How to follow Fenny Compton?
OK - double, almost treble the audience and thus the amount of money raised. Equal the appreciation. This, I think happened in Solihull the following week. Lorna Bevins. I don't usually mention promoters by name but Lorna had responded to the Marie Curie Big Build appeal in Solihull to find 100 women willing to raise £100 each in order to fund the building of a new wing on the side of the Children's Hospice. She drew an audience of 300 to watch Family Matters at The Bushell Hall, Solihull School and raised £4000. For the first time ever I had an inkling of what it is like to perform in a big venue. I'm used to intimate face to face, ear to ear contact with the the audience. I'm used to standing in kitchens and corridors, staff rooms and meeting rooms - anywhere that is out of sight of the audience in a village hall or school venue. But as I stood on the dark side of the vast velvet curtain on the Bushell Hall stage, surrounded by drum kits, music stands and the leftovers of previous productions all I could hear was a hum. The kind of hum that 300 people make. Only a velvet curtain separating me from them and even as I write this it sounds frightening, but there wasn't time for nerves. The route from the dressing room had been complex and I'd left the SatNav in the car so I had to go it alone. Made it in time and located the cans. Yes, cans. I had walkie talkie contact with John the techie who was five miles away at the other side of the auditorium. "Hello?" I whispered hoarsely. "Hello Ginny." said John in a normal voice, being used to this kind of thing. And that was pretty much the end of the conversation. All we really needed to do was establish that each other was there and we were ready to go. Cue music. Cue lights. Step on stage....miles of stage on which to stretch out and perform. Ok, don't get carried away. Audiences and venues like that are usually neither for Christmas nor for life.
The following week I gave my talk "To The Fringe And Beyond" to the Knowle Branch of the British Legion. This was fun. I set up the stage informally in full view of the audience and listened in on their banter. "You've got a lovely bum." wafted over from a table at which three rather elderly ladies sat with drinks. I turned to look, not wanting to miss out on a view of a lovely bum. Wasn't expecting it to belong to another woman. Gosh its different giving a talk though. No script. Sometimes when I share stories with friends I know I'm being interesting, sometimes I know I'm not. Without a script, but with sixty or so listeners, how could I know in advance which way this would go. Not as easy as it sounds, is talking. Thank heavens for my friend Cathy who heard the dress rehearsal in the morning. No script? No way!
Then back to Family Matters. Back to Middleton Cheney Primary School - one of the best audiences I know. Middleton Cheney isn't that far from Fenny Compton. They're both pretty close to Banbury. I guess there can't much else laugh at in Banbury.
And then .... the final assault - the Buxton Festival Fringe. Four days of flyering frenzy and Festival hype. I must confess that by this time of year I'm pretty done in and I had wondered to myself why I was bothering with Buxton. Within an hour of my arrival I remembered The people of Buxton are absolutely charming. They take flyers from my hand, they express interest in the show, they wish me good luck, and they make the whole experience utterly enjoyable. AND they gave me a five star review. I didn't think my shows were up to that. Solid four star stuff was what I did, I thought. I have always hoped for that elusive fifth star but had rather given up on it. But Buxton came up trumps. Lovely Buxton, bless you.
That is it for the 2011-2012 season. See you in October.
