Toronto Fringe Week 2 Roundup

The week 1 Toronto Fringe Roundup with producer of Damn Tank (@damntankTO), Laura McCallum (@lauramcsee), Nisha Coleman (@NishaColeman) of Self-Exile, David Kingsmill (@dragonliterate) of Romeo and Juliet Chainsaw Massacre (@RJMassacre), and Gillian English (@gillian_english)joined host, Phil Rickaby on a slightly windy morning on the second last day of Toronto Fringe, to continue the conversation about Toronto Fringe, how their shows have been going, what they’ve seen and their favourite Fringe moment of Toronto Fringe 2016. Recorded Saturday, July 9 2016 @ 10AM

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Transcript

Well, this is day 11 of the Toronto Fringe Festival, and I am returning from last week. We have David Kingsmill and Nisha Coleman, and also joining is Gillian English. There might be some other people joining shortly.

It is, of course, early on the second last day of the Toronto Fringe Festival, so I’m not surprised if people overslept. So, how, I mean, this is, when we last spoke, it was like day three, you know, there was something ridiculous like that, and now it’s like the day, the second last day of the Fringe. How have things been going? Good.

No, it’s been, it’s been really good fun. It’s, I can’t remember if I said this last week, but it’s my first time actually being in a show in the Fringe here. I was company manager for Adventures of Barreira de Copa Xancar last year, but I haven’t actually performed in one.

It’s a different atmosphere. It’s, I’ve missed it. I haven’t been on stage for a little while.

I am. And I’ve just been having a whale of a time. We’ve been really fortunate, both thanks to, I think, a lot of hard work by the production team and fortune of having a sellable product.

We’ve had a lot of really good audiences, really good sizes, and yeah, just having a blast. That’s good. That’s good.

Nisha? Well, oh, our new addition has arrived. Now joining us, Laura McCallum. Come on in.

Yeah, it’s been, it’s been good. I’ve been learning a lot, let’s say, about variations in audience and maybe like, I feel like I alter my delivery every day because the audiences are small and there seems to be a consensus, this unsaid consensus of how they want it to be. So sometimes it’s more subtle, sometimes it’s more obvious, sometimes it takes like the first 15 minutes and then I just find myself morphing into like what that performance will be that day.

That’s new to me. Is that, is that something that you’re just sort of sensing from the audience? Yeah, yeah. And just based on like laughter or a lack of laughter, I can have an opening 10 or not even like seven minutes and there’s opportunities for laughter there and I can kind of base the whole performance on those first seven minutes.

Yesterday, not a sound, not a peep. And I was like, okay, okay, I can do this, I can do this. And then sometimes like the second line, I can hear like a muffled laughter and I think, okay, it’s going to be that kind of a performance.

And each one is fine in its own way. Some are just harder and more of a challenge and, but it’s all just like this big learning experience. So I’m happy to have it.

Gillian, your show, you’re in one of those unique positions where you were like super last minute addition to the fringe. And I know that’s a challenge because not only are you not, you’re not in the program, but when you come in, like, I would assume before the fringe, did you find out that you were coming into the fringe? Eight days. Eight days.

Okay. And that’s because that’s not, it’s hard to get like any kind of pre-fringe attention Yeah. Assuming before the fringe.

I was, I was, ended up being very lucky in terms of pre-press. Derek Chua put me on his list, I think, by virtue of, I feel like, sorry for me. Mooney on Theater, who’ve always loved my work.

They put me on their top picks and I somehow managed to get into the National Post. I don’t know. I don’t know that it’s made any difference to be honest.

Maybe it has. My pre-sales have been really good, but if I have great pre-sales, I know I’m not going to really have a lot of walk-ups. In fact, I know I’m not going to have a lot of walk-ups the whole festival because I’m not in the program.

So no one’s just going to be looking through me like, oh, what is this? And I’m eight weeks back, months and months back in terms of my community being aware that I’m performing in this festival. So it’s, that said, the show’s always ready to go. I could do it right now.

That’s a non-starter, but it was just the hustle of Montreal just straight into the hustle of this. And it’s a harder hustle here for sure. They’re very different.

They’re very different for any of you. Very different festivals. Very, very different.

We were talking about the variation in front of festivals like last week and just how different each one can be. And not being in the program, I mean, the app is not yet at a point where I think anybody is willing to ditch the paper program. I didn’t realize there was an app.

Yeah, there’s a Toronto Fringe app and I think that a lot of people don’t know that. And I think they do a great job of promoting the fact that there’s an app. You’re in the app.

I checked that. But I think that it’s not at a point where people are willing to ditch the app. Well, yeah.

I also feel like because it was so last minute, some stuff kind of got skipped. Like I made sure that I ticked the boxes that my show is 18a, that it had a mature content, sexual content, super coarse language. And somehow those warnings didn’t appear at first.

