Balloon goes up for the Fringe programme

FRINGE 2012 is exciting, especially as I am producing four plays this year.

The first one is Casablanca - The Gin Joint Cut, with Gavin Mitchell as Bogey and Jimmy Chisholm playing numerous parts. It is a brilliant homage to film noir, deftly written by Morag Fullerton.

Jimmy is also performing in the National Theatre of Scotland’s Wickerman play at the Assembly Rooms on George Street. He’ll only have half an hour between shows, so I will be biting my finger nails every night, hoping Wickerman doesn’t overrun - and no, I am not going to have a go at Tommy Sheppard again, I think I’ve made my point there.

My second play is The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, written by Mike Daisy but not performed by him. He sent out a round-robin email offering the rights to the play and we have taken him up on them.

Andy Arnold from Glasgow’s Tron Theatre has edited the monologue, which received rave reviews in the US, down to one hour. Grant O’Rourke will be performing this piece.

The other play is one of the A Play, A Pie And A Pint series, written by the talented Mel Giedroyc of Mel and Sue fame. Entitled Slice it’s about cakes. This is the first play Mel has written and she will be up to see how the Festival public enjoy her efforts.

Finally, as I told you a few weeks ago, Murder, Marple And Me, written by Philip Meeks, is about the relationship between Margaret Rutherford and Agatha Christie and how despite their huge differences they became great friends.

I am nervous about these pieces, however, I know that the theatre going public and comedy fans will enjoy them. The sales are looking good so far and I really don’t think the Olympics will affect us as we’ll be showing the main events on our screens at the venue.