There’s been a definite increase in pace here at Tortoise in a Nutshell. As we head into the week of the Fringe programme launch the deadlines start coming thick and fast.

The programme launch sees the first golden opportunity to contact promoters, critics and columnists from all forms of media. Catching the attention of these most influential of individuals can be a real matter of make or break for any performance at the Edinburgh Fringe. With so many pieces of work striving for attention at the festival a high media profile is a great way of pulling your show above the throng. Simply put the more people who know about your show, the more people likely to come and see it. A basic, but very difficult concept to strive towards in such a crowded festival. We’ve been forming a few plans over the past couple of weeks however and we’ll make sure to update here with any good developments.

The Last Miner moves on a pace as a performance also. The last couple of weeks have seen us working through a whole series of initial workshops with all of various mentors. Composer Jim Harbourne and Designer Lucy McGlennon are now well into the practical phases of their processes and so far things are looking and sounding brilliant, a real mix of the magical and the mysterious. The narrative of the piece also continues to flesh out further and further, following our first full sessions with mentors Gill Robertson and Rob Evans. It’s something of a change in process for us to fix a narrative as far as this before the beginning of a full rehearsal process, but with so many potential avenues and time tight it’s done great things for us to pin down the journey of the show. The show has focussed further and further on, what we feel, are some really interesting themes, loss, loneliness and the struggle to move on have become truly central to the story and we’re finding the results really interesting.

We’ll pass on more about the story of The Last Miner as our creative process continues, but once again thanks for reading and another update soon!

The Tortoises.