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!
Hannah Chutzpah 