Stewart McCure

Writer, performer, management consultant

An Australian living in London.  A self-employed training consultant to the global health care industry.  A producer, director and performer of improv comedy.  A trustee of an adult education charity in West London.  A writer and occaisional blogger

 

 

Halfway

We are now halfway through the 2009 Edinburgh Fringe so Scenes from Communal Living has a day off today. I am still performing in two other shows later but as Scenes is the production in which I've invested the most even on hiatus it's the one that demands most of my attention.

A few days ago I described my frustration at the lack of focus from some of my cast. I'm starting to worry that my actors are splitting into two factions; one still focused on giving the audience a great show worth the ticket price but another that now can't see past personal agendas.

I need to be a little careful here as everyone is performing for free. It's unlikely that we'll put enough bums on seats for the profit-share arrangement to kick in. And as well as performing everyone is fliering for at least an hour a day. Whilst undoubtedly exhausting this the deal we agreed to beforehand.

As ever it's all a question of each individual's motivation for being in Edinburgh. No one makes money and almost no one gets famous so why are we all here? To me the 'correct' answers are to further one's craft, to experience what it's like to perform in a month-long run and to improve one's profile as much as possible. The 'incorrect' answers are all about fun and sociability and bragging rights; for one month a year you're as much a Festival performer as Reg Hunter or Adam Hills. Only of course you aren't.

Alas, I have a couple of cast members who seem to be stuck in this second mindset and if something isn't fun they sulk. Fliering is never fun and I do my best to thank everyone every day for their efforts on that front.

But doing a bad show is no fun either and I've been openly accused of being negative for pointing out bad work in my oh-so brief post-show notes. Our reviews so far have been mixed and I can't argue with the more damning assessments any more than I can wholeheartedly embrace the more encouraging ones.

I need a break from my cast as much as they need a break from me. Tomorrow I have a day trip to London for a consultancy thing. It's a long time since I've regarded the prospect of flying into Heathrow with this much enthusiasm.