Show Report for Impro Poet Presents: What If History? 3rd to 13th August 1730hrs Show Number 14 03 08 2024 WIH 78 35 in, 04 08 2024 WiH 105 13 attendance 05 08 2024 WIH 105 40 in, 06 08 2024 42 17 in 07 08 2025. 33 7 in 08 08 2024 73 18 in 09 09 2024 75 31 in 10 10 2024 205 50 in and some turned away 11 10 2024 55 15 in. 12 10 2024 WIH 42 in, 160, 13 10 2024 WIH - 31 in 50 Average attendance = 23.5 people. Total takings =983.00 110 = donation to PBH This was a brilliant venue (Room 1) with everything I could ask for, plenty of seats and optional disco lights. Julian was ace as a Venue Manager, and Aaron, as always did a great job as Venue Captain. I had absolutely no issues with the venue and was pleased with the run. 30 was the given capacity but management were happy to allow more people in (to a point - at 50 we had to turn people away and had a few standing at the back). Overall, I'd love to come back here next year if that's an option and if this is the place to say. Thank you again PBH, this has been my best year, and thanks to staying with Edinburgh friend I just about made a profit (I think it was 20)
**Show Title:** SH*T SHOW! **Space:** Room 3 **Time:**19.55pm **Run: **Full Run with Mondays off First year performing at Carbon Lounge and first year doing a full run (last year I did scattered slots). Absolutely loved it and would come back to Carbon. Had to cancel one show due to lack of audience but otherwise had reasonable numbers. Managed to fill the rooms on weekends and even had to turn people away. Weekdays ranged from around 4 10. Thanks Mark for being a great and supportive venue captain! Thanks to all the other acts who were performing in Carbon for your loveliness and support! And thanks of course to PBH and Carbon! **Staff:** All staff were very friendly and very helpful. I always found Alex (the manager) to be helpful and supportive although he was strict on the capacity of the room (15) towards the end of the run. **Space:** A long and narrow space with a built in sound system and TV. The only time there was an issue with the sound system after asking the venue staff it was quickly resolved. I didnt use the TV so cannot comment on it. One distracting thing about the room is the large window which looks out onto the restaurant. Another act had the foresight to bring some material to cover the window and suction cups to attach. Alex kindly let us keep this up throughout the run and didnt ask us to take it down nightly as expected. Noise can be heard from the other rooms and some music from the restaurant however not to an unreasonable amount. With all of the shows starting at around the same time and all 3 rooms being next to each other with not much space upstairs, it could get very cramped and confusing for audiences waiting to go in.
**Flyering: **As the venue is on the Cowgate, I would often flyer near to the venue walking along Cowgate and Blair Street. I found Niddry Street to be quiet and Royal Mile to be almost too busy to have a conversation about the show so didnt really flyer in either spots. At the end of the run, I did start to flyer on Chamber Street, just outside Gilded Balloon. If I was to repeat with 2 or more flyerers, I think I would allocate one person to flyer on Chamber Street and 1 or more on the Cowgate. As a theatre show with heavier themes and maybe a bit of a niche target audience, I did also exit flyer earlier in the day for similar shows. Its hard to tell what is effective though! **Fringe Central:** I was a bit late to the party on this one thank you Kevin for telling me about it! Fringe Central on the grassmarket offered lots of free workshops and networking events. You dont have to be registered and part of the official fringe website/book to attend these events. Only had the chance to attend one about rural touring but wish Id been more on it and would definitely make the effort to attend more next time. **Femifringe:** F-Bomb Theatre do a programme of fringe shows by female and people of marginalised genders. You have to register in advance of the fringe to be included I think the cut off date was in May or June but please check. Unsure if this actually drew anyone into my show but its free to be part of so definitely cant hurt! They also had a lovely launch party where you can meet the other creatives who are part of this programme. **Other:** Wifi was good but data signal was awful so make sure to connect to the wifi for taking card payments!
Show report Lorraine Hoodless: A wonderful venue, very central to the action on Blair St and Cowgate. This made flyering very successful. I didn't have to cancel any shows and had weekends full and during the week, no less than 11. The takings were down on last year sadly, but perhaps my bucket speech could do with a little polish! I would love to return here. I would echo thanks to all the staff for being so lovely. Food for thought for programmers next year. As there are three rooms in use, having an even spread of the shows, e.g one starting with the largest gap possible to the next. The entry way is narrow and passes the kitchen and the bar. When we are busy, we were falling over ourselves a bit....and folks were switching what they wanted to see etc. Small point, but think it would be good for the venue and performers alike.
Show Title: Rob Duncan: Printer of the year 2024 Space: Room 1 Time:18:45pm Run: Full Run with Wednesday's off First year performing at Carbon Lounge and a new time slot for me. Absolutely loved it and would love to come back to Carbon. Was great for audience turn out at 18:45 was full and tunring away people most days from 1st Thursday untill the last Sunday. Thanks Sharon Em for being a great and supportive room venue captain! And always being supportive. The room - 40 capacity including performer was sensible and meant everyone was comfortable and could see. We had to provide a 5 meter HDMI and AUX to operate screen and sound from a laptop at the front. The large screen was particularly good for my printing show. There is no noise bleed if you close the door, which was a real pleasure at the fringe where thhis is a rarity but a benefit of being in a karoke room. Staff: Alex (the manager) was always helpful and helped with any tech enquires using the screen and sound if given enough time. Other: Wifi was goodfor taking card donations on exit. Thanks everyone I had a lovely time building my show in this great room.
