I’ve just got back from Edinburgh: city built by Escher, maker & breaker of dreams, and all-round boot camp for the performing arts.
I’ll do a proper round-up and thank you post when I’ve had more sleep and more time to reflect, but in the meantime: I had some reviews of my debut one-woman show and they were excellent Continue reading
MY DEBUT PAMPHLETS HAVE ARRIVED!
Megawatt thanks to everyone who helped crowdfund this. I couldnt have done it without you. Also huge thanks to Fay Roberts of Allographic Press for editing and designing it. You’d think many years working in editing would stop me being a diva/pain in the ass when it came my turn… but it didn’t. Also huge thanks to my various peer-reviewers who’ve helped me polish these pieces up to a shiny shiny sheen.
Here are some copies of my pamphlet doing a victory conga:
Aaaaand now I need to go do the second night of my solo show ‘Asking Nicely’. 6:15, free, at the Stafford Centre. Come grab a copy for £4.
SO EXCITED!
Well, I’ve been here for two days & I’m a little bit in love. The Fringe can be a cruel mistress – I’m aching all over as I get used to the hills, and recover from dragging suitcases & boxes of over 2,000 flyers up hill, down dale, & up to the top of a tenement building just for good measure, but I’ve never felt more supported or looked after while doing the things I love doing.
The picture is of an Edinburgh care package some of my amazing friends put together for me just before I left. I’ve had messages of support from friends from all over – from people I hadn’t heard from in months to people I never expected to be interested in poetry to… it’s just been lovely. I’ve been bowled over. <3!
So far I’ve done feature spots so far at Outspoken – a queer poetry show on every Wednesday at the Fringe at 2:50 at the Banshee Labyrinth run by the awesome Katherine McMahon, & for home turf gig Other Voices run by Fay Roberts (same time, same place, every day except Wednesdays) & both have gone down a storm. My flyers are here (my pamphlets are not yet which is an arse, but they should be very soon) & my first gig of my show is tomorrow.
I scoped out my venue yesterday and the Stafford Centre staff & volunteers couldn’t be nicer. I also have the rare situation that there’s no one on immediately after me, so I don’t have to rush to clear out so the next act can set up.
I’m nervous & excited & really, really feeling the love. Woke up this morning to a lovely 4-star review of the Other Voices gig from Sabotage:
Hannah Chutzpah‘s nostalgic look at childhood treasures, ‘Butterflies’, was full of youthful magic, winsomely expressing the transformative alchemy of imagination that transformed swimming pools into underwater adventures and a stone into “a fossilised T-Rex claw”. While ‘Permission’ was both an ode to and rallying cry for the women of the world who just didn’t give a f*ck, with Chutzpah relishing the words and tongue-in-cheek humour. She’s performing her own show Asking Nicely from the 14th.
But yes: arrived safely – loving it so far. Start properly tomorrow. Eeeee!
This is the front
The last few months have been ridiculously stressful. All the cool things I’ve been dreaming of and working towards for years have cleverly decided to culminate around the same three weeks. In addition I’ve also had some major life spanners, and I think I’ve found the analogy: it feels like you’ve just sat down to some mega-gourmet six-course meal: everything is intricate and gorgeous and smells great. Then someone turns up behind you with a gun and says “you’ve got fifteen minutes to eat the lot.”
This is the back
Every individual dish is amazing but you’re not able to enjoy it. All you feel is stress and fear and sizing up the next dish while you’re already feeling painfully full.
I hope, at some point in the future, I will be able to remember that the soup was flavoured in complex, subtle ways I’ve never tasted before & the dessert was laid out like a work of art, and HOLY SHIT I TOOK MY OWN SHOW TO THE EDINBURGH FRINGE & PUBLISHED A PAMPHLET but right now Continue reading
