Letting Them Get On With It

It is just less than two weeks before Different Theatre’s shows open at Edinburgh Fringe.  Time to start worrying about all the things I should be doing to build an audience.  But more of that next time….

Last night Heather-Rose Andrews (pictured) did the second of two previews of Metamorphosis, this time at Guildford Fringe.  She was ably supported by JD of Sweet Productions.  And I wasn’t there.

Of course, playwrights in general do not attend every production of their plays, but as writer/director of (generally) pieces with a short run, it’s an unusual experience for me.  It feels a bit like the first time you let your kids go out on their own – and by ‘kids’ I absolutely don’t mean the cast and crew, in whom I have every confidence, but in the work.  Will it be OK without me?  Will people like it.  Will others ‘play nice’?!  It’s an odd feeling.  Not terrible….  Just odd.

I am sure it will get less so.  If my work grows this will happen more and more, and I will have to get used to it.  And if I am not also in promoter role, perhaps there is an argument after a point – the first few shows maybe? – to set the work free, and let the cast get on with it.

And then of course the FOMO will kick in…..   And I will have to resist the urge to check in.  How was it?  What did they say?  Wanting to be involved.  Perhaps needing to be needed.

And the antidote?  To keep busy.  To fill the space.  Maybe to start writing something new!

Metamorphosis and Sary both open at Edinburgh Fringe on 2 August.

Image of Heather Andrews as Grete Samsa taken by Peter Williams