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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West End New Act of the Year - 23.35 Voodoo Rooms French Quarter Quite simply the best FF venue I've ever been in. The staff was great - front of house and tech help, the bar staff were legends. We were told that usually shows have trouble in the spot we were in as it is in the prime 'going home' time and everyone who is staying out is already in shows, but we had no problems getting crowds - full rooms half a dozen times, 2 thirds full more often than not and only once did we have low numbers (15) so we'll be interested in that slot again next year - we made it a great success in a low numbers year.. A special thanks to Lewis and the other front of house folks, they were fantastic. We were sandwiched between Dickie Benson and Griffin and Jones, both of whom are cracking free fringers and a bloody joy to be in between! Both understood how to get along with one another and that we were in a team. Thank you very much Voodoo Rooms
Show Number #22 'My Vagina's Priceless' 20:45 Daily. The staff at Voodoo Rooms are so SO wonderful - super supportive and helpful. The French Quarter was a great space for my solo show. Ideal for working with backing tracks and or smaller /solo instruments. The PA and sound equipment was to a high standard and I really enjoyed being there. The great thing about the french quarter is that with the staircase being in the middle of the audience area, on quieter nights, it still felt full because of the front section of the seating and this added a more intimate vibe which works very well for me. Although in general I found the audience numbers to be good throughout the whole month. The lowest number I had was 15 which I think is excellent. The venue has its own toilets and bar so very self contained and useful not having people wander in and out. Only con: we had a fabulously warm summer and it was a sweatbox in there so I'd get those windows open if you can before you let your audience in just so everyone is as comfy as possible. A genuinely special place with a joyful vibe throughout the whole building.
Show title: Caspar Thomas: Sleight of Handkerchief Show number: 23 Venue: Voodoo Rooms, French Quarter Time: 3:05pm, 6 - 28 August 2022 The French Quarter is the smallest of the three performing spaces at Voodoo Rooms. It has a total audience capacity of around 55 which is split into two sections. There is a (main) front section which is at floor level (~35), and a slightly raised back section (~20). The back section is separated from the front by a fire exit which cuts the room in half. This makes it somewhat harder to connect with that back part of the room. There is also a bar on stage right which is open prior to show time (and is staffed during show time too). The stage is slightly raised and has a speaker on either side. Two stand-up microphones are provided and a basic sound-desk (which is very easy to use, thankfully) which enables you to play music via a headphone jack. There are several windows behind the stage and to the side, and these can be covered with curtains if desired. Lighting consists of a can/spotlight in front of stage centre and at stage left. Their brightness can be adjusted as need be. There are also house lights. All these light levels can be adjusted by a panel behind the bar. It's therefore necessary to ask the bar staff member to pass through the bar to reach this. There is a small store room here too (accessible via the bar) where you can store a few small items plus boxes of flyers and posters. Continued... (1/2)
Sometimes the room can get pretty hot and that is worth being aware of. Even leaving the windows open doesn't always cool the room down. There is an air circulation system in the room, but it doesn't appear to actually cool the room. There is a free-standing fan though, which can cool those near to it. There are several places within the French Quarter and in the Voodoo Rooms public areas to put flyers. As for posters, these are left to the venue staff who distribute all the shows' posters around the public areas as fairly as they can. For places to hand out the WBB & flyers, we had some success outside the Apple store on Princes Street, and slightly further east outside the General Register House, although it can get pretty busy there. Aside from that, the usual places such as the Royal Mile and Cowgate are good places to go. This is an exceptionally good venue to perform at. Not only is the room professionally set up, but you effectively have well trained staff members ushering your audiences in and out. Overall, a superb room to be assigned supported by great venue staff. (2/2)
I've been in the Speakeasy room with Magic Faraway Cabaret since 2012 and I can't imagine a better home for it. There are several stairs up to the venue and no lift but staff are often on hand to assist those who might struggle. Security at the door will refuse entry to anyone under 18 so label your flyers, posters and listings accordingly. You get a luxury changeover time of 25 minutes between shows in the Speakeasy however if you are a busy show you should try to open the doors at least ten minutes before your start time as the audience queues outside and it will take that time to serve them from the bar that stays open throughout in the room. Basic lighting washes from the side and house lights can be controlled from the booth next to the stage. Further worker lights are on dimmers next to the bar so if you want a total blackout you would need to organise with them as well. They set up a separate sound board for fringe shows which has two microphone channels, two channels for stereo aux leading to a mini jack for your device and one channel for plugging in a radio mic or instrument which takes XLR or quarter inch jack.
