Hello, hope you’re all doing well – well enough to have a quick read of this, the fifth Librarians Newsletter. I’d just like to say, straight away, that all of the success of this project is thanks to you, our sponsors. Without you we wouldn’t have had the money to pay the venue, buy the costumes, source the props and a whole host of other things. In short, we have a play because of you! And we really hope that you can find time to come and see what we’ve created.
“Murder! There’s been a murder in the Library!” screeched Barbara LaBarbara.
Talking about coming to see the play, you may have already seen that the first performance of the show sold out! It’s great news, but it also means that we had to turn people away at the door, and that’s something we really don’t want to do. So if you are planning to come, it might be worth booking your tickets online before you get here, just to be safe. You can use the edfringe app, or follow this link to their website.
Update: The second show has just sold out as well. I’ve had a look through the fringe box office sales stats, and we’ve jumped up to 160 presold tickets. Like I said, get your tickets now so you aren’t disappointed on the day!
We set off from Norwich at 3.45pm on Monday via megabus, and spent just over two hours travelling down into London. Once we were there, we settled into a pub (heaving puppets and luggage in with us) and had a meal or two while we waited for the next coach to arrive. Because there were so many of us, they had to designate an extra coach up to Edinburgh; it took a while to get to us at the coach station, but when it did everyone bundled on and tried to get some sleep overnight to arrive in Edinburgh the next morning. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank Megabus for being so kind as to let us bring our puppets onboard. Here’s a quick picture of James Gault with his new coach-buddy, the Grim Reader.
Once we were there, we quickly moved into our flat for the next few weeks. It’s not too far from our venue (about a 15-20 minute walk) so it’s not too grueling to walk to the Royal Mile for flyering every morning. Flyering, of course, is very important when you’re up in Edinburgh. It’s one of the main ways that you can get the word out about your show. In total, we’ve got 10,000 flyers to give away, so if you know anyone looking for a show in Edinburgh… let them know where to find us!
It’s also such a great help that we have a large cast, who can sing and just generally wander about the mile attracting lots of attention. It’s also great that director, Lewis Garvey, insisted keeping the show family friendly so people of all ages can come and enjoy the show.
Update: Check out this link and keep an eye out at the end of the video for cast members Poppy Pedder and Emily Holt appearing on SkyNews.
We also had the time to sort out all of our tech requirements in the venue when we arrived. This involved putting our set into the space, positioning the lights and re-gelling them to different colours. We also got a chance to run through some of the scenes in the space because we had time left. I managed to take a very short stop-motion video clip after we’d moved into the theatre:
One final note to leave you on this week… After our first Preview show back in Norwich, one local company, The Tab, wrote a review of the performance:
★★★★★
“It’s beautifully funny, bleak and bizarre… and extremely gripping!”
To read the review in full, click here.
That’s all for this Newsletter. I’ll be back next week to let you know how the show is progressing, how well we’re doing with flyering and how the show is being received by the fringe-goers around Edinburgh.
If you’re coming to see the show during the week, we look forward to seeing you and we hope you enjoy the performance! The Librarians are waiting for you…