Every August, around 2,500 theatre companies descend on Edinburgh to perform their little hearts out. What could possibly go wrong? A lot, as it happens. Naomi O'Leary hears some horror stories with happy endings...
Press manager Hannah Clapham, Dumbshow
Two weeks before bringing Roar to Fringe, lead actor Oliver Bennett was offered a year-long contract on the West End. What could we do? We had to let him go! Luckily we found a replacement, Ed Hancock, who’s been brilliant.
In 2010 it was worse. We were rehearsing a musical version of Animal Farm. At the last minute we got a call saying the rights to Animal Farm the Musical had been given to Elton John. We were only allowed to put on the show if we took out all original music. In other words, we had no show! We had to cancel.
Even so, it encouraged us to have faith in our own work, and to use our own creativity rather than relying on others for rights. That’s how we came up with Roar. Elton John still hasn’t done anything with the idea though – we still hold a bit of a grudge against him!
Actress and dancer Abbi Greenland, RashDash
Four days before travelling to Fringe my ankle started audibly creaking. Turned out I had Achilles tendonitis: I couldn’t dance. We had to cancel three performances. But by adapting the choreography – cutting out jumps especially – we solved a seemingly impossible situation!
Performer Ishbel McFarlane
My show is a train journey between Edinburgh and Glasgow. On the day of opening, that line was closed because of signal failures. Amazingly, some very high up people in ScotRail worked really hard to make sure our particular train went ahead!
Also, 10 minutes before everyone was supposed to meet on the concourse at Edinburgh Waverly station there was a flash mob. Security was extra cagey. It was difficult to explain that we were gathering for a poetry show and that we’d be leaving soon. For the next show we’re meeting in a slightly quieter spot than the main concourse!
Mickey Hollman, Reptile House
Many things have gone wrong for us. The puppet William Cakespeare’s eye keeps falling off in the middle of the show. Grandfather Owl was hassled for drugs on the Royal Mile by Americans who were convinced he was a dealer. And the show’s grand finale is a dramatic lettuce-smashing incident. As we were doing our get-in the other day we realised we’d forgotten the lettuce. I had five minutes to run to the nearest Tesco. Just made it!
Musician Nasi Voutsas, Clay Elephant Theatre
At tonight’s show my phone started playing a jazzy tune at an inopportune moment. We just ran with it. And building a 13-stone bed as part of the set wasn’t the brightest idea. We had to surreptitiously store it in another venue, by convincing them it was part of one of their shows. But things going wrong is what we love about doing this. Theatre is live: it’s never going to be a perfectly smooth, cinematic experience. You never get the same audience twice, after all. The things that go wrong keep it fresh.
Image by Ambra Vernuccio. See more of her Edinburgh photos on Flickr.
Visit our Edinburgh microsite for more advice, news and reviews.