And so I had a 10 year old in the audience the other day and I came up from behind the curtain was like, child, nope, nope. You gotta go. You gotta go.

And the dad was like, oh, it’s fine. You know, he’s seen no matter what you say, he’s heard worse. And I was like, I guarantee you, no, I guarantee you that’s inaccurate.

And he was like, no, it’s fine. And I started, I got three words into my show and the mother was like, out, get out, out. So it’s, but yeah, it’s been very interesting for me because this is my sixth year trying to get into this festival.

This was the closest I’ve ever come at 10th on the wait list. And I got in eight days before the festival. I’ve been on the jury twice.

I’ve stage managed twice. And I’ve just been like the most active fringe goer ever, two years. So being on the other side of it now is illuminating me.

Yeah. Laura, your, your, your show performance, last performance. Yeah, very close on Thursday.

And how is it? How has Fringe been for you? Very rushed. Um, there we did. We weren’t able to rely on word of mouth because by the time the word of mouth came around, we had closed.

Oh, the amount of people who have tried to see the show yesterday and today, and it’s sorry we’re done. And Yuri were one of those rarities that because of an actor car commitment, we had to close really early. We still had our seven shows.

It was from the beginning. We’re in the program that we closed early, but, um, it meant we had three reviewers come to our final show because they thought they were booking midweek of the second week. Sounds great.

And at the end of the day, reviews are fantastic for further work, but for ticket sales, not so much. Not at that point. So, uh, we tried to push very hard those first couple of days, but we’re competing with some of those other bigger names.

Uh, you’re like, you want to see those big names right off the bat, that’ll sort of settle. Like those two might take a minute to gossip. Figure what though, Fringe might sell out as well.

That means you, by the time you’re sort of paying attention to who is actually flyering, you have a, uh, a bit, a bit to do by now. It’s really hard when you kind of get bummed about seeing, like, you know, refer to you. Like, where are you my asshole? Yeah, baby.

You’re a sexy ass. Yeah. Really isn’t right.

He’s almost a little red good, but I can’t see that today. So what else can I see? At least not till like a little later in the rain. Yeah.

Um, you guys seen anything that blew you away that you really enjoy? I saw South Exile by Nisha Coleman. Rebecca Perry was saying, I saw her in line and she was like, I went to see, I went to see Nisha’s show purely based on your conversation with her, it blew me away. Oh, nice.

Gorgeous, absolutely stunning piece of solo work. That is. Yeah.

Oh my. Absolutely. We jumped with that one and it was well worth it.

I’m glad you guys could make it. Yeah. That’s, I think my best play that I’ve seen.

Also out, Harrisdown. And that my, in tandem with that, I would say then my best musical I saw life after. And that was phenomenal.

They’re both, both such, um, uh, they’re think pieces, not hard. It’s not, it’s not going to break your brain to go into either of them, but both of them leave you with this wonderful sense that you’ve really seen something that you need to consider, uh, the stories in, in each of them are incredible. And I think the, the music in life after is also absolutely wonderful.

Um, British does a great job with that. And yeah, both of them completely blew me away. Also, um, Fire in the Meth Lab.

John Bennett’s Fire in the Meth Lab, um, said St. Vlad’s. It’s my favorite show he’s ever done. John’s a dear friend of mine.

I will prep this by saying that, but the first show I ever saw him do was Fire in the Meth Lab. I hadn’t met him ever. And I thought he was a Montreal friend.

It was like four years ago. And I was just like, who is this man? And where, like, where, where did this come from? And for better or for worse, I would become intensely stylistically influenced by the John Bennett school story. So yeah, it’s true.

He’s a, he’s a power out. Yeah. And it’s, you just do this like really chill, like, oh, hi.

Yeah. And then he just, and it’s amazing. And it’s such a beautiful story.

That’s so difficult. And he just tackles it so lovely. Well, lovely.

Well, I don’t know. He’s lovely. Well, yeah.

Go see Fire in the Meth Lab. Don’t. He’s a powerhouse and a legend for a reason.

It’s funny because I mean, that’s a powerful piece. And my first, the first time I heard of John Bennett, he was doing pretending things are a cock. So it’s a very different.

Well, even pretending things are a cock is still a very poignant piece. Like he’s still, still shits himself in the woods, but he has his own realization and like finds himself. And it’s, he’s, he just tells his life is just such a ridiculous story that even the more poignant moments still come with poop and dicks.

So. And he has such sensitivity. That’s what amazes me.

He has a lot of power, but then you, you sense this like really intense sensitivity underneath. Real empathetic. Yeah.

Go see John Bennett. Do yourselves a favor. Go see, go see the little lousy leopard.

