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Tidemark
Edinburgh Fringe Experience 2004
Sunday 8 August 2004
We
met up with an old favourite of ours today – John Hegley, the
wonderfully witty and clever comic poet originally from Luton.
John,
who can be heard regularly on the Â鶹Éç in various guises is known
as a bit of a Fringe veteran – this being his 21st year in
Edinburgh!
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| John
Hegley prepares for his show |
He
has the amazing talent of being able to instantly improvise a poem
from audience suggestions along the lines of the ‘ Whose Line
is it Anyway?Â’ programme, and his main themes in his writing
stand out to me as dogs, potatoes, specs and his childhood years
in Luton.
The
whole family are big fans of JohnÂ’s and on seeing him, my daughter
Philippa blurted out his name told him that sheÂ’d seen him
at The Old Town Hall in Hemel Hempstead and that she thought he
was fantastic.
He
was immediately surrounded by a sea of turquoise tie-dyed Tidemark
people comparing notes and chatting about his and our shows which
are all at the Pleasance this year.
This
happy, relaxed episode was in marked contrast to my first attempt
to chat to him at the Fringe in 1997.
Tidemark
was producing ‘The Gents’, a play I co-wrote with TV writer
Brian Leveson, at the Gilded Balloon. WeÂ’d just seen John in
his new show and ‘potatoes’ were his big theme that year.
I ran
over to him on the Royal Mile with a leaflet for ‘The Gents’
to try to get him to come along to see the show, nervously rehearsing
my ‘chat-up line’ as I went.
Naturally
Maris Pipers and King Edwards were at the forefront of my mind and
as I approached I thought of just the right sort of witty line needed
to attract his attention.
I battled
through the sea of tourists and street performers and called his
name ‘John!’ He turned around nervously, probably expecting
some weird celebrity stalker or maybe an axe murderer to appear
behind him but I gaily continued regardless‘…come and
see ‘The Gents’ at the Gilded Balloon – guaranteed
no cruelty to tomatoes!Â’
He
never did come to see the showÂ…
Rebecca
will be reporting on Tidemark's experiences throughout this year's
Festival. Come back to see how she's doing!
Are
you taking a production to Edinburgh this year? Do you want to tell
the world about it? If so, let us know by emailing threecounties@bbc.co.uk
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