Watching Glory Die: Road to Edinburgh

Welcome to Episode 27 – Behind the Microphone

This is it. My last episode of Watching Glory Die: Road to Edinburgh. Hardly seems possible that it's the last one – seems like just yesterday it was April and I was figuring out how one produces a podcast. Since then I've met and interviewed so many amazing people – and learned a new skill along the way. For this last episode the microphone is turned the other way however! One of the interns – Sammy Cranston – asked if she could interview me – so I came out from behind my interviewer guise and chatted about podcasting, my experience at the fringe and will I ever podcast again! Thanks for sticking with me and for the last time….Have a listen.

Welcome to Episode 26 – The Producers

Today marks our second last episode – which is hard to believe! I sat down with Associate Producer Haley St Vincent and Producer Kelly Daniels in their flat and had a retrospective chat with them about their experience at the Fringe after two weeks just before I left on my adventures. They had some really great advice for producers considering doing the fringe, the friends they've made and what's next for the show!

Welcome to Episode 24 - Intern Parting Thoughts (or Ladies do Burp - it'll make sense if you listen to the episode ;) )

Today's episode features three of our interns, on their last night in Edinburgh, looking back over the shows they've seen, what theatre means to them and their experience at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I was out in the Highlands of Scotland, and I gave them the microphone to record a solo episode.... unsupervised! So have a listen to the musings and tips and tricks of Sammy Cranston, Caitlyn Jaz and Alison Adams!

Welcome to Episode 23 – CanadaHub at Ed Fringe

I'm back! After jetting around Ireland and Germany for a week, I'm back in the saddle for the home stretch of the Fringe! Today's episode is my chat with Michael Rubenfeld – the initiator and Executive Artistic Producer behind CanadaHub at Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Michael Rubenfeld is a performance maker, cultural producer, playwright and actor originally from Winnipeg and now residing in Toronto and Poland. He is a Dora Award-nominated performer and playwright and has worked on stages across the country and in parts of the United States and Europe.  In 2017, in partnership with the Canada Council for the Arts, Michael initiated a new venue called CanadaHub, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, bringing 6 projects from across Canada and presenting there for the month of August. The work won numerous awards and is presented in association with Summerhall, CanadaHub is produced by Selfconscious Productions in partnership with the Canada Council for the Arts and in association with the High Commission of Canada in the United Kingdom and the Government of Canada.

We had a sit down in his office and had a wide ranging chat about theatre, CanadaHub and the differences between Canadian Theatre and European theatre! Have a listen!

The Fringe Circuit is one where you see familiar faces all the time – and in this case I was happy to meet up with Steven Finley, who I met while doing a show at the Toronto Fringe! He is stage managing a one man show here at Ed Fringe – McNaughton by Steven Gooch. Starring Jason Harvey and Directed by Christine Kimberley it tells the story of:

"Daniel M'Naghten was a Scottish woodturner who assassinated English civil servant Edward Drummond while suffering from paranoid delusions. Through his trial and its aftermath, he has given his name to the legal test of criminal insanity in England and other common law jurisdictions known as the M'Naghten rules."

This show has such great thematic ties to Watching Glory Die – so it was great to talk to some artists from the UK and hear about their journey through Ed Fringe! 

Welcome to Episode 20 - The Royal Mile

Today's episode we are bringing you to the Royal Mile – which is one of the main thorough fares here at the Ed Fringe. You can see numerous busking acts and get flyered a million times in one second - it really is the heartbeat of the entire festival. You really have to strategies to get your show seen – we've done a few performances of the song Glory at the Lower Stage here, and it's where our interns have gone to pump up the show. I thought it would be interesting to bring the Royal Mile to your ears while I chat with our guest today – intern Avery MacDonald about how she is tackling fliering at the Edinburgh Fringe!

One of the shows that you'll hear us get Flyerd for is Conversations with Myself – so shout out to them!

This is also the beginning of a mini break of the podcast while I jet off to Ireland and Germany! We'll be back on August 21st!

Welcome to Episode 19 – The Circus is in Town

Today's episode I got to sit down with Fringe circus performers Adam Storm from Australia and Antoine Morin from France, who are in the Quebecois show La Galerie, playing at the Assembly Rooms. I was really interested to chat with some other artists at the Festival, and see how they were handling this massive adventure we all seem to be on. We had a fun chat in a coffee shop about how being an international artist changes your perspective, how they are surviving the festival and behind the scenes of a circus show!

"One white room. Four white walls. Eight fiery circus performers. Machine de Cirque's UK debut is a gallery like no other – step in and experience incredible skill and artistry – leaving the space only once completely transformed. After the international success of its namesake show, Quebec's world-class performers will immerse you in a fleeting canvas, acrobatic feats and live music – a huge spectacle of drama, acrobatics and paint from a first-class circus ensemble."

Machine de Cirque was founded in 2013 under the initiative of Vincent Dubé – a circus performer for over 20 years and holder of a bachelor's degree in civil engineering. He is the Company's artistic director and CEO. Circus artists Raphaël Dubé, Yohann Trépanier, Ugo Dario and Maxim Laurin, as well as multi-instrumentalist Frédéric Lebrasseur, are its cofounders. They joined forces with Vincent in 2015 to create their namesake show titled "Machine de Cirque."

Machine de Cirque is an organization whose mission is to bring together various actors from the arts and technology world around circus show production projects.

Welcome to Episode 18 – Welcome Address

We've come to the end of the first full week here at Fringe – and it's been a wild ride full of missing props and costumes, opening afternoons, singing in the streets – and seeing shows! It's hard to believe it's been only been a week! I was scrolling through my audio, and I came across the welcome speech at Fringe Central Welcome Address by Sheila Atim, (soon to be gracing our screens in the GOT Prequel!)  which I was fortunate enough to attend last Friday. I remember being inspired by her generous and encouraging words about the Edinburgh Fringe, and a week later I understand them more fully. Have a listen!

Welcome to Episode 17 – Rebecca Perry

Today's episode has a special guest – actor, singer, writer and producer Rebecca Perry of "Confessions of a Red Headed Coffee Shop Girl" fame and this year's hit "From Judy to Bette: Stars of Old Hollywood."

Her new show From Judy to Bette: Stars of Old Hollywood is playing at the Gilded Balloon – and Rebecca was kind enough to offer myself and the Watching Glory Die team tickets. After attending the show, myself and Nathanya Barnett (Glory herself) went to a, you guessed it, coffee shop and picked her brain about how one sells oneself at the Edinburgh Fringe, being a Canadian artist here in Scotland and what it means to be a feminist show!

Welcome to Episode 16 – Moments of the Fringe

The Fringe can be an overwhelming event – with so much energy and hustle built into each day, it can feel jam packed. We've been here for 10 days now, and I've had some really great conversations with so many amazing people. For today's episode though, I thought I would put together some moments I just let the microphone pick whatever was happening around me - whether we were waiting for our set to be delivered from Manchester by a man named Andy, having an insightful conversation in the theatre, being tutored by Derrick Chua or getting exciting news – these are some of my Moments of Fringe.

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