Nisha, did you see anything that day? Yeah. I’ve been hanging out a lot in the solos room. Just seeing what the other folks are up to.

So Gillian’s in there. I loved her show when I caught it in Montreal and I love to see the parallels between all the solo shows. Cause the themes can vary drastically.

And yet I always find like these really poignant parallels. Our piece involves farting. Yep.

So there’s that. Sarah Hagen is this concert pianist and she, she’s doing a show called Perk Up Pianist. It’s about life as a concert pianist.

Going from Carnegie Hall to the Terragon solo room. That progression. And just like, what an interesting mix of stories.

And also she performs many times on the piano and she’s just a fantastic pianist. So it’s really interesting to see her show and also Z Queer as Fuck. I really- You saw that? Yeah.

Yeah. It’s, it’s incredible. And what’s up now? Yes.

Did I? Um, Laura, have you- Yes, she’s 16. She did. Did you get through all of them? I have three left per set.

Okay. So scene 19. Yeah.

Out of the 16, almost all of them were hints for me. I’ve only had maybe two or three that I just didn’t jive about production wise, production quality wise. But, um, some big hits.

Songbuster. Just, I could never do that. That’s what I used the whole time.

Like, I’ve very good at name call personing. So it was just like the two things that scared me the whole time. They were like, do you like it? Well, they’re improvising at the start.

Well, it’s very- And it’s different every- I, I understood. It’s going to give an infrastructure of, uh, picky and muddy. Okay, four of us will be the first scene and the three of you will be the next.

You have no idea of the character. Yeah. Um, light list, which is the birdwashing white shirt.

Um, for a diversified fringe, they encourage you to see a show that makes you uncomfortable or pushes you out of your comfort zone. And audience participation is that for me. So I’m to see that one and you’re handed a clipboard and asked to basically walk all the way up to DuPont with, um, this man who’s looking for the white robin, which is like a rare bird in the area.

And you’re looking for birds. You’ve had to identify them this year about his relationship with her washing his mother. And it’s a very, very candid back.

She just, he went back yardage. Oh, no. And who’s up there? You will see anything like this.

If it wasn’t there. And because you create a future of a set specific, was find it as a way to get around the lottery is, oh yeah, my show must be performs in a kitchen. Yeah.

Oh, so Peter and Chris, you can always rely on Peter and Chris to give you something. I would rejoice a lot. And I went to see a dance show.

And I don’t usually have a whole lot of luck with dance as far as like it working for me. But I went to see exterminating angel, which was so good. And for me, usually when I go to see a dance piece, especially it’s modern dance, it had to be so abstracted.

I had my break keeps trying to figure out what the story like. I can’t just so settle down. I used to watch, you know? Yeah.

But this had such dynamic stuff going on. It was incredible. Really awesome.

I saw actually riffing off that point. I saw a dance center. And I mean, one of the things that I enjoyed about that was the fact that it wasn’t, I mean, it was, it was abstract in the sense of it was dance representing action.

But the stories weren’t abstract at all. There was absolutely no question about what’s going on. And I really enjoyed it simply for that same reason.

If I could just, I didn’t have to use my brain to fathom what was happening. I just enjoy the show. It’s great.

Gillian, you weren’t here last week. And everybody got a chance to talk about their show last week. So could you tell me a little bit about your show? Sure.

My show is called A Bitter Shrew. How do I put this without using horrible words? You could use that. This is a podcast.

So this is a show about trying to get a dick. And I get them. I get plenty of them.

And I tell you all about all of them. None of it ever goes well. And I, it’s always great.

I have people afterwards who are like, but you must be in a really great relationship now, or they’re stuck. They’re stuck. You’re leaving out.

I’m like, no, I have toned it down. Like it is rated 18A. And I booted a child out for their own innocence.

And I have toned it down. It’s just, yeah, people have always called me a bitter shrew. Always.

I had a reviewer in Montreal who, he’s a bit of a men’s rights activist, who really did not like my show, Drag Me Stole My Dress, because he thought that I should have sacrificed myself for my asshole ex. So, and I did not. So he included in his review, Gillian English is a bitter shrew.

Wow. So I wrote a show called Gillian English is a Bitter Shrew. And it’s exploring through sex, why it’s acceptable to call women that.

Like, why is it that because I’m loud and aggressive and just a touch violent and strong, and I refuse to back down. And this is the kind of like, kind of woman that men are always like, oh, I want someone to challenge me. I want.

And then the second day encounter, they go, oh no, you’re challenging me. So why is it okay to call us those names? And why is it that perhaps I get called that a lot? And so I started at the beginning from my first sexual experience, through my canceled wedding, through one night stands, actual dates and relationships I’ve had through to my last real boyfriend having a heart attack. At 26.