Don't flyer the bar, but you can announce to them when your house is open. The stage itself is about 18 inches high, 6 feet deep and 12 feet across with a black curtain at the back which hides a projector screen. I've never used the projector in there so see other reports for info on that. There is a covered keyboard or football table on stage left. Tbh I've never looked underneath the cover so couldn't tell you for sure what it is! Staff and management are consistently lovely and helpful there. I don't need to flyer much for this show now but when I do, I often stand on the corner of South Bridge or if that's too manic, the Mound, sometimes even George Street near Assembly. I never bother flyering Old Town. Mobile reception is good for card machines. If acts need to change, there are toliets by the entrance of the room but it's a bit of a squeeze.
Show Title: Gareth Complete Nonsense Rees R.I.P (Rees-uscitation In Progress!) Carte Blanche; 12:20-13:10; 5th-15th. Nothing but praise from me, for the venue, staff, room and of course the PBH team themselves. Venue - The Voodoo rooms are an institution & prob one of the more decadent & atmospheric venues & bar on offer, probably why it lends itself so well to the many incredible magic & burlesque shows on offer. Its just about on the New Town side, & footfall outside is a bit limited, but flyering is pretty good out on Queens street and the old town isnt too far away. Storage is a little limited but seemed to work pretty well, & everyone seemed respectful of each others gear. All the other performers I managed to meet at the venue were cool & supportive. Thank you to those that were so friendly & welcoming. Staff - OMG all the peeps at Voodoo Rooms were absolutely lush They all contributed in making this middle aged, inexperienced performer & ridiculous man feel totally welcome and proper at ease. Honestly they couldnt do enough, and if I was handing out stars for Staff theyd defo be Special shout out to Lewis, who always had a smile & bundles of energy and was really helpful and supportive. But, to be fair, I could say the same about the whole team Room - The room was excellent for my requirements. The rows of seats seemed a bit of a tight squeeze, but unfortunately my low audience numbers never put this to the test The PA system & tech stuff all did exactly what I required. Toilets at the back of the room, raised seating to place my Garsophagus, and the edinburgh summer meant nobody got too warm in the roomhappy days PBH - Gotta give a shout out to the whole team once again. What they provide should never be under appreciated. The organisational, logistical and financial challenges but be immense. But thanks to their efforts idiots like me get to live out our dreams & anxieties for those that fancy watching itThank you
Show Title: Magician Twinpossible Voodoo Rooms Ballroom Full run Delighted to say we had an excellent time performing our show in the Ballroom for the second consecutive year. Gorgeous venue that countless audience members commented on how much nicer it was than the paid venue they'd just come from. The extra bar worked really well as a place to hold people for the Ballroom shows. Meaning there was the option of main bar, ballroom bar, and outside for queuing. The staff are phenomenal and everyone genuinely takes the time to get to know you and wants to see you doing well. They also seemed to have a Jedi sense to know when we could do with a free coffee. The room is great. Brilliant sound desk that gives the option to have four mics and six channels for audio plug-ins. The storage cupboard did get a bit messy from time to time as people kept flyers, posters and props in there but nothing went missing or got damaged so we can mark everything down as a massive, massive success! Huge thanks to all at the Voodoo Rooms for making this year an absolute joy! Kane & Abel
Oh, also one on card reader payments as I've seen that in reports for other venues. Voodoo Rooms has an excellent guest WIFI that means taking donations on card is a dream
I performed a magic and theatre show in the Speakeasy at 12:35pm every day, for a full-run (2023). (A Magician With Conflicting Personalities Tries to Keep Control Onstage). The Speakeasy is an absolutely lovely space - you can get a great size crowd in on busier days, but because of the intimate atmosphere of the venue, quieter days still provide you with a workable audience. The staff in the venue are amazing and extremely helpful if there are ever any tech issues, and the venue is always extremely well-run in terms of managing audience queues, and getting people in on time. In terms of tech there is a full sound desk at the side of the stage, and great lighting which is easy to adjust to the needs of your show. The venue itself has a loyal, returning crowd each year who are always interested in seeing what's on for this year's Fringe, so this automatically brings you in a few extra audience members. I found flyering at the bottom of the mile helpful too, as it is easy to direct people straight over South Bridge from there to the venue. I basically can't say anything negative about the venue - it's a beautiful place to perform, the staff are incredibly lovely and sociable, and I'd love to perform there again! Ava Beaux x
Show Title: 100% The Greatest Comedian Alive or Dead (No Refunds) Voodoo Rooms, Carte Blanche 3.05pm Full run (3-25th of August 2024) The staff at Voodoo Rooms are the best, and it's a beautiful venue. They do your door, assist you and treat you so well. Cannot ask to be more supported and the prestige of the venue I've found benefits me for both numbers and bucket at the end as people are ushered and looked after. Carte Blanche is a fantastic room and the low ceilings really lend themselves well to stand-up. The room can be a little hot but nothing that a bit of window opening can't sort and the ceilings have adjustable lights which you can tweak to get the room lit how you want. Performed there last year at the exact same timeslot and loved it. Had an even better time this year. Cheers PBH!
