barns I am staring at a poster on a pole, and a fellow appears beside me. "Hey! Are you EFFable?" That's about the best introduction I've had in a long time. "Why yes! Yes I am..." It's Jonah of Gloomology. He gives me his password - he has a show at 4:30. Looks like I have my day booked.

12:30 Confessions of a Class Clown
Standing behind me in line is an older lady. Purely co-incidentally she says out loud - "This is my grandson's show!" Hey - no kidding. Ryan and I used to work together at the Deane House. Before you know it Ryan's mom is in line too. More old friends.

The show is great - Ryan has piles of stage presence and his ability to work with a crowd is inspiring. A cel phone goes off and Ryan jumps off the stage to answer it. "Mom? Is that YOUR phone?" Sure enough, it is. This little accident is comedy gold. Couldn't have planned it better.

2 pm Head over to ye olde Army and Navy. I know it's only my first day of the fringe, but I already go on a bargain spending spree. However, it's perfectly justified as I decide to double up on some items so that I can save my costume for the stage. Yesterday as I hopped from puddle to muddy spot in my bright pink sneakers (which I wear in the show) I decided that maybe it would be best if I saved the shoes for the stage. Ditto my fantastically comfortable perfectly partially faded serendipitous $25 jeans. So I was on a search for alternative sneakers, alternative pants, and a backpack to stuff it all in. It's a very successful trip, and the $10 backpack will come in handy when I fly to Toronto for my training session next week too.

3:30 pm Lunch over at the New York Bagel Stop. I missed this place when postering last week, so I introduce myself, and the waitress smiles and says "Go right ahead!" All the surrounding shops and cafes are fantastic in this town when it comes to fringe. Everyone is supersupportive. I stay for lunch. Life isn't half bad when you can sit in a little bit of shade, on a sunny flower-strewn patio, listening to klezmer music, drinking steamed milk and hot coffee, with a salami-kiwi bagel plate with potato salad. It's a bit of an indulgence, but I'm sure the rest of the week will be limited to take out coffees and muffins for breakfast, and food-stand samosas (4 for $2.50 - the best deal anywhere in the world, I'm sure). So it's worth it. This, THIS, is the Life...

4:23 pm On my way to the next show I see Emily Pearlman (Radio Caller) and - that guy who did the spooky stories with the big moustache and that big silent guy from Thunder Bay. Fantastic! Emily and I hug and exchange flyers and passwords - the business card of the fringe. I run to catch Jonah's show.

4:30 pm Gloomology. The show is really great - a Tim Burtonish/Ghastlycrumb Tinies schoolmaster's lesson that includes the evisceration of the puppet pupil Barnaby in order to demonstrate the finer points of human biology. (Last summer I had an ill-fated affair with a Clown from Leeds named Barnaby, so this, the vivisection of poor hapless Barnaby, is particularly amusing to me... Jonah knew Barnaby last year as well: perhaps the puppet is a tribute to him, in that it is the perfect ill-fated English schoolchild's name. Who knows. Maybe I'll ask him.)

I get the last free ticket - the place is packed, but there are a dozen fringe performers here as well. Jonah the Gloomologist is very good - very subtle with a very unsubtle character. He also handles the crowd well, teaching us our lessons and punishing us with wicked looks. Mr. Slurch, his top-hatted/long velvet coated character, is strangely obsessed with hair and at one point lifts up a lock of mine and sighs creepily, "Hmmm... lovely hair..."

Walking back after the show I run into a reviewer from one of the weeklies who's been at both shows I was at today. He recognizes me and we chat for a while. He's very kind about my show last year, and is looking forward to seeing this year's, which is always encouraging to hear.

I also pass a poster for a show called Burning Bush - hey! That's Tracey Smith! I went to McGill with her! No kidding... More friends. I will have to track her down.

6 pm Checking my email in the Artists' Lounge, which is a convenient spot to regroup for a while when you're on site for a good part of the day. It features comfy couches, daily newspapers, a computer for email checking, and fishbowls full of candy and condoms - the latter for use off site, naturally. The lounge itself is fairly clinical with large warning signs forbidding the use of alcolhol and drugs on the premises. They run a clean house here.

Good thing I checked my email too - there's a message from a FFWD reporter who will be at my show tomorrow night and hopes to interview me afterwards. Fantastic! I feel like a STAHHHH!

6:30 and it's time for BitchSlap! I wait by the back kitchen door of one of the seediest looking bars on Whyte Avenue until someone from the show, who has instructions to come get me, shows me in. The show itself is, as I imagined, HYSTERICAL. Very funny and great storytelling, not to mention the pitch perfect renditions of the two stars of Who's Afraid of Baby Jane. Trev, in particular, is splendid as Bette - squeaking out precise syllables and batting his long lashes, lips curled down at the edges in a just-so way. They are wonderful bitches.

8 pm and I decide to be a good girl and bypass the beer tent and head home - better run the show, I figure, before I open tomorrow. On the way home I decide to pick up a few groceries - maybe I can save myself a little bit of cash by at least having breakfast and one or two other meals in-house. On the way I run into the King of Winnipeg - the Scottish performance poet and fringe celebrity Jem Rolls, and his fabulous girlfriend Kate on their way to cram themselves with Chinese food. They have been on the circuit since the beginning of the summer and begin to weary of the prairies, but are excited to head to Victoria, which is like the Vacation Beach House of the fringe circuit, before the last stop Vancouver.

So far that's 14 familiar faces and three shows in my first 10 hours on fringe. A good tally. There are so many familiar names here - I am encouraged to see so many returnees, and look forward to running into more of them as the days go on.

I head back to my billet's - a friend's mom has graciously taken me in, and it's a lovely comfortable house, walking distance to my venue. Couldn't be better. I make a little dinner, and write up my notes here. I will go to bed late tonight, but it's training for the next few days: tomorrow's show, my first here, will be at 10:15 pm. And Sunday night I have the coveted (not) MIDNIGHT slot! So I might as well get used to staying up late for a bit.

All in all - a perfect day.

So here I go - I'd better run my show.

Woof woof,
- Falcon.