Here are the Socks, in their Space costumes, courtesy of Nigel Thurgar in the audience the other night. And we have had some cracking shows this Edinburgh, including our biggest sellouts ever. (Thanks to the expanded capacity of our venue, we're now able to sell 106 tickets and, by golly, we have done.)
Though, to be honest, we're not doing that every night. Oh to be sure we're whupping last year's Olympics-throttled ass as far as ticket sales are concerned, but last night for example we saw a bit of a slump. Now I know, better than most, how to get round a slump in ticket sales at the Edinburgh Fringe - you flyer. I am the God of flyering. I love flyering, and I long ago worked out the maths, that 300 flyers equates to 30 bums on seats. And the more I flyer the more seats we sell (though, paradoxically, I did no flyering on Friday and we saw our biggest day-on-day sales of the season so far).
But this year I have made a rod for my own back, tied my own hands, and given myself an excuse for loads of mixed metaphors because, as well as doing Socks In Space every night at 10.15, I'm doing a day job teaching Comic Art Masterclasses in libraries. Last week I did three days at Balerno school, an afternoon at Currie library, a day where I was at Drumbrae in the morning and Kirkliston in the afternoon, then on Saturday I went to Glasgow to draw caricatures in the Dr Martens store for a Beano promotion, yesterday I did an afternoon at Colinton library, and today I'll be in Granton in the morning and Muirhouse in the afternoon. All of which being paid work, which is good, and hard to turn down, but all of which means time I can't spend flyering. I'm looking at the figures now and wondering would I make more money through the bums on seats I'd be generating by extra flyering than I make doing these daytime sessions. An interesting question that I can't really answer till the end of the month.
Anyhoo, it's hard bloody work, but of course I'm enjoying it. And by the way, the Socks In Space show is now in cracking shape. All we need is to keep those full-houses coming (and some more reviews, we've only had two so far) and we're looking at a classic year.
The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre In Space, 10.15pm July 31st - Aug 25th at The Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh Fringe 2013.
"A must see show yet again" ★★★★★ 5 stars York Mix
"Some of the finest-written and performed (comedy) on the Fringe" ★★★★ 4 stars Edinburgh Spotlight
"The unparalleled pinnacle of comedy puppetry" ★★★★★ 5 stars Venue (Bath preview)
"Brilliant night of entertainment" ★★★★ 4 stars The Fiction Stroker (Manchester preview)
"Will have you literally laughing your socks off' ★★★★ 4 stars The Public Reviews (Warwick Arts preview)
"Gloriously anarchic act" ★★★★ 4 stars Latest 7 (Brighton preview)
"My face hurt from smiling" ★★★★ 4 stars Broadway Baby (Brighton preview)
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