Show Title: Best Stand Ups of Edinburgh Voodoo Rooms, Carte Blanche 1.00am Full run (3-25th of August 2024) I was the 1am slot at Carte Blanche, running a stand up compilationshow. This was my first free fringe experience, and it was amazing thanks to PBH and the Voodoo room staff. Voodoo staff were extremelyhelpful with leading audience into carte blanche at the end of the night. We averaged 15 audience members a night for the entire run, with the first two weekends at almost full capacity. The room was bright, but I was able to adjust the lighting to spotlight the stage and bounce the other lights away at walls to create an atmosphere for comedy. I am a musical comic as well and carte blanche has a great PA system, I was able to run 2 mics, a guitar, and my iphone with no problem. Thank you PBH staff for making this possible. I hope to return next year.
Comedy Hypnosis Show Voodoo Rooms, Ballroom, 13:25pm Full run. The venue is excellent not to mention the staff who are fab! Everyone was extremely helpful and the venue even has a locked store room to keep flyers in. Its on the other side of the bridge leading to the Royal Mile. Thank you PBH
Dr Waverly Weird's Last Night of the Fringe Voodoo Rooms, carte blanche!, 1:00am One-off August 26th (technically part of the night before's shows) First up, the staff at the Voodoo Room continue to be absolutely incredible! From allowing access to the Poster Storage Room when needed, to funnelling everyone from the bar down into the show at the end of the night, their contribution was invaluable! The PA system in the room is simple, but ultimately effective (as a tech for the majority of Fringe, there wasnt anything lacking that any of the other shows I worked would need, except for a laptop with the cues loaded!) From a fundraising perspective, there were a decent amount of donations lost from people leaving early. I left a hat by the door to try and catch them, but it got buried under peoples bags, so for future folks in this slot, Id recommend having a person (with a card reader) there, just in case! Ultimately, I hope this show kept the spirit of the last night of the Fringe alive, and that that spirit continues into the future! Should this slot be empty next Fringe, I am more than happy to take up the responsibility once more, but wont do it solo again. Should someone else want to fill the slot, I encourage it, but I would not recommend doing it alone (hence my own reluctancy to do so). Its a lot of work, but definitely worth it!
Samantha Day: The Generations Game. I was in Carte Blanche - it's a good space - can get 60 in, although the room's in 2 parts so the first 40 have the best view/experience as the others are a bit off to the side. The staff at Voodoo could not be nicer. Absolutely amazing team led by Leo and Tanitia. It was harder to get an audience on that side of the bridge so my advice would be to flyer at the other end of the bridge - people I engaged with did make their way over. I would love to go back there again.
Show Report Part One for I Am Your Tribute, Voodoo Rooms, Ballroom, 12.05pm (venue 68). Full run. Firstly, a huge thanks to Luke and the team for programming us in the space. This is the second time I have played this room with the PBH Free Fringe. Overall we had a good experience, with a few notable challenges. Below is some feedback which I hope might help people in the future decide whether its the right space for them. It is in two parts because my message was too long to post in full. Positives: The Voodoo Rooms team running the actual venue were incredible. Nora, Beth, Rory, Courtney, Tanisha & Leo were very friendly, collaborative and supportive. The room is stunning and we sold between 50-75% capacity, breaking even in the final week. Our PBH Venue captains Chris and David were super helpful and proactive, for example when the shared storage room was becoming untidy and they needed to reach out to performers.