Show: Ali Brice presents Eric Meat Gets the Chop Space: Room 1 Time :5:30pm Run: Full Run with Wednesday 13th off A lovely room in a great location. Most days were full and takings were good. Staff were awesome, patient and very friendly. Maeve on thr bar was particularly friendly. Alex the manager was always available and was a great help at the start of the fringe. He did check numbers on the busy days and a couple of times told me I could squeeze a few more in, but I opted not to as there weren't any seats left and people would have been standing! It's essentially a black box room. Which is great. It's a good performance space. The seating arrangement was great with chairs in the middle and sofa-type seating around the edge. When full there is a great energy. Even when not so full, it doesn't feel empty. It had a tendency to get very hot on hot days. With the door shut, no noise bleed whatsover. As Rob said above, we had to provide a 5 meter lead and buy the correct adapter (3.5mm male aux to 2 rca) in order to be able to play sound cues. There is no tech booth, my tech just sat on a stool at the back. There are also no stage lights. I was just performing in the room with all lights turned on - which was great for me as I was doing a crowdwork show. There are lights in the venue, but they are not programmable as far as I could tell - they are very much there for when the room is used for it's main purpose, karaoke! On the busy days, with three rooms and 3 shows starting within 5 minutes of each other, it got very congested and some punters got confused. It would be great to have a ticketing system like at Banshee.
Overall I was very happy at Carbon for a pretty silly character comedy show. If I was coming with a more complex, tech-heavy show, I would think twice about Carbon. Lastly, I made more money per head than I did in 2022 but I explicitly asked for 10 as a donation. Previously, from 2010 - 2022 I had only ever asked for 5. But 5 isn't worth as much as it used to!
Show: Run. Scream. Die. Date/Time: 13th-24th 3.15pm no time off. Room 3 A great room, venue and fabulous staff echoing above and will skip duplicating much of it. Will agree with the clashing of shows causing bottlenecks as it was pretty tight getting people in and out of three rooms. In fact on the two busy Saturdays and one or two other strangely busy times I did get people who were confused as to which room they needed to be in (or just turned up for whatever show was on) and somehow came into mine which I very clearly indicated what the show was, only for them to leave at crucial points because they weren't expecting a sometimes intense horror show. Luckily I watch for reactions and provided gaps for escape. A different show to previous and hard to compare, but certainly numbers down compared to last year's show, I think partly due to the overall clash with various gigs not having the crowds in that I would benefit from and the show being a different niche. Other than the two Saturday's being full the rest of the run the numbers were all over the place with no consistency.
Flyering was interesting. Previous year's the Royal Mile has been where I would go but found it difficult there this year. Conversely flyering on Cow Gate was really good and will look at that in future. I had no need of any tech in room 3 and the layout worked OK. Heat was a problem with a more than a half room. Noise bleed was hardly noticeable. The acts around my time slot all seemed to get on and helped each other out and VCs did great job as I've found with previous years elsewhere which helped those who were first timers. Even with tight turn a-rounds I don't recall any significant clashes. It helped that we all seemed to have compact and uncomplicated sets/props and 5min either side seemed to be enough.
Half run commncing - 02 08 2025 02 08 2025 19 people 85 03 08 2025 15 42 04 08 2025 10 32 05 08 2025 12 82 06 08 2025 19 42.50 07 08 2025 10 40 08 08 2025 17 75 09 08 2025 42 123 10 08 2025 23 85 11 08 2025 15 10 12 08 2025 15 50 Total 538 : average 44 187 audience : average 15.5 Donation to PBH 100 A great venue, staff were helpful and welcoming. Room 1 disco lights were an excellent surprise. Only slight niggle was short gaps between show starts, otherwise no issues. My second year in Room 1 and would gladly go back there again. Alex was a great manager and always helpful. My show is tech light so no real issues as far as set up went. Numbers seemed to be down this year (as year's report above) but wasn't unhappy with the turnouts. Thank you again!
A great venue, staff were helpful and welcoming. Room 1 disco lights were an excellent surprise. Only slight niggle was short gaps between show starts, otherwise no issues. My second year in Room 1 and would gladly go back there again.
We need to book in CJ to give us all bucket speech lessons! Show: Ego Tourism Time: 16:25, full run with Tuesdays off Room 3, capacity 15, averaged 8-10 which is perfect. No cancellations for lack of crowd. My two full houses were actually a bit off, the room breathes better with 10-12 than 15. Air conditioning is also weak, so above 10 it gets very warm. I urged people to get cold drinks before the show. Luckily the staff was happy to provide ice water for free, if people didn't want a pint. This room was perfect for my very niche show about the philosophy of Daoism by an unknown American. Big thanks to the performer (whose name I've forgotten) who brought in the black cloth and suction cup looks, as Kathryn said that was essential. Though apparently last year Julian Stern made a grand entrance up the staircase visible through the large windown, which I wish I had seen. Sound and video was good, after I provided leads (cables) and connectors. Alex, the manager, was great to work with, stern on capacity but he has to be -- apparently another venue was shut down by the fire marshall. Cowgate and Blair is perfect for flyering, and I agree with Kathryn on the value of exit- flyering similar shows. (But Pleasance Courtyard does not allow it, unfortunately.)
Just two shows in Carbon for us with Is This It: 5/8/25 Room 3 4 audience 10 6/8/25 Room 1 16 audience 41 Positive experiences with both rooms and the venue in general. Both room 1 and room 3 felt like good fits for stand up. We only had one-off appearances in each room so I cant comment on too much but enjoyed them and would use the venue in future. Staff were helpful with both audience direction and solving one issue in the room. Flyering felt positive with good footfall and with more time available to flyer our second show, the audience grew accordingly.