Here is the place to write a Show Report for your venue, detailing as much information as you can that might help shows there in years to come. Include things such as dimensions of stage, passing traffic, good spots to flyer, useful promo, tech equipment, ambient noise; anything that will help give shows a good idea of the venue before they arrive. **Please include your show number so we can confirm your show report is in the right venue forum**
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Show: Harun Mushod: Why I Dont Speak To People About Terrorism (show 114) Dates: 3 - 25 August Time: 2.20pm Third year for this show but first time in this venue, having spent the last 8 years in Legends Downstais space. I was the venue captain. The venue holds around 40. It's a bit long, but caused me no problems on full days. It needs one speaker, and a speaker stand is essential. I borrowed one from one of our old venues, Legends, for the duration of the Fringe. Next year, a speaker with an aux output that wasn't broken would be helpful, but the workaround is to use the venue's background music system to which one can plug in a phone or tablet through an earjack. As some of the speakers for that system are in the performance area it worked fine in place of an aux input in our speaker. No photos as I forgot to take them, but the "room" is a curtained off area at one end of the main bar. Seating is one fixed long sofa against one entire wall, and then small stools in 7 rows of four. Problem is that the stools are uncomfortable so everyone sits on the sofa if they can creating one line of audience going away from you. Some perfomers moved their performance area. I tended to block the back rows of stools and sofa to force smaller audiences to sit in rows and toward the front, however, it would be better if the Free Fringe or the venue were able to provide proper chairs in future.
The venue is ok for stand-up (there was also a magic act who was able to adapt to the envionment). Theoretically there is sound bleed but it rarely bothered me or my audiences. However, I gather the sound bleed going the other way was considerable especially when I was on, as I have loud voice anyway regardless of amplification. As a result, the show following me knew my show by heart, and the Fringe Society's Chief Exec was able to follow my show without having to get past the bar staff (whom I had instructed not to let in latecomers. The Chief Exec later donated to the show ). Music might be ok too, but theatre wont work in this space. My numbers were down 15% from the year before, for which I partly blame the venue's location compared to my previous venue However total bucket was slightly up, which I also slightly attribute to the venue, because its a nicer place to have a drink in and less noisy than my previous venue. However, other factors independent of the venue probably also accounted for the changes. The venue staff and management were great, very helpful, as good as my previous venue. I'd be happy to come back to this venue, with this show again, and my new show next year.
Next year though: some signage pointing people to show entrance and blocking people from going through the other curtains either way would be helpful.
Echo most of what Harun says re Pilgrim set up. Will write own show report later!
First time doing an Edinburgh run with PBH. I ran my show for 1 week, 19th-25th. Show time was noon. While this was a good time in theory, it wasn't great for getting over from Glasgow each day, and enough time to flyer and set up my multimedia show. I hussled. I had decent audiences most days except Tuesday and Wednesday. There is nowhere to store equipment so if you have any/props you have to take everything in and away per show. One day of my show the TV screens were still on and I could see the audience looking up, distracted, but my tech was on it. It was an error and the staff apologised so no biggie, just make sure you check this. If you want donations make sure you set this up as people will just leave. I laid out a bit at the curtain area and as the week went on my tech did it for me which took awkwardness out of me asking. There was a show on after mine so I was mindful to finish on time, and clear out. 12noon is the first show time so you do have good time to set up and you can ask the bar staff to get in a bit earlier which eased my first day anxiety. The staff were great. They accommodated my asks with grace. I left them a tip at the end of my run, bought them a drink (of water) each day. I'm that kinda gal. My set up was a screen, projector on a stand. My tech, laptop, my props. I needed 3 of their higher chairs to set this up so the audience could see the screen ok. Then finally I had the mic and stand provided, which I had no issues with. I had my show filmed on the last day from more than 1 camera position and it worked quite well when I got the video through. Only downside for clear filming was lighting the 'stage' area. It's a good size room, 30 capacity. Stools are possibly problematic as I skew an older audience so most folk sat along the seating to the left along the room, so that's something to factor in. Would I go back to Pilgrim? For next year I will look at a venue with screen, just because of the faff and small stage area.
