The Damsel's Survival Guide to the Edinburgh Fringe

1. One must create an entourage: Preferably older, richer people who are related to you and will feed you, flyer for  you and pay for the majority of shows.
2. One must celebrate: Never in your life will you beg and dream and hope to be seen, reviewed and revered. A compulsion to be judged will overcome you, body and soul. You want eyes and ears and stars. Oh how you want stars. It’s not dissimilar to being a primary school and lusting after the ‘well done’ sticker with the smiley face. An unnatural sense of achievement will come over you if you get four or more. And you’ll tell everyone. You’ll keep telling everyone you meet, over and over again ‘I got Four stars’ you’ll shout  ‘Four fucking….FOOOUUUURRRR!!! Do you know what this means? And you’ll show people: ‘Do you know what this fucking meeeeeaaaannnsss???? Aaaaahhhhhh!!! Hysteria!!!! Aaaaaah, stick them on all my flyers….aaaaah. Please come and see me act and sing?
3. One must not throw stones: Beware. Emotions run high. It’s a bit like living in Dawson’s Creek.  Just imagine a world where everyone you meet has the temperament of a sensitive artist, a tired artist, a hungover artist, a criticised artist, an unloved artist. Now imagine that they are around you twenty four hours a day for a month. And it’s raining. Keep calm and carry on.
4. One must bring an umbrella: And winter clothes. Do not kid yourself that this is ‘summer’ it is not ‘summer’ it is Britain. Dress accordingly.
5. One must pull: Fringe central is absolutely the best place to pull. One has the flyer, the stars and the excuse to talk to hot men about one’s show. Sometimes the boundaries are blurred between networking and romance. Innuendo gets banded around willy nilly, stuff like: ‘I’ll see yours if you see mine’. ‘oooh, nice stars, wink wink, if you know what I mean’. One ends up wondering if it is one’s custom or one’s body the bloke wants.  In the end it doesn’t really matter. Go and see his show and you’ll probably get a pint and a pash out of it.
6. One must not get carried away: Do not end up going out with any of these people after the fringe. You are too similar. Far far too similar. It will end in disaster. Two writers, two actors, two singers should never attempt a relationship. A constant battle for limelight and adoration is not the foundation for marriage. (A note to self) what happens at Fringe, stays at Fringe until you embarrassingly bump into each other, next year and can’t quite remember each other’s names even though you were so in love during the festival. Should smile politely and discuss the weather and your stars.
7. One must play it cool: Celebs are everywhere. It’s best to pretend you don’t notice them when you spot them. In fact look away and pretend they were staring at you. Then stand your flyer up on the table in their eye line and hope the title of your show seeps into their unconscious and they choose to see it and love it and tweet about it. It is absolutely acceptable after the celeb spotting to text all your friends to say you’ve seen them and exaggerate your meeting and make it into something more important than it was.
8. One must have fun. You can get into the habit of thinking its all life and death. It’s not. Look up and away from one’s navel and one will see there’s a castle, a mountain and an ocean. Get some perspective. It’s only the Edinburgh Fringe and it’s fucking fantastic!!!

Sophie Walsh-Harrington, The Damsel in Shining Armour

Book Tickets to see “The Damsel in Shining Armour” HERE 

Related posts:

One of the Best Cabaret Acts I’ve seen at this year’s Fringe

Amanda Palmer: “I LOVED THIS.”

Best Audience Member Reaction of the Week : Part I

Best Audience Member Reaction of the Week: Part II

Best Audience Member Reaction of the Week: Part III

Adelaide Fringe 2011 Review: The Damsel in Shining Armour

Damsel’s Diary Pt I: Wolves and Coffee

Critics LOVE The Damsel

“New Shining Star”

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Best Audience Member Reaction of the Week: Part III

A woman in her sixties told me she loved the show, especially the bit where i climbed on her husband, though next time i should take more clothes off.

[I must point out also, they were from Queensland.]

Book Tickets to see “The Damsel in Shining Armour” HERE 

Related posts:

One of the Best Cabaret Acts I’ve seen at this year’s Fringe

Amanda Palmer: “I LOVED THIS.”

Best Audience Member Reaction of the Week : Part I

Best Audience Member Reaction of the Week: Part II

Adelaide Fringe 2011 Review: The Damsel in Shining Armour

Damsel’s Diary Pt I: Wolves and Coffee

Critics LOVE The Damsel

“New Shining Star”

Want to be an exclusive Founding Patron of Cabaret Confessional?

Subscribe to Cabaret Confessional via email. 