Wow. And you performed that in Montreal before you came to Toronto. Um, that’s, that’s, I mean, that’s a, that’s a lot of really spot stuff.

Your audiences are. I love it. It’s a great show.

I had a show right after Gillian’s in Montreal. And I, I wasn’t, I just forgot all about my show. I was so captivated by the stories and they’re so entertaining.

And yet there is that underlying kind of message there that you, you leave with. Yeah. Well, my, my other shows are very, especially Get Around Me, which is about sexual assaults in Australia or football.

Um, it’s real. The feminism is over. Uh, I would mad with that one.

So I was like, no, sit there and look me in the eye and I’m going to tell you about something horrible that’s happened and you’re going to confront it. Yeah. Uh, it was a protest piece.

But, and, and now I’m just like, I’ve, I’ve learned that if I want to be internationally marketable, it has to be a straight comedy, but I’m still me. So the comedy is still about slut shaming and self-worth. Yeah.

Um, and some feminism and whatnot, but it’s also about like, a lot of farts and like sex farts and a lot of, a lot of period stuff and a lot of like weird dicks and just. I learned a lot too. Yeah.

It was really eye opening. It’s very informative. Um, like anatomy wise, sexual health wise.

It’s an instructional show. Yeah. If you’re a dude who’s like, how do I do it better? Come on down and see a better narrator.

You know, we’re going to tweet that. That’s fine. That’s it.

That’s the tweet right there. So in terms of, uh, like, cause that show coming out of some men’s rights, men’s rights after this, he and it did, um, there are other ways that you can deal with that. But if you have some more, um, the more proactive, probably, I guess, healthier way to do it than like just raging at the dude.

I rage all the time. I’m like the Hulk. I’m always angry.

My next show, I’m already third of the way writing it. It’s called Giants and Angry. Um, I just, I don’t know.

I don’t have it in me anymore to ignore it. So when, when a reviewer feels that it’s okay to write a review, not of my show, but of me. Yes.

Which includes like Gillian English is a bitter shrew. She should have stayed with him. Like she should have like sacrificed her own, like personal goals to make this other, like person who is not a good person.

Like that, like, I don’t have time for that shit anymore. I don’t have time for catcalling. I don’t have time for people telling me I can’t do something because I’m a woman.

Right. I’m done. So if you’re afraid of me, be afraid of me, but I will not go away.

Yeah. I am not shutting up and I’ll pop a party. Um, so it’s, and especially when I did Get Around Me, I did that because I would, someone tried to rape me when I played football for Team Canada and AFL Canada did nothing, nothing.

And so as an individual who happened, we, what’s my best rewards? Yeah. Where am I dip again? The loudest mess. Well, I have a giant soapbox called the theater.

Yeah. Fine. You handle it.

I handle it. My way comes with an off-Broadway opening and a press release. Yeah.

And I will do it. I’m all about follow dirt, which I did. And I, and I toured that show all over the world and I got myself a human rights and best species AFL.

So yeah, I’m not, I’m not quite sure how to, how to transition. Awesome. No, absolutely great.

Farts. There we go. So now it’s just, we have just have today and we have Sunday labs getting their fringe.

Your show is sadly done. Laura. And how many more shows does Rolling Dark? We’ve got two more actual fringe shows.

And then we were fortunate enough to get pick off and Patrice took our best off. So we actually have another six. Congratulations.

Yeah, yeah. That’s great. Thank you.

Yeah. We’re absolutely delighted with it. It’s, I think what I like so much is I feel like after seven shows, if we stopped, I’d be feeling like, no, it’s not out of me yet.

So I’m actually really glad that we’ve got four more to actually run with. And they’re a bit distance apart. The last best off show for us is the 26th.

So we’ve actually got away before it finally is done. But yeah, I’m just glad we get to do a few more. And I’m glad that the audiences have enjoyed it as much as they have done.

And, you know, we’ve had some lovely press as well. Yeah, I’m just feeling very fortunate to be part of it right now. Of course you are just merely delaying the post-show depression.

It won’t come. This is absolutely true. Although I did a show in Edinburgh in 2014 that got picked up for an extra week.

In a show in Edinburgh, London. And then I recorded the Eritrea forecast recording for it. And I did find having that slowing the train down instead of stopping it dead, does let the blues kind of seat out a little bit for I go into massive crash mode.

Airshow stop. Yeah. It’s a post-show blues is a thing.

If you’re listening to this and you haven’t experienced it, it’s literally like having the best thing that you’ve done for the last two weeks. Though you can find that it’s hard to let me binge and be ripped out of your life. And it’s very odd.

Yeah. That’s why you need to tour the circuit. And then when this circuit ends, you go to Australia and you try Australian circus and you just never stop.