1 of 3 Dates: 2-24 August (not Tuesdays) Show 1: A HISTORY OF THE LAST CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT, IN THEIR OWN STUPID WORDS Time: 12 noon Show 2: WHY I DON'T TALK TO PEOPLE ABOUT TERRORISM Time: 2.20pm I was the venue captain for Pilgrim for the 2nd year running. 2nd year for the Terrorism show at this venue (4th year overall - previously in Legends). 1st year for the History show, which had been in Strathmore the previous year as a WIP under another title. Venue holds 40. The performance space is the lounge bar between the bar and the windows out to Cowgate. It is curtained off by the bar staff. This year we changed the layout to a wide rather than long configuration (Josh Edelmann's idea, and a very good one). This way its ok for audiences to fill out the comfy long sofa and the stools only get used when the rooms fills out. But some chairs would still be better (they would need to be collapsible as the room is broken down each evening to use as bar seating). Pilgrim is used as a Free Fringe venue only during the day. Blackout sheets, one with the PBH logo, are kept by the bar between fringes. Next year we should use the free fringe printed sheet as part of the backdrop for the stage area, as is intended. The blackout sheet are used to cover the left and right hand windows opposite the performance area. The middle window is left uncovered and provides the lighting for the stage area opposite. They are fastened to overhead pipes using plastic ties provided by the bar. There is no other stage lighting. PA, mic and stand were provided by the Free Fringe. They worked fine but a speaker stand would have improved the sound output (last year's solution had been to borrow the spare from Legends, but that has since been broken).
2 of 3 Sound bleed from the main bar area was no problem at midday and only a occasional and minor nuisance at 2.20pm. I gather it was a bit worse but not disastrous as the day progressed and on Saturdays (nothing that cant be handoed by either increasing the PA volume or asking the patrons to quiten down). Sound bleed from the shows to the bar is considerable and I'm pretty sure the bar staff knew my shows word for word by the end of the run. I used the bar's PA for my background and walk-on music. They have both iPod and standadprd earjacks to connect ipads and any device that still has earjack connections. Other acts used the performance PAs to play music through but provided their own connectors. The Terrorism show had no sell-out shows and the first time ever, a no-show (Monday 11 August) in four years of doing it. Overall numbers dropped by 17% from last year, and by 29% since its 2023 peak. However, that was mitigated by the per head bucket taking rising for the fourth year running (9% increase compared to 2024, and 42% increase since the first run in 2022). Financially it still made a profit but less so than last year. Audience reviews (of which i got 4, more than the three previous years combined) were mixed. All in all, time to retire WHY I DON'T TALK TO PEOPLE ABOUT TERRORISM. I've milked it as far as I can. The History show also had no sell-outs but no single figure numbers either. Indeed it had better overall audience numbers, total donations and per head donations than the Terrorism show ever managed, all in its first year. It also got more and better audience reviews. I'm going to bring the show back. I would've preferred the noon timeslot but that may not be possible as I may be doing another show in another venue at this time, so I'll aim to keep the 2.20pm timeslot but move this show into it.
3 of 3 The bar staff and their manager, Charlotte Fritton, were wonderful. They set up the room each day and had to break it down each evening. And they were a joy to work with. Sadly, Charlotte is leaving and i wish her the best of luck with her new endeavours. Look forwadd to working more closely with Sam who is taking over her role. Next year, ideally the first show should start at 12.15pm rather than 12noon for two reasons. First, 12.15 is a more exact sounding time tha 12 noon. Secondly, and more importantly for the bar, it allows audiences to buy something from the bar at noon or later, and is therefore more likely to be an alcoholic drink, so better for bar takings. The bar agrees. The bar is also interested in adding another show in the early evening. Obviously they would prefer full runs as they had this year. They tend to be better attended and easier to work with from their perspective. Happy to return as venue captain. I had a great time here.