Festival blog: Pools rush in by Liz Bailey

Published on Thursday 14 August 2008 15:09

LAST year was our second year at the Fringe but our first time tackling the entire three weeks.

We did a week's run in 2006 to dip our toes in the water, so when we returned we thought we had it all figured out. It turns out we knew precisely nothing. I think we could go to Edinburgh for 30 years and still not fully understand it.

Each year, 18,000 (or so) performers descend on the town. So with all this choice you think: "We really need to stand out, but how?" We decided to take something that ordinarily isn't done waist high in water and do it ... that's right, waist high in water.

Diet of Worms on (Melted) Ice was a comedy show performed in a swimming pool. What the flip were we thinking? We had seen the pool venue the year before, featuring a very po-faced, highly visual and above all sold-out theatre show. It seemed perfect. Many sketch shows have themes, all we had to do was make "water" ours.

We spent the month damp. Everything was damp. Every crease and crevasse was just ... really wet. We just couldn't get dry. Shane got two ear infections and couldn't perform for a whole week.

The others filled in for most of his roles, but one sketch needed five people, so that meant Alan, our ever-game stage manager, had to step up manfully. It was a tiring and somewhat ridiculous experience, but I guess it was a truly Edinburgh one.

This year, we're back on Terra Firma and it feels so good. Let's just say that it's not just our cool razor sharp comic wit that is super dry ... apart from when we get caught in the rain. Which seems to happen every flipping day. Yay Fringe!

Liz Bailey performs in Diet of Worms: Friends of the Puffincat at Gilded Balloon Teviot, 5:15pm, until 25 August.