Lili’s Essential Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide

Tags

advice, afvs, another fucking variety show, armstrongs, burlesque, cabaret, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Fringe, Fringe, Mat Ricardo, ondine, stuart goldsmith, the dogs, the Fringe, walker slater

Every year, a plethora of ‘Fringe Survival Guides’ are written so I thought that I would add what little wisdom I have gathered. I have been to every Edinburgh Fringe since 2005, first as a street performer with a double act with my sister, then as a street performer alone and cabaret/burlesque guester. Then, after I met my husband, we moved indoors. Several solo shows and a variety show further down the line and here we are. Along the way, I have learned some stuff and I thought that today, two weeks before AFVS opens for its third season, I’d share it with you.

I cannot stress enough how important it is to eat and drink. Eat properly, try to have three meals a day. It is a bloody slog doing shows but it isn’t just shows. You’ll be flyering for anything from two to five hours a day, potentially on very little sleep. I’d advise a really good breakfast, a Berocca and at least two litres of water a day, or more if your show is particularly physical. There is plenty of moisture in Edinburgh, generally coming down in stair rods but unfortunately the human body has yet to find a way to drink via osmosis so make that Evian bottle your friend. Hydrate your head – it will keep you sane.

If you are a London performer, don’t think that because it is August you will need your summer wardrobe. Edinburgh has the most delightful way of throwing many seasons at you, sometimes all at once. I tend to take my Autumn wardrobe, so a field of tweeds and tartan wools. I have the most delicious tartan cape which I adore wearing at Fringe time, it’s floor length, warm, it has a Scottish Widows hood and a Sherlock Holmes-esque mini cape. It is also bright yellow. It is actually my favourite thing, I found it at Armstrong’s Vintage three years ago.

Be nice. To everybody; but be especially nice to the doorkeepers of the industry bars. They are the gatekeepers to a world of fabulous networking – and isn’t that really what we are all there for? Occasionally an A-lister might wander in, I remember a few years ago Hugh Grant came in, the Catholic priest I was with offered him a blessing although to be honest, Hugh was so stoned he probably thinks he imagined that! My observation is that Four Weddings was a long, long, long time ago. Ah! The onward march of time. Unkinder to some than others, thank heavens for post production.

Remember that Edinburgh, the City, doesn’t owe you anything, you are but a mere visitor grubbing around the hem of her tartan gown. Treat her with courtesy, please don’t piss in her alleyways, throw up in her gutters or leave your sexual detritus littered in her nooks. Aside from anything else, you never know who you might see and do you really want that casting director, song writer or future spouse’s first image of you to be a piss-soaked, vomit-sprayed huddle? Unless that is what you are going for.

You will be tempted to be drunk for days, we’ve all done it in that 24/7 melee that is Edinburgh Fringe. By all means get so wasted you forget your own name but remember that Edinburgh Fringe is a marathon not a sprint, so don’t spend the rest of the month broke and hungover. Save it for that final week when the reviews are done, the audiences steady and the pressure is lessened.

Someone once told me that Edinburgh is a dance not a race (I believe it was the gorgeous Mr Stuart Goldsmith). It will be tempting to compare yourself to your friends and compatriots. This is a one way street to absolute sure-fire self destruction and self-doubt. Everyone has their own Fringe, have yours. It might be your year to sell out a huge venue and get a galaxy of five star reviews, it probably won’t. Don’t crow if you are doing well, be humble because the very next person you come across might be having the hardest month of their life.

Whilst we are talking about reviews, I would always say DON’T READ THEM! It is simply one person’s opinion and it will give you a false sense of where you are at; even if you get a five star from the Scotsman, I’d still say don’t read it (maybe read it when you get home in September). Just enjoy your journey and don’t buy into the press that surrounds you, or anyone else for that matter. It makes me feel incredibly old to say I remember a time when social media and online blogs didn’t exist at the Fringe, it was a happier, less pressurised time. Now, as you check in every ten minutes, blog, tumblr and tweet, try to find time to not; live in the moment you are in right now without checking to see who is watching from afar. It is no longer a case of ‘what happens at the Fringe stays at the Fringe’ but more likely ‘what happens at the Fringe is watched, commented on and liked by your mother’s neighbour’s cat in a multi-platform way’. So keep that in mind when you meet the sexual partner of your dreams whilst your partner is dog-sitting at home.

I will leave you on a piece of advice that will keep you sane. Take time out from the Fringe. Yes, it is an amazing month, a creative, fabulous, social and professional trade show whirl, but it can be draining, exhausting and depressing. Take a day, or half a day to get out. Go eat in a restaurant that has real cutlery (I recommend Ondine or The Dogs), climb Arthur’s Seat, try on/buy suits at Walker Slater (that’s mine) or jump on a train to somewhere else entirely. You step outside of the Edinburgh Fringe bubble and suddenly the biggest Fringe in the world seems so very tiny.

