Having completed my 13 day half-run at the Edinburgh Fringe, I've now had time to reflect on the wonderfully wild ride of my show "Angela Bra: Secret Diary of a Bingo Call Girl" - which culminated in nearly two weeks in Scotland.
Edinburgh isn't the only place Bingo Call Girl was performed of course. Early in the year, I filled a thirty seater room at Lancaster Fringe on a pay-what-you-want ticketing system. This was then followed by more lovely shows, though with single digit audiences, at fringes in Derby, Morecambe and Carnforth.
Buxton Fringe swung into action in July and over the two shows on two different nights there I performed to a combined audience of sixty five and actually made a tangible profit - though that turned out to be almost exactly the same profit as two weeks at the largest arts festival in the world...
That may sound bad but by Edinburgh Fringe standards the fact I'm not down thousands of pounds would be considered a miracle by many in the know. The rest of this post explores how this occurred in the hope it might give an insight into the weird world of the fringe - and be of some use to new acts looking to take their show there in the future.
My show ran from July 31st to August 12th with no days off at 9.35pm every night in the Hollywood Room at City Cafe (capacity 30). In those 13 days I performed to a total of 218 people, averaging 17 a night but more accurately ranging from two nights at capacity, many more just short of that and two with just four glorious bums on seats skewing that mean.
The Laughing Horse Free Festival allows people to donate whatever they like on the night or "donate in advance" to reserve a seat - selecting a donation of £5, £7.50, £10 or £12.50. The donation has no bearing on where you sit and is very much in the spirit of the Free Festival for people to pay what they can afford.
Based on the previous year, I'd expected reserved seat donations to be an occasional bonus and not the norm. However, this year over half of my attendees (124) paid up front leaving the rest (94) to donate on the way out. For reasons I do not know, but am exceptionally flattered by, of the 124 who effectively bought a ticket just 35 paid £5 with 18 paying £7.50, 31 paying £10 and 40 paying £12.50. Whilst I performed to adults of all ages, some nights definitely trended towards those over fifty and this comparative affluence may have been a factor.
Donations from the 94 came to £596 - or £6.34 a head. Pretty good for those very much going to the Free Festival for it's affordability over the "paid fringe" as it's known. The vast majority predictably being on the younger end of the demographic.
So I'm rolling in cash, card taps and ticket payments right? Wrong. Accommodation came to just over £1,000 - which is an utter bargain compared to what most pay but it's still big money. How did I pay approximately a quarter of what most would for a one bed flat? I stayed thirty miles out of town in a village called Walkerburn and drove fifty minutes in and out every day that's how. Well, at least it meant I didn't spend vast sums on alcohol.
Registration for the fringe is just shy of £300 and Laughing Horse registration (who allocate your venue) is an utter bargain at approximately £165 - less than some paid fringe groups effectively charge per day.
Posters and flyers came to £60 but my flyering was limited to giving them out to audiences after the showcases I took part in ("exit flyering") and less than one hour in total standing on the street. Whilst street flyering works for mainstream shows, experience has taught me it's almost pointless in my case. I was also doing guest spots in the hours running up to my show anyway.
Posters are even less effective, which was just as well as I couldn't find any wall to put mine up and ended up with just one displayed - and that was in the men's toilets at City Cafe.
I surveyed my audience and the vast majority came from reading the Edfringe guide/app, word of mouth recommendation or they had seen me before. Almost none came from my showcase spots - but I enjoyed those for what they were anyway.
I left Edinburgh £180 richer than I entered - my petrol is tax deductable and I would be eating and drinking regardless so I haven't factored these in. I saw very few shows but I did get to see plenty of comics in action at the compilation hours I took part in (Laughing Horse Pick of the Fringe at The Three Sisters and Bar 50 + 2 Truths 1 Lie at Hoots and Everything But Stand-up at The Counting House). The only full show I saw was my friend Cristina Bacacay's "Red Flag" and I was even late for that.
So was it worth it? Absolutely. I had a very well received show and have the audience reviews to prove it. I met up with friends, watched great sets, met a couple of interesting industry types and have the promise of future work from a few promoters (mainly, of course, for bingo).
Next year I may well be doing another half-run (like this year, for personal reasons) but as well as an updated Bingo Call Girl I'll aim to bring a second show. It could be a revived Dumbgenz & Dragqueenz with Annie Sup or see the return of my compilation hour, Clash of the Tight Tens. That's still to be decided. I've already written a new song for BCG though.
Bingo Call Girl's run hasn't end with Edinburgh. This September I'm taking it to the New Mills
Festival and then in November I'll be in Nottingham for theirs.
Any questions?