Challenges: Having performed in this venue four times before, both on the paid and Free Fringe, I was disappointed by the tech set up this year. I had advance notice that the in-house sound system was not being made available to Free Fringe shows (after it was damaged by a previous company a few years ago). With this knowledge I embarked on a lengthy series of messages with the technical manager at Voodoo Rooms who reassured my stage manager and me that there was enough working kit to make our show sound good. He also arranged with us to be with us for a tech induction to show us the set-up. Unfortunately he did not turn up to that allotment so we lost our tech time and were unable to use the hour to programme lights as the desk had not been set up correctly. We were the first people in so other people may not have run into these issues. After some persuasion he agreed to come in early the next day so we could have an hour in the room before our first performance. The sound system made available to the Free Fringe was not of a good enough quality to deliver our needs. Despite providing our own microphones, the sound on the show was compromised and as a result, I would not bring a music based show back to this room in the future. If you do not need fold back and you're not using a head mic, then the room might work perfectly well for you. Its just not set up for head mics and EQing. The tech manager also told us that he did not like the Fringe and intended to be away for the month doing corporate events. To be honest, once he left the building and we could get on with troubleshooting ourselves, the run was much more enjoyable. I hope it is okay to be this candid, but it was disappointing given our previous history in the space not to be able to achieve what we wanted to artistically.
The day-to-day staff in the venue made up for him tenfold. The other thing to be aware of is that the storage cupboard for all of the rooms in the building is inside the performance space. It means a lot of people coming and going during your show. A sign was put up on the door by the venue captains asking people to be as quiet as possible but unfortunately people were still very noisy collecting their stuff. Up to four interruptions most days. Again this would not be a problem if your show is quite noisy. My other learn was that the venue itself does not open until midday. So with our show starting at 12:05pm it only gave the audience five minutes to get into the building, use the bathroom and get a drink. In order to avoid overrunning in our slot and having a negative impact on the rest of the days schedule, we had to go up late and shorten the show. Thankfully, the show on after us was very accommodating as well. It also means there isnt much passing trade or people in the bar to scoop up and entice folk into your show. I was fortunate because I had a second production running and could cross-pollinate publicity, but worth bearing your mind if you are taking the first slot of the day in any venue. So thats it, we had a great month with some challenges and I hope the above is helpful information and is received in the spirit it is given. Huge thanks.
Show Title: Ava and Beaux: Tales of Magic Ava Beaux Full run 15.25pm This was my second year in a row performing in Voodoo Rooms, Speakeasy and I loved it. The space is wonderful for the theatrical, storytelling style of magic show that I do. **Staff** Absolutely brilliant and they go above and beyond with what they do for performers. This is probably the one venue on the free fringe that manages audiences so effectively, which is especially helpful for solo artists, as you can focus on your show set-up. The staff direct audience members to the correct queues, give you an idea of audience numbers before the show starts, and help you bring the audience into the space too. As the venue is a bit of a maze for new customers though, you should always still be prepared to give people directions! **Space** A beautiful room with a mixed style of seating normal seating in the centre, with circular booths round the outside. Im bad at guessing crowd numbers, but it probably seats around 100 if full? It has a great tech booth on the side of the stage, perfect if you hire a tech, but also very accessible if you need to get to it yourself mid-show. There is a bar in the space which is helpful for the audience turning up on time for your show, knowing that they can always grab a drink when theyre in. If you work the space well, you can create an atmospheric storytelling or theatre show, on a nice-size stage. There is very little noise-bleed from the rest of the venue, especially when the door is shut. ...
...**Flyering** Each year, it does feel slightly more difficult to get people over to that side of the bridge, meaning the venue in general did feel quieter than previous years, and Im not quite sure why. I did average audiences of about 35, with weekends being very busy on Saturdays Id have to turn a few away, and Sundays Id be full. I did have to get into a routine with flyering to do this, and I focused my flyering on the mile, doing a couple of hours each day, and chatting to people rather than handing out as many as possible. **Other** You have 25 minutes in between shows for pack-down and set-up which is a brilliant bonus to the venue, and there is limited storage space for acts in the corner of the Ballroom. Flyers and posters can easily be delivered to the venue. A huge thank you again to Voodoo Rooms!