The sun is shining this morning here in Edinburgh and everything is perfectly set for the official first day of the Fringe.
We spent yesterday in a round of administrative duties, tech rehearsals and picking up the obligatory passes. This is the usual routine and as set ups go, everything went pretty smoothly. Even a technology failure didn’t dampen the spirits of the Assembly admin team and we had all our passes by mid-afternoon! And when we say, ‘all’ we are quite a team this year with our own reviewers, production and film crew and the gang from Benefit Cosmetics who join us in time for our preview show today.
The arrival of the freshly painted, pink-tastic Benebus on site outside George Square Gardens was the focus of much excitement on site and one of the day’s highlights! The female members of Assembly’s front of house crew confessed their excitement and we expect they’ll be queuing around the block for a special Benefit Cosmetics ‘make upper’ alongside us later today!
We are really excited about our partnership with Benefit whose motto is ‘laughter is the best cosmetic’ and we now have two weeks to demonstrate that whatever your age, when you laugh out loud as a woman, the release of endorphins helps you to relax, enjoy life and improve your appearance. Go on – try it! We’ll provide the laughs and then get a few essential beauty tips from the wonderful Benefit team to perfect your Funny Women look!
We also paid our first visit to our venue – the gorgeous and historic Bosco Tent – and met with our tech team for the shows who were as at home fixing a broken banner as they are providing clear amplification and stylish lighting – for which we thank you. The Bosco Theatre, to give it its full title, is an original Dutch "Kermis-circus" tent which was built in 1909 and used by the Ophof family to perform their own family circus. You can read all about its history HERE. For now we’re delighted that it’s home to the Funny Women family over the next three weeks.
Our day ended at The List’s Festival Party at Summerhall, which our resident Scot told us used to be known as ‘Dick Vet’. We assume that this has some connection with the fact that Summerhall is the Vetinerary College and we attended a gig in the ‘dissection room’ – not for the faint-hearted – whose polished tiles and iron balcony provided a rather special backdrop to some amazing music.
For those of you contemplating the delights of the Fringe today we’d thoroughly recommend a visit to George Square for the general atmosphere and open air feel of the festival. Both inside the gardens and around the square are fabulous bars and eateries so that you can grab a tasty treat and a coffee between shows. It’s what the Fringe does best and as long as the sun stays shining we’re going to have a fantastic day.
Today’s show is a preview so read about whose on HERE book your tickets HERE or show up at the box office in time for a rollicking hour of female fun at 2.00pm in an historic circus tent, we’ll see you there!
Funny Women Team