To those about to Edinburgh Fringe – I salute you.

Love Lili.

PS. In all seriousness, if the Fringe does start to overwhelm you – seek help. Fringe Central have heaps of amazing performer services so don’t be afraid; they literally have seen it all before.

Another F*cking Variety Show – 31st July – 23rd August – Queen Dome, Pleasance Dome, 11pm

 

 

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The Show’s The Thing (or how Adelaide Fringe created a Siren)

Tags

adelaide fringe, cabaret, gown, jema hewitt, ralph bogard, siren, songs, Vintage

When I started to gather songs for ‘Siren’, I wasn’t sure what I was creating. I knew I had to create a new show, ‘War Notes‘ and ‘Songs to Make You Smile‘ have both almost had their day (although, they are open for booking should you be so inclined!). So I knew I had to create something. Now, I work well under pressure, so given a year of procrastinating, moving sheet music from pile to pile and then arranging the piles into alphabetical order and then rearranging them chronologically I started to form the basis of an idea.

My life has been in a state of flux over the last year, I think that many cabaret performers sometimes feel the same. The work is neither consistent nor assured and although I’m often lucky to be busy and in demand, that could change tomorrow. I also had a baby, with all the added pressures and responsibility that he brings along with his toddling and giggling. My husband is often away on tour and marriage is sometimes really tough. No one tells you that when it’s all hearts, flowers and engagement rings.

So I haven’t been in the most creative frame of mind, and yet this show was booked into Adelaide Fringe way back in September. So I had to create something. Anything. I sensed a theme amongst my chosen songs, they were eclectic, but all vaguely nautical. I wanted to do something deeper, more mysterious and more enchanting. It wasn’t easy, but nothing that is worth something comes easy to you. I couldn’t find the flow, I couldn’t find the links and so a very dear friend of mine, Ralph Bogard offered to help me find my way in the darkness. And boy, did he. We worked intensively for two days and it was exhausting both emotionally and physically. We explored the song choices and the reasoning behind them and therein lay the links. Some funny, some feminist and some just plain painful. He forced me to delve deeper and share those locked away emotions and hurts that make the songs real.

I originally wanted a costume that would come apart as the show progressed and my fabulous costumier, Jema Hewitt made me the most amazing disintergrating ‘sea wraith’ dress but once I rehearsed with it, it felt contrived and I couldn’t find the truth in it. So I ditched that idea, grudgingly, let me tell you! So I was costumeless. It was a problem, as one of my techniques to bringing a show together is building from the costume. You find the perfect visual aesthetic and everything else seems to fall into place. I happened to be browsing a vintage store in Auckland and I came across this deep sea blue and green 1940’s gown. It was glamorous but a little tatty, a little fragile, coming apart at the seams – much like me (under the bravado). As soon as I put it on, ‘Siren’ was born.

Now, I’ve spent a month here at the Adelaide Fringe, it’s been really hard work but I have had good friends around to counsel. My ‘work spouse’, Mat Ricardo, has been an absolute rock. He’s been a shoulder to lean on and an ear when I needed to rant, cry or talk and we have also laughed. I think it is always hard when the material you are doing drags up from the depths of your soul the past hurts and emotions that you had locked away in a little box and buried deep. What is the quote from ‘The Go-Between’? – ‘the past is a foreign country, they do things differently there’. The past was a different country, I was a different person. In a way, ‘Siren’ has been a gift of closure of some open wounds which I had just packed with glitter and tit tape – like a cabaret war wound! It’s shown me that emotional honesty onstage can be an incredibly terrifying thing but to be able to share that with an audience and take them on that journey with you is an exhilaration. Through the show, I’ve confronted, literally, those weights laying heavy within me and reaffirmed that in my life that I have made the right decisions, no matter how painful they were at the time.

So my message this morning is don’t be afraid to use your hurts and emotional weak spots to create art. Use them, share them, allow your audience the privilege of seeing deep inside you to where those cuts are still raw. It both hurts more and hurts less as time goes on. We are so caught up in our own fear to fail, our unwillingness to commit, our emotional baggage; how freeing it is to take control of it, harness it and say “Bitch, you work for me now”.  It’s working for me, (so far, I’ve evaded the men in white coats) ‘Siren’ has grown into a fully fledged show and has been incredibly received by audiences (who have bought me gifts of songs and vintage brooches!) and critics alike and for that, I give thanks for my multiple broken hearts and wounded pride.