So never stop is what you’re saying. The way to avoid it is to just never stop. Your liver’s going to hate you.

Never going to have a normal poop ever again in your life. But you’ll be so happy. Yeah.

Anisha, how many shows do you have left? I have two more. You have two more? Yeah. That’s great.

One today at 2.45 and one tomorrow at 4. That’s great. Yeah. And it’s been, I mean, I asked you how it’s been going.

Yeah. Aside from those two shows, what are you going to do for the, are you going to see any other shows? Yeah, yeah. Now’s like really binge time.

Like I am exhausted, but I feel like I have more brain power. Yeah. To, to concentrate on, on other pieces.

So I’m going to see Wasteland like right after this. And I’m going to come and see your show, David. And yeah.

And Helder. Yeah. I’m going to go check out his show tomorrow.

And yeah, I’m just going to pack it all in, not worry about how I’m feeling really. I’ve like preserved myself this far. I think.

I always find it difficult at the beginning to have a friend to be able to really successfully see another show. Yeah. I couldn’t do it.

I’m too consumed with remembering my show or it’s my show or stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah.

It’s, then you have to all fit it in at the end. Yeah. Julianne, do you have one left? I have one left tomorrow at 2.15. Tomorrow at 2.15. That’s great.

Yeah. I’m not, I don’t really have a plan. I tend to fringe real hard for the first week.

Like, and I think that’s just, that’s just my habit of being so excited about Theatre Christmas. And I was on the jury for the last few years as well. So it would just be like, see all the shows.

So now I’m tired and my liver’s angry. Sorry. But I’m not, I’m not sure.

I have, I have to do a thing. I’m hosting a naughty life drawing party. Oh my.

Tonight, you know, because of course you are life of an artist. You got to take the money where they give it to you. But if, if I get out of that on time.

I’ll see, I, I love going to a festival. And even though I’ve been here and we’re, I’m doing this festival. I don’t know all of the shows.

So it’s, it’s always kind of fun for me. It’s my favorite thing to do in every city. To just look at the program and be like, what’s on where closest to me right now.

And then just go see something I know absolutely nothing about. And that’s how I’ve seen some of my favorite work. That’s how I made some of my best friends.

Like I saw a show in New York and I loved it so much. It chased the people down the street, yelling lines from the show. Until they stopped and agreed to be my friend.

Which is kind of though. That early? Yeah. So I’ll, I’ll see what I can see there.

So there’s, I went through the program and there were like 40 shows I wanted to see. I knew that that simply wasn’t possible. I think I’ve seen six.

Yeah. So I’m just going to see what I can do. And, but you’ll probably find me here in the tents drinking.

Your liver must be angry. Cause I mean, I know how the Montreal Friend Trust is. Oh my God.

You came straight from there to here. Yes. And I’m Nova Scotian.

Oh yeah. There’s that. Yeah.

And I’m going home to Nova Scotia. So there will be no rest for the weary. I was going to say, there’s definitely something to the see something you know nothing about as well.

I went into a first show I saw. I think it was the first show I saw. I saw The Hold the Barfly.

And I went to see it because I knew a couple of people in it. And it was right early on. And so we got word of mouth and we went along to go and see the show.

And I had absolutely no idea what I was walking into. And it’s a fantastic sketch show. I really, really enjoyed it.

And I think it’s just, it’s so nice to have that ability and you can do it so easily at French. I’ve just like, I don’t know what this is. I’m going to go and see it.

Yeah. And you get wonderful stuff out of it. Occasionally it goes wrong.

Occasionally, I think a couple of times, not, not here. A couple of times in Edinburgh, I see something knowing nothing about it. And I put a little bit of something I can put in the area.

I, I miss a couple of these tiny things. It’s always good. I mean, even if you take a risk, it’s not like you’re breaking the bank.

Cause you know, seeing a show for like 10 bucks. And, uh, if it’s not awesome, then, you know, you will wait an hour, both of them. Yeah.

That’s something John, uh, Tom and I have talked about a lot is what you end up talking about the shows you don’t like so much more than the shows you like. Yeah. Uh, cause I, when I was on the jury last year, I ended up having to see a show where I was like angry that I didn’t have that.

Like that I actually had to see it. I had to hold someone’s hand. Like, I didn’t know this girl very well, but we needed to hold hands during that.

So, cause it was a trauma. Um, sorry, but Oh my cool. Like, and, and, and when you’re like, okay, it’s almost an hour.

It’s Oh, they’ve got a 90 minutes. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Just, Oh my God. Oh, they’re singing again.

Okay. Especially if you have a show, you really want to see what’s happening right after. And you’re thinking crap.

I don’t like this. And I get it. But, uh, Laura, you’re sick.

