After a relaxed train journey from Kings Cross to Edinburgh courtesy of our travel partner, East Coast, which included the delights of the elegant new First Class Lounge at King’s Cross before we even got on the train, we arrived at Edinburgh in style. Then it was on to settle into the Funny Women Flat in the leafy Bruntsfield neighbourhood, with enough time to survey our venue in George Square Gardens before attending a glittering reception at Harvey Nichols! Phew! Yes, exhausting but all really good fun and a great start to our eighth year at the world famous Edinburgh Fringe.
We got very excited about seeing our fab posters around town, and we’re even more excited about the whole new look Assembly George Square with its central gardens and surrounding areas with bars, food emporiums and, coming soon, the fabulous Benebus which arrives later today!
Our first promotional engagement was with Harvey Nichols, who organised a fantastic Beauty Fest to honour the start of the Fringe Festival. This gave us a chance to show off some of our brilliant new talent and present ourselves alongside our partners Benefit Cosmetics!
This has to be the most stylish setting we’ve ever had for any of our shows, with Gucci and Prada handbags in the background and an elegant bar setting created to serve the sparkling, gold leaf infused Blue Nun, one of our Awards partners! We rose to the occasion by bringing Ladies Live Longer, winners of last year’s Funny Women Variety Award, to the stage for a cheeky glimpse of their debut show, Ladylike.
The Ladies, aka Louise Fitzgerald and Victoria Temple-Morris, had only just arrived in the city and after the rigours of the essential tech rehearsal, they rushed over to make their very first performance for us!
This event was also the start of a partnership with the flagship store when we present 'Cocktail Hour Comedy' every Friday evening between 8.00 and 9.00pm throughout the Fringe in the stunning Windows Bar on the Forth Floor. For a free taste of the comedy we are presenting in George Square Gardens throughout the Fringe, get along for laughs and cocktails and keep checking our events pages for updates.
Last but not least, last night gave us an opportunity to meet some of the brilliant Benefit Cosmetics team we’ll be working with throughout the fest. Store staff were encouraged to dress up for the occasion and we loved the way the Benefit team took this to the max with Karen’s oversized specs a worthy tribute to Dame Edna, and Fhern’s Chaplin-esque pink moustache and top hat!
A sense of humour is part of the Benefit ethos, so we’ll all be right at home with each other over the next two weeks with our run of specially curated shows, booked by our favourite comedy guru, Karen Rosie, two of our Funny Women Awards semi-finals and the winner of 2011 Funny Women Awards, lara A king's debut show, 'people pleaser'.
Keep a check on what we’re doing – we’ll try to give you a daily report! Don’t forget to book tickets for our very first show HERE featuring some Funny Women favourites – Sajeela Kershi, Abi Roberts and Ellie Taylor! This is a PREVIEW show so tickets are just £8! 2.00pm Assembly George Square – Bosco.
Funny Women Team