‘Like’ Cabaret Confessional on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Best Audience Member Reaction of the Week: Part II

Well, this isn’t a comedy. I mean I liked it, but I could see why other people wouldn’t find it funny…

Book Tickets to see “The Damsel in Shining Armour” HERE 

Related posts:

One of the Best Cabaret Acts I’ve seen at this year’s Fringe

Amanda Palmer: “I LOVED THIS.”

Best Audience Member Reaction of the Week : Part I

Adelaide Fringe 2011 Review: The Damsel in Shining Armour

Damsel’s Diary Pt I: Wolves and Coffee

Critics LOVE The Damsel

“New Shining Star”

Want to be an exclusive Founding Patron of Cabaret Confessional?

Subscribe to Cabaret Confessional via email. 

‘Like’ Cabaret Confessional on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

One of the Best Cabaret Acts I've seen at this year's Fringe

“exceptionally clever and accomplished take on the (autobiographical cabaret) format”

Ben Walters reviews Damsel in Shining Armour #fringe #timeoutlondon at St George’s West by Time Out London

Purple Puppets and Irish Leprechauns

Cabaret Confessional continues to follow adventures of UK re-pat, Sophie Walsh-Harrington. Sophie developed her award winning cabaret debut “The Damsel in Shining Armour” in Melbourne, with the team from The Jane Austen Argument and subsequently toured the show with great success around Australia. Having won the award “Best Cabaret” at the world’s second largest Fringe Festival in Adelaide, she is now tackling the Mt Everest of festivals, the Edinburgh Fringe.

In the second installment of her Damsel’s Diary, the Walsh-Harrington juggernaut engages an additional marketing team and perhaps a human resource director?

- - - - -

Week two, or is it three (or five hundred)? The days are blurring into one and this is not even hangover induced. Indeed I have stayed mostly tee-total this fringe, though that all changed when my parents, my aunty and her boyfriend, my cousin and my brother arrived in town. They like a drink.

“That’s just the Irish in them, baby.”

The fam have been in tow for the last week and it seems that though they are mostly financial advisers and teachers by day, at Edinburgh Fringe they are world-class experts on cabaret, selling cabaret and the things that I should be wearing and eating as a cabaret performer. Amazing how one regresses into a helpless five year old in the company of one’s relatives. I think they forget that I went through puberty. 

But the entourage have been a god send. The Walsh-Harringtons have been in full force, sticking stars on flyers, buying me food and persuading (mainly middle aged) people into coming to see their daughters’ show. Declaring of course, that Damsel is the best thing at the Fringe -  and they are not biased at all. That was before seeing Sammy J and Randy, though, who seem to have stolen their hearts and pretty much trumped me. Watch out boys, the Walsh-Harringtons will be coming to sort you out. 

On stage, the show has been going well. I had two nights where I felt everything clicked and I remembered why all the effort. In one of them, the fan didn’t work, which made for hilarious consequences. I’ve also quite enjoyed the flyering aspect, giving people spiel and trying to get them to come watch. I feel like I’m on The Apprentice and I have one hour left to sell 80 bruised bananas or Sir Alan will give me the finger. (Aussie readers if you haven’t heard of the British Apprentice…watch the series on Youtube. Your life will never be the same again once you have spent 40 hours watching Sir Alan fire people. Also, one word. Marge. Sweet, sweet Marge). In this scenario, my pianist Richard Anderson plays the God-like Sir Alan character. I just don’t want to let him down. He is passionate about making this show the best it can be and his on stage nodding and facial expressions have become infamous. 

There hasn’t been any time to fall in love yet, disappointingly. It doesn’t help, probably, being literally surrounded at all times by the family. Though the Aunt has taken it on herself to flyer only potential husbands, declaring that

“Something needed to be done.”

I did meet my Festival Talent Crush, David O’Doherty, who is just as adorable off and on stage. I was in a musical comedy showcase with him, and after he saw me perform (surreal and amaze-balls) he gave me a double thumbs up and said “Well done, Sophie”. SWOON. I can just imagine us going around the world, him with his little keyboard, me with my Celine.

There are a lot of tourists here. I sort of find myself seeking out foreigners with the next instalment of Damsel in mind…

“So I’m moving to Copenhagen….Berlin….Papua New Guinea!”

Art imitating life….or is it the other way around?

Sophie Walsh-Harrington Aug 19, 2011

Book Tickets to see “The Damsel in Shining Armour” HERE 

Related posts:

Best Audience Member Reaction of the Week : Part I

Adelaide Fringe 2011 Review: The Damsel in Shining Armour

Damsel’s Diary Pt I: Wolves and Coffee

Critics LOVE The Damsel

“New Shining Star”

Want to be an exclusive Founding Patron of Cabaret Confessional?

Subscribe to Cabaret Confessional via email. 

‘Like’ Cabaret Confessional on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.