Now you said you’ve got a couple more. So as she is two more, three, three more. Are you going to TBA from those three? Now that you have all this extra time, could your shows pause? No, I’m going to go to work today.

But I was able to deviate on four. I added four. So I was only planning on seeing 15.

I added four just because like, yeah. Some people spell you so well. It’s like, I had plans that I seen this and this.

And someone said, no, you have to see this. I said, okay, what if I rearrange this? Okay. So I did deviate on a couple.

Some of those were pleasant surprises. Some of them, unfortunately, were not. But as you said, you’re not breaking the bank.

Cause I passed it out. The amount of money I’ve spent on Ticket at Fringe is the exact same amount that I spent on my Soul Pepper subscription this year. And to see this many shows versus the six I get with my Soul Pepper subscription.

I don’t know if it’s worth any more. Yeah. I found myself really susceptible to people in line.

I probably pointed to like, somebody walks up to me in a show. Because I’ve been on that end. If somebody comes up to me with, can I tell you about my show? I’m always, yes.

And I get really angry at all the people who were like on this side and that side. Like, no, I’m like, you’re dicks. You’re dicks.

This is important. So, you know, somebody tells me about their show and I know within 30 seconds, I’m going to see it. But if their pitch is good, I’m going.

Yeah. You know? I used to love flyering. Flyering was my favorite thing to do.

And then the Adelaide Fringe broke me. Because you try to flyer people and they’re like, I’m not going to see a fucking show. And I was like, okay, okay.

And then in Montreal, it goes pretty well flyering in Montreal. But John and I were both trying to flyer here. And he’s just called flyer in the meth lab.

And I’m like, no, he’s like, it’s okay. I’m just going to leave it on the table. No, no, there’ll be no meth.

They’re like, farts, no. I feel like there’s a few things more demoralizing than someone taking your flyer, looking at it, looking at you and going, no, and giving it back. I went to the Art Crow in Hamilton last night because I was showing the Hamilton Fringe.

And some flyer people and people took my flyer, looked at him and no. And that is a really horrible experience. Calgary was the one that pissed me off.

Because Calgary Fringe was you would go to people in line and you wouldn’t even get it. Could I tell you about my show? And they say, no. Yeah.

I sort of feel like, no, like right away. No. That’s what Adelaide, because a lot of people in Adelaide don’t necessarily realize the Fringe is a festival and not just a giant beer tent.

Yes. And they purposely have all their festivals at the same time to just make life miserable. And so there’s this Indy 500 style, like street racing thing that’s happening.

So there are these people who really don’t give a f*** about theater. And they’re in your venue. And you’re like, I walked up to it like a group of real gregarious, like middle-aged ladies once.

I was like, oh, these ladies look like my mom. They’re going to love my show. And I was like, hey.

And they just stopped and looked at me and went, oh, why? It was like a girl gang of this thing. It was for Cinemet Cuba. Wow.

Wow. That’s hot. I did find out a little bit in Edmonton.

Edmonton is this huge fringe where a lot of people in Edmonton don’t even really realize there’s a theater component because they go to the beer tent and they go for the bus rides and they go for the food trucks. Yeah. And they don’t know about the theater part.

And you will start telling people about your show. And they’re like, you’re what? That was the second biggest in the Williamstown race. Adelaide’s second biggest and Perth is third.

Oh, really? Perth doubled in a year. 300, 350 shows and 700 shows. Oof, it was a challenge in Perth.

I’ll bet. I had a shit time trying to get noticed in. Well, I mean, we were OK in Edmonton, but I just felt so swallowed by it.

And yeah, it’s weird to fix people who don’t know that it’s happening. But then, I mean, if you go, if you try to like you came, it’s not a situation where you flyer. At Toronto Fringe, you can come to Montreal and that those are cities where you can’t really flyer outside in the Fringe area because people don’t know.

They have no idea. They have no idea. But if you go to Winnipeg or Edmonton, you say Fringe, people say yes.

Yeah. So everybody knows about it. It’s very, they’re very different.

Well, and I do the Halifax Fringe because I’m from Nova Scotia. And it’s always really interesting because there’s, there are more and more touring artists showing up there, but a lot of them are locals and they have built in audiences. So the first year we were doing Love in the Time of Time Machines there and I was flyer, I was exit flyering a show and someone was like, what are you doing? Like, um, flyering? They were like, why? How else am I going to do this? But now that I’ve gone back a bunch of times and people are like, oh, yeah, that’s Gillian.

She’s from Pigsley County. She went to Downtown. It doesn’t matter because now, now I’m essentially like a local who’s not a local.

And it goes a lot. It goes really well. I don’t have a lot of experience with the Maritime Fringers.

I have people who’ve invited me, played the live, want me to go out there, but they’re friends. So I don’t actually know if I can sell anything out there. Small group of friends.

