Hooray, at last we had our first sellout of 2018 on Saturday night. It’s taken longer to achieve than any previous year but we finally did it and can hope to do it again.
The two days off have really distorted my beloved graph, and the cold that I’ve just got to the end of drastically reduced the amount of flyering I’ve been able to do. That, coupled with a suspicion that week one in Edinburgh was quieter overall than past years, mean that we’re really letting the side down as far as record breaking sales are concerned. But last night the voice had returned in full and I was able to perform the show as it should be done, albeit with the usual prop cockups, which we seem to turn to our advantage.
The show itself, which is what it’s all about, is now in cracking shape thanks to a script edit and slight rewrite I gave it while I was in Kibworth. It had been sagging halfway through, and now it flows. Here’s the final running order we’ll be sticking with, with notes:
Wayne/Ditko/Flash - lots of audience rapport in opening
I’m A Sock
Award winning/ Emmy - most people don’t get this gag, but sod em
Cosmopolitan
Bob Kane
Wonderful World song
Motion Capture
Scottish superheroes
Maguffin
Batman & Joker
Audience suggestions - getting some good adlibs at this point, from asking the audience to suggest the most obscure superheroes they can. Hit & miss obviously, but more hit than miss to date.
Bechdel Test song
Joker phones Harley - now has running gag with different teeth, v good
Brother 1 - this was the biggest bit of the script edit. For first 7 days of run, Brother wasn’t appearing till later and spoiled the flow. Now it keeps up momentum & goes well.
Racist Brother song
Nursery Rhymes / Faraday / Sagan
Helium / Wonder Woman - now work well as quick throwaways
Whose idea was this? - nice exchange, inserted in previous rewrite, binds together narrative
Avengers - Iron Man/ Thor / Cap America - now includes start of Thanos
Avengers Reel song
Ang Lee - thrown in as an addendum during this changeover, much better
Fantastic Four - now it works. Moved to better position in show, with third or 4th rewrite making the character work with the gags
Joker phones Ivy
Brother 2 - moved to earlier than before, again works better
Tyson / Origin
Superman - I’ve found, if we’re over-running, this is a good sketch to edit on the hoof. Could lose the Kents entirely without doing damage. Obviously at its best when we do it all.
Dead Ringer song
Superman v Joker
Harley/ Ivy/ Superman
Fallout / Brother 3
All By Myself
Finale - on final rewrite this now works. Lost all the puns, made Wonder Woman’s part funny, and (on a suggestion from a punter on Twitter) included a callback to a character whose powers were being underused. Sorted, a good & satisfying end.
That Sold Out board, rewritten and getting our full name in this time. Appreciated.
And I must throw in an extra mention for the audience-in music which is getting good laughs too:
Holding Out For A Hero (verse 1)
Silver Surfer
DC
Black Lightning
Tubthumping
Holding Out For A Hero (verse 2 & 1 again) - this is as far as we’ve got so far, the audience is always in by now. On a quiet night we’ve got them all in by the time DC starts.
Still waiting for those first reviews. We’ve had 19 comp tickets issued, 8 of whom have already been in. I don’t know which of those was reviewers (because I deliberately don’t ask) but surely some must have been. We keep watching the skies for stars.
Neath notes July 17
Harrow rewrite July 6
Ludlow rewrite June 28
Brighton rewrites May 28 (when show still had Spiderman song, and Daredevil)
Brick Lane rewrites April 28 (still had Steed & Mrs Peel song, and string of Awards gags)
Glasgow rewrites March 16 (when two audiences reacted differently to such quickly-dropped material as The Brexit Men and gags about Schroedinger and Boron)
Leicester debut & first rewrite February (when, can you believe it, half the show was Christmas material? Such a long time ago!)
The Award Winning* Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are Superheroes at The Gilded Balloon at the Edinburgh Fringe from August 1st to 26th (not 8 & 9)
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