Ashley Frieze – T Minus… something or other

Every year around this stage I get quite confused. Am I ready for the Fringe or am I woefully underprepared? This hasn’t always been the case, back in 2004, when I’d spent nearly a year preparing my first ever proper show, I had everything under control – I was bound to, it was the only thing I could think about.

These days I’m more relaxed about the whole thing. This means that I get stuff done, but am never really sure if I’ve done enough, or what’s meant to be done by now. It’s complicated by the fact that I don’t go to the Fringe for the first week, and that I feel like such an old hand that I always assume everything will come together.

It’s my 9th Fringe as a performer coming up. As of today, I have flyers and posters being printed, a press release in the right places, somewhere to stay, someone to do technical things to help me each day, people lined up to give out some flyers (maybe), a duplication run for a new batch of CDs to sell all paid for (I hope he delivers the discs) and… erm… a show.

Is my show ready? Have I come all this way and forgotten to have a show?

Well, yes and no. It’s a yes in as much as my show – The Seven Deadly Sings is written, previewed, tried and tested (with some rewrites) and generally a known quantity. It’s a no in that I’ve come to believe that all shows are rewritten as you go along, and that I’ll emerge from the back of Edinburgh with a different script than I went in with. Time will tell.

I’m led to believe you’re meant to be panicking about your show at this stage in some sort of late-deadline essay crisis. This hasn’t happened to me for a few years now, since I’ve always had to deliver the show to a comedy festival earlier in the year. One year, we wrote the show in January for previewing in Leicester in February – that WAS early.

This year (as with last) it was Brighton that saw my early attempts. Edinburgh Fringe deadlines are more about practicalities of moving away from home and publicity for me.

Over the next few days, I will turn from the rational individual I’m used to being, into a more Fringe hungry insaniac, dying to get my show in front of an audience, whom I’ve probably personally flyered and invited along. It’s a bit surreal, but it’s going to be brilliant.

I’ll keep you posted.

Ashley Frieze – The Seven Deadly Sings (Remastered), 2:30PM, 13-28 August, Pravda Room, Espionage, Venue 185. Part of the Free Festival

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