But yeah, I don’t know much about those festivals. It’s, I haven’t done, uh, St. John or Charlottetown yet. I haven’t done the Island Fringe, although, uh, Sarah Sigalizar is running it.

So I’m sure it’s a super great festival. Halifax is in redevelopment. They’re almost collapsed and they’re bringing it back to life and they’re doing a really great job.

It’s not necessarily as organized as some of these, like festivals are going to find on the west of the cap circuit because, you know, they have built in staff and they have more funding. But you’re going to have a great time in Halifax. And it just, it depends.

Like I do well because I’m from there and I come back and they enjoy that. But, uh, and Sexty Rex always does really well there too. Um, cause they’re Sexty Rex.

So it, it just, it’s luck of the draw really. And I mean, I think we can all agree festival to festival. You can kill it at one festival.

And then two days later you go to another city and the wind just pops out of your sails. It’s like, all right, we’re going to start over again. Well, you do have to assume that you’re starting over.

And I think it’s a mistake to think that, oh, I’ll go to Montreal. And then when I get to Toronto, everyone will have heard of me. Yeah, that’s not how it works.

This is starting from zero. Yeah. What’s your favorite part of the Fringe so far? I mean, we’re two days left.

What’s been your favorite thing? It doesn’t have to be a show. It can be a Fringe tent moment. Can be pretty much anything.

Interesting question. I think for me, it’s just been the opportunity. Cause I’ve, I’ve, I came into the theater circuit in Canada.

So February last year, so February, 2015. So I haven’t been in it for that long. Uh, and I’ve made a lot of friends in a very short time.

I think part of that, uh, you know, I’m Rebecca Ferry’s partner and she knows everybody in Toronto. So that has helped. But getting to see these people perform.

I’ve seen so many people on stage recently who I’ve known for over a year. And I know I’ve heard them sing at the Singular Sensation. Yes, Statler’s.

Or I, I’ve seen them sort of cameo in this, that or the other, but I’ve never actually got to see them fully act. Yeah. And it’s been wonderful to get that chance.

That’s been a big thing for me, just as a new to the fringe, as someone who’s come in for the first time. I did see a few shows last year that I was working two jobs at the time. So I think on any phase, uh, this year has been really big for me.

Um, I think for me, it’s just bonding with all the artists and, and talking about our experiences. Yeah, they’re busy today, aren’t they? Um, are we good? Okay. Um, yeah, it’s like instant friendships and, and strong bonding and, and then seeing other people’s shows and helping promote other people’s shows and having them help promote my show.

It’s like, it’s, it’s a really good feeling to have, to be part of a community, like right away. Yeah. It’s like, you’re, you’re in it.

So. It’s interesting, the instant brotherhood of the fringe. Yeah, it’s really special.

Really like, um, it was like an instant connection because we’re all in it together and we’re all basically having the same experience. Because all of us know what it’s like to have a show that’s going really well and all of us know what it’s like to have a show that’s not. And, and, and so it’s like, it’s just a really great instant friendship sort of thing.

Yeah. I mean, riffing off that one of my friends said once really well, it’s like making friends inside out. Yes.

Because you know the person so well before you know anything about them. Yeah. It’s this weird thing of acting.

Yeah. Yeah. It’s true.

Gillian, what’s been your favorite thing so far? I would say kind of going off of what Nisha said for me, seeing the depth and variety of different styles of solo performance. Um, because I honestly started doing solo work because after touring an ensemble show that I was producing, I was like, I’m doing all the work. I’m paying for everything.

You guys are driving me crazy. I mean, I love them. They are my friends, but I was like, I am not touring the country being somebody’s mother again.

And I saw other people. I saw, I’d seen John perform. I’d seen Chris Gibbs perform.

And I was just like, screw it. I can do it solo. And it was really just out of the desire to keep doing fringe, but not have to do solo.

Um, and so for me, like, I, I didn’t really know what I was doing. I just kind of jumped into it. And so now that I’ve been doing it for three, four years now, um, it’s like to stop and take stock of what I’ve accomplished and then what other people are doing and how other people have approached theatrical creation by themselves.

Um, I, I find that really, really interesting. And then I had, I had a moment last night where, um, this is completely separate. Uh, my purse is always very heavy.

I always have a lot of stuff and I don’t notice because it’s just my stuff. And someone, I think Sexy Rex Orange expressed this. I think they all did it.

They put a brick in my bag. An actual brick, like a huge brick. And I didn’t notice until I had walked to Bloor and Christie.

I was at Clinton’s and I ran into a friend of mine on the street and I was like, when did this get so heavy? It feels like there’s a brick in there. Oh, there’s a brick in there. They were doing.

So I don’t know which one of you did it. They’re all denying it. But somebody very funny put a goddamn brick in my bag last night.

