Mach Fest: Day 2
I felt that I both slept well and prepared well for my show on the Saturday afternoon, which is unusual. I met my friend Dasha at Aberystwyth station at midday after she'd completed a ludicrous early morning drive from north London to get there*. We headed to my venue and had a chat with Ingrid Dahle outside who had also been on the showcase the night before and was very good.
Then it was pretty much show time. Zoe Fell and her team at The Store were very welcoming and helpful. I'd like to thank her, them and the entire crew across the whole weekend because they were all terrific. In retrospect, it would have helped if I'd have gone on stage and tested the mic rather than exhaling sharply in a back room. It was an entirely self-inflicted poor start to the show but these things happen and it was remedied pretty quickly. I ended up having about 12 audience members in plus the crew. I learned last summer that anything over five I can work with and still put on a decent show. I think for the most part they enjoyed it.
I'm still learning how to perform long form sets and that was the first time I'd performed one without notes. I can't quite bring myself to listen back to it yet, but I know that it was just shy of 52 minutes. On the one hand, I would have liked to have made it to the hour. On the other, I'm aware that there's a general attitude that you've got your money's worth around the 45-50 minute mark. I think if you did a theatre show and called an interval after 52 minutes, it would be fine. I don't want to pad for the sake of padding and it does at least give you some wiggle room to go off on tangents or if something out of the ordinary occurs.
I had prior to the gig agreed to do Mark Olver's outdoor comedy club at the Woodland Pavilion. I had agreed to do it having failed to consider that because it was an outdoor free event, there might be kids there. I'm not a filth monger by any means but a lot of my material covers adult themes that are inappropriate for a younger audience. I was probably being a touch oversensitive but I spent about 20 minutes working up a family friendly five spot. I settled on some fat jokes, some universal stuff and the routine about my Dad and I's failed Pointless audition. It was, in the circumstances, not a bad set.
Dasha and I then headed into Ingrid's show entitled "Wingrid". She has endearingly weird sensibilities which produce a lot of laughs, as she discussed her life as a Norwegian in Brighton. Plus she timed her set by sticking a kitchen timer to the mic stand which was pure genius. Toby, the sketch duo comprised of Lizzy and Sarah Daykin, was to follow. I'll admit I'm not the biggest sketch comedy fan in the world but enjoyed their show. A piece about the domestic issues of mice produced the most laughs but in particular I enjoyed the dynamic between the two sisters on stage.
The night concluded with Beth Vyse doing some work in progress stuff. I had seen her perform "As Funny As Cancer" in Sevenoaks during the autumn, a powerful show about her struggle with breast cancer. This was rather less lofty and altogether more silly than that, with a plethora of wigs and props involved. My abiding memory of the show is her singing "I've got a foot for a baby" to the tune of “Guajira Guantanamera”. Shambolic but undeniably memorable.
* This feels a little redundant given that Dasha is one of the two people I'm aware of who reads these blogs but her support was and is amazing. Thanks Dasha.
Then it was pretty much show time. Zoe Fell and her team at The Store were very welcoming and helpful. I'd like to thank her, them and the entire crew across the whole weekend because they were all terrific. In retrospect, it would have helped if I'd have gone on stage and tested the mic rather than exhaling sharply in a back room. It was an entirely self-inflicted poor start to the show but these things happen and it was remedied pretty quickly. I ended up having about 12 audience members in plus the crew. I learned last summer that anything over five I can work with and still put on a decent show. I think for the most part they enjoyed it.
I'm still learning how to perform long form sets and that was the first time I'd performed one without notes. I can't quite bring myself to listen back to it yet, but I know that it was just shy of 52 minutes. On the one hand, I would have liked to have made it to the hour. On the other, I'm aware that there's a general attitude that you've got your money's worth around the 45-50 minute mark. I think if you did a theatre show and called an interval after 52 minutes, it would be fine. I don't want to pad for the sake of padding and it does at least give you some wiggle room to go off on tangents or if something out of the ordinary occurs.
I had prior to the gig agreed to do Mark Olver's outdoor comedy club at the Woodland Pavilion. I had agreed to do it having failed to consider that because it was an outdoor free event, there might be kids there. I'm not a filth monger by any means but a lot of my material covers adult themes that are inappropriate for a younger audience. I was probably being a touch oversensitive but I spent about 20 minutes working up a family friendly five spot. I settled on some fat jokes, some universal stuff and the routine about my Dad and I's failed Pointless audition. It was, in the circumstances, not a bad set.
Dasha and I then headed into Ingrid's show entitled "Wingrid". She has endearingly weird sensibilities which produce a lot of laughs, as she discussed her life as a Norwegian in Brighton. Plus she timed her set by sticking a kitchen timer to the mic stand which was pure genius. Toby, the sketch duo comprised of Lizzy and Sarah Daykin, was to follow. I'll admit I'm not the biggest sketch comedy fan in the world but enjoyed their show. A piece about the domestic issues of mice produced the most laughs but in particular I enjoyed the dynamic between the two sisters on stage.
The night concluded with Beth Vyse doing some work in progress stuff. I had seen her perform "As Funny As Cancer" in Sevenoaks during the autumn, a powerful show about her struggle with breast cancer. This was rather less lofty and altogether more silly than that, with a plethora of wigs and props involved. My abiding memory of the show is her singing "I've got a foot for a baby" to the tune of “Guajira Guantanamera”. Shambolic but undeniably memorable.
* This feels a little redundant given that Dasha is one of the two people I'm aware of who reads these blogs but her support was and is amazing. Thanks Dasha.
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