Firstly, I must apologise for my delayed show report. Ive been pretty bogged down with the old work, Life combosorry. I Only had a 7 show run at this new, basement venue in a lovely modern cocktail bar venue. By the time I arrived the venue captains had a nice little set up. The venue staff were nice enough and helpful, and the space was fine for my needs. Facilities and tech were all pretty decent, I mostly used the amp and mood lighted provided provided by the VCs. There was a small storage room and an area behind the performance area where items could be stored Sunday to Friday. The only main gripe was the fact that there were no performances on Saturdays as the area was used by the venue for revellersfair enough. However, not ideal for performers hoping for a Saturday windfall and as the larger storage space was part of the bar, our props had to be removed for Saturdays. There was a small lift if required, and a pretty cool disco ball, however the lack of a stage was a minor gripe. I think the venue could certainly grow and learn from their first experience, and be a welcome regular venue in the PBH catalogue. I had an early time slot and struggled a bit for an audience on some days, as did a couple the other acts at the venue. However, some seemed to do quite well, so think it was a bit hit or miss. Not sure if I would accept an offer her again, perhaps at a later time slot and if they offered the space on Saturdays as well. Finally, thanks to you all at PBH for providing the opportunity once more. Having tried some new material out based around an interesting concept, Im really excited about what I could achieve if I get lucky next year. Have a good winter all XX
Venue Report - Manahatta, Edinburgh (PBH Free Fringe 2025) Venue Name Manahatta, Downstairs Bar Location 28 Rose Street, EH2 2QA Comments Venue street is parallel to Princes Street, on the block next to the rear entrance of Marks & Spencer. It is also a three minute walk to the Spiegeltent on the green that houses paid-for performances. Dates / time I performed there 3rd-15th (not the 9th) August 2025, 3.45pm Main Report For transparency, this is my first time performing at the festival. This is also a new venue for 2025, as the bar is new to the city. That being said, I thought this venue was amazing! The downstairs bar is great - its well air-conditioned and fairly big for a PBH Free Fringe venue. It could definitely accommodate upwards of 100 people, but saying that theres not that many chairs, maybe around 60 chairs in total. One thing to note is that all the chairs are stools, designed for sitting at a high table (as the venue normally accommodates guests for drinking and dancing). There is no stage here, but there is plenty of floor space. Its essentially a dance floor where the audience and stage is set up. With regards to tech There are no provided lights at the venue, although when I was there, another performer had two small spot-lights that we could prop on the bar. We also purchased an additional main spot-light from Amazon that we used throughout the run, but again this does not come with the venue. There are multiple levels of house lights through, from very dark to all the lights on. 1
Continued I also used a projector and screen that a friend used too. Before the run started, we had a chat with the management of the venue and there is a projector/screen for us to use, but its unfortunately at the other end of the venue (next to the entrance doors). This was also the area we were given to use as a stage, but collectively as performers we decided to use the other side because we felt it worked better. There is also a mixer with inputs - I used a Rode mic Pro, that had an XLR inout and it worked great. There was also a 3.5mm input jack that I used to connect my MacBook for audio - the lead was long enough for me to have my MacBook behind the projector screen, and be connected to the mixer in the DJ booth. There were also 2 x hand mics provided, but I didnt use them - I heard they worked great though with only batteries having to be replaced. The staff at Manahatta were amazing too - very helpful with tech set-up, with only the mixer being taken away somedays for their use in the upstairs venue. We could put show posters up in the bathrooms and other areas of the venue, and there was space provided for flyers too. There was also a bartender available to look after the downstairs bar before and during the shows too. Storage Space Behind the main stage area theres booth seating, which is partitioned from the rest of the venue - this made it great to store equipment Sunday - Thursday, when the downstairs venue wasnt being used by the public. If equipment was here, it cant be seen from the audiences POV. There are also mains outlets / USB sockets for charging tech. There is a also secret door which leads to a small cupboard for venue storage / tech equipment. Its a tiny cupboard, but we were allowed to store our equipment in it, which was great! Its not a locked door though, but does have a security camera installed in it.
Continued In summary For my first time performing at the Fringe, this venue was everything I could wish for. There was no unwanted noise during show times and I could close the main doors to the downstairs venue too, so great conditions for a magic show.