I think that’s my favorite. So that’s good. I have my suspicions with that problem.

I instantly thought it was Connor Bradbury. I was going to say that it’s probably Connor. And I, I’ve made a little video and I was like, there’s a brick in my bag.

Screw you Connor. And he was like, wasn’t me. And Sean’s like, it wasn’t me.

Kaitlin. I don’t know if she, well, she’s very strong, but she was like, break her. It was a big brick.

It had to, you know what their technicality probably all did. They all did absolutely. But Sonia’s being very quiet.

They’re, they’re associate producer. I say sweet Sonia. You know what they’ll suspect, you know, whichever is sweet one.

God kept breaking my back. That laser. Wow.

Big day for Kurtz. Yes. Wasn’t quite as busy last time.

Ora, which thing your favorite? Grab a minute. I see Steve Orton attempting to breach for the first time having a show in. And I have never felt comfortable in the tent.

Uh, I felt like it was a place for artists and almost like, uh, uh, you have a show. Also can you did it to prove that you were in a show to get it? Yeah. The, the, the tent after hours, um, the drinking, the talking, but you shouldn’t make all so uncomfortable.

Why you see me? Courage. Like in my, it’s never just to say, I really enjoyed your show. I felt like I was interrupting.

Cool. I enjoyed inserting drought, um, and I had no way to attend to it. And so this year I actually feel like, yeah, I could go to the tent.

I’ll sit, have a beer and, um, I can network. And that’s, I, I wish I had said that earlier. It’s not a, it was you before mentally this, but, uh, I really enjoyed just the drinking.

I’ve had cheat every night. It’s just like my arteries are so fogged. But I’ll just really enjoy baking buns.

I think it’s interesting that I think that you just pointed out the fact that the audience as an audience member, you didn’t feel like you would go make that, that bro, which is a very strange thing because it’s supposed to be this open thing where anybody can go. But I think it’s also hard when somebody is like non and a performer and not involved in the show to see all these people who obviously are talking about their shows and congratulating each other on their show. Things like that.

It’s a little bit, uh, difficult, I guess. So I know that I have a very different period, different extent when I have a shot in a friendly, when I don’t, uh, I kind of wish it wasn’t that way. Cause I think it would be great.

It’s, you know, we’re supposed to mix audience and performer, but maybe I’m just bold or maybe I’m obtuse, but I’ve always just kind of rocked up to the tent and been like, I’m a member of this community and I belong. Yeah. I’m also an asshole though.

Like many of the years I was attending, I was a smiss. Okay. And they didn’t say to me, you’ll marry anyone.

But I was a 20 year old theatre student. And what’s it like? It is, she honestly, she was up there with friends and I felt like I was tiny and I felt like I wasn’t really a perfect human being. Like I said, I felt like I needed to have a show in the cringe at some point because I feel like even next year, even if I didn’t have a show, that was my badge.

Now I can get it. I felt, I remember not even knowing what fringe was when I first moved to Toronto. I was doing another play and they’re like, let’s go to the fringe tent.

And then I got here. I was like, I know you, I know you. All my friends are here.

We’re drinking outside. This is amazing. I want to do this forever.

And it was, that was literally all it was for me. And I mean, I always, I don’t really read if people are annoyed by me or anything. I just kind of stay and get drunker.

I think it’s a fair point though. Fringe can, and this seems to me to be global from the different fringes I’ve been to, but can seem to be a little oppressive to particularly students. I think you haven’t got there yet.

And yet I would say throw that off and go in and talk to people anyway, because the people that you meet there will be inspiring, will be helpful. It’s a way to meet people who can, especially if you then go on to do fringe yourself, you know, you can then say, oh, hey, we met last time. Do you mind going for a coffee? I’m coming into this and have no idea what I’m doing.

And they will give you the advice. Fringe people, usually they might not share all their secrets, but they’ll certainly share the ones that will get you started. So yeah, throw off that oppressive feeling and just go and talk to people.

I generally find that people are really willing to share any of their promotional secrets. We’re all in it together. Most people will just probably tell you it’s hard work.

Yeah. Getting your face out there. You gotta hustle and any publishable photos.

Yeah. That’s something that I’m noticing could all flip through some of the promotional material that gets sent out. And sometimes I’m like, you chose this picture.

Which is, you know, the higher professional photographer. The best thing you can do is make friends with Dahlia Katz the moment you move to the city. Oh, OK.

Helpful. Dahlia Katz and Mikayla Dice. Saviors.

Yes. Well, we’re pretty much at the end of our time. I want to thank you guys for joining me again.

You’re going to spend your last couple of days of the fringe. This will be up in within the next hour. And so everybody who’s listening, have a great last couple of days of the fringe.