Last month the East Cowes Acting Troupe went on a long journey, travelling from the Isle of Wight all the way to Edinburgh to take part in the Fringe Festival.
They were performing a Commedia dellarte piece composed by an American playwright, inspired by a song by written by Revenge of the Lawn. Rob from the band accompanied the troupe and sent us this report. Ed
Just to let you know that the East Cowes Acting Troupe had a successful and very enjoyable eight days up in Edinburgh, performing their musical play “I’m in Love with a Vending Machine”, even though on one day, one of the main actresses went down with food poisoning and had to be replaced with another cast member at last moment.
No room at the Inn
On the second last day, we were thrown out of our accommodation due to a booking mix-up. Obviously everywhere in Edinburgh is fully booked up for August, so we had to stay the night down near Durham in a small hostel in the middle of moors, about two hours drive from Edinburgh.
We did our final show the next day, packed up and drove through the night back to Southampton to try to catch the “restricted” ferry at 1.00am – the one which they use to ferry over hazardous or explosive etc. materials. Fortunately, there was no lorry with lethal stuff waiting so we could get on.
The whole company was packed sardine-like onto one minibus, while the vending machine travelled in spacious luxury in a van of its own.
Creative promotion
On arrival in Edinburgh, we strategically positioned the vending machine in the middle of the pavement to act as an advertising billboard with posters stuck on one side.
It advertised the show brilliantly in all its restrictive and inconvenient glory. Considering we did little advertising and next to no hyping, audiences were reasonable in number and they received the show well.
One reviewer said he felt “it’s a cute, likeable show” and he “did leave with a smile on my face, because there are some nice touches here.
We get a well-judged piece of audience participation, a feisty Columbian and a few songs (the title tune was a particular favourite).”
The Scotsman talked about the “cheerfully ludicrous concept (man falls in love with vending machine, or rather the woman hiding inside it pretending it can diagnose all ills), brightly designed costumes and some sweet musical interludes from the show’s narrator”.
Great choice of shows
The range of shows and performances up there is amazing, especially the vast amount of original material.
The bands up there all play their own stuff, and they tend to veer on the theatrical side, so Revenge of the Lawn would fit in well up there.
So next year, maybe the band will head up there for week or two.
I would definitely recommend visiting the Edinburgh Fringe to everyone, since it’s not just theatre – there’s dance, music (of all sorts), infinite variety of street busking etc.