If you are reading this in Adelaide, you have three more chances to catch the show, get your tickets here. If you are in London, I’m coming to London Wonderground in June and you can get your tickets here.

Love.
Lili. x

Lili la Workaholic

Tags

cabaret, Danny Elfman, Joe Black, London Cabaret Festival month, Proud Cabaret, Tim Burton, variety

I think these past few months I have managed to become busier than ever before. My husband and I had agreed to try to become less ‘busy’ as we felt that the ongoing conversations of ” How are you?” “Oh, I’m sooooo busy, literally run off my feet” “Well, good problem to have!” had become annoying and actually quite damaging. It is not a virtue to be the busiest person in the world. Having said that, life takes off at breakneck speed sometimes and you just have to cling on for dear life and hope that you are still in one piece when it slows down. Hence, amid the new London Cabaret Festival, hosting shows, touring solo shows, helping Tape Face write his new show and my own performing and creating as well as wrangling a nine-month old who is actually in to everything, life is at its busiest and so blogging has rather slipped by the by. So I apologise to those of you who read this, I’m sure you were desperate for more Lili words!!

I’ll get you up to speed on my world and then we’ll start over. Deal?

London Cabaret Festival month is in full swing and the plans are afoot for the Festival next May too. I can’t say too much at the moment, but soon I shall reveal all, including the fabulous new Cabariot video which is going to be launched next Monday. In the meantime, here’s the old one...

I’ve been hosting a lot at Proud Cabaret in the City of London. The venue is so perfect for me and the wonderful people who work there always make me feel so welcome and at home and the line ups are always stellar. Here’s a quick selfie (don’t you hate them? Needs must.) of one of my hosting outfits for last week. I went for an 80’s meets Highwaywoman meets Vivienne Westwood does 20’s look. The gold dress is one that I have had forever and I contemplated selling it last year but I’m glad I didn’t as I liked the effect.

Lili at Proud

Last Monday, I took my husband for his birthday surprise (which had been ruined by Joe Black – devil) to see Danny Elfman’s music performed at the Royal Albert Hall. It was the most fabulous evening. Not only were goth royalty, Helena Bonham Carter and Tim Burton in attendance but the music was simply sublime and hearing Danny Elfman sing the music from Nightmare Before Christmas was utterly awesome. We laughed, we cried, we took dodgy shots of Tim Burton.

Last night, I went with my mother and sister to see The Birmingham Royal Ballet at Sadler’s Wells. They were performing three ballets, the final one being ‘Still Life at the Penguin Cafe’ which is one of my all time, absolute favourite ballet, (here’s my favourite part, The Zebra), in fact, I’m going to write a whole blog on it in a minute, so come back soon.

Until next time…

Love Lili
x

Lili’s Seven Deadly Sins

Tags

burlesque, cabaret, entertainment, job application, Lili, producer, variety, variety show

As a producer, I often need to find acts for my variety show and I get a lot of applications from keen performers. It’s always interesting to see the acts people are trying to sell to me and I’m always excited when I find someone fabulous with whom I’ve never worked. However, there are always things that make me recoil so I thought I’d share with you some of the things which send an application straight to the trash can! In no particular order, here are my seven deadly sins of job applications:

1. Bad spelling, punctuation and grammar. If you can’t be bothered to spell check your application, then why should I be bothered with reading it?  If I have to decipher the hidden meaning in the string of words, which have no discernible commas, or full stops, I’m unlikely to take the time to do so, no matter what artistic gems you may reveal. If you know that spelling and grammar is a sore point for you, get someone to check what you have written and then cut-and-paste it into the main body of the email. Then you have only to tailor a couple of sentences to the job which is advertised.

2. ADHD applications. What do I mean by that? Seven different fonts in 5 different sizes. Twenty-five paragraphs all in different colours. Seventy-three headlines, all double underlined with 20 exclamation marks!!!!! If it’s painful to the eye, I will expect that your performing style is of the same ilk. Keep it neat, keep it brief. If you have used cut and paste, don’t let it look like it. I like, (and this is purely personal) a simple greeting, a paragraph explaining who you are and what you do, a couple of links to good quality videos. Maybe a couple of quotes from respected sources, (ideally published reviews rather than audience comments). Finish it off with a line or two about how you feel you’d fit in to the show and flattery will really get you everywhere.

3. Spell my name right. It’s Lili. Two L’s, two I’s. Not Lila, Lulu, Lilia or Larry. I’m sure other producers will agree with me when I say that it’s a little insulting when someone hasn’t taken the time to even get your name right. Also, if you’ve never met me, it is certainly NEVER Lil.

4. I am the one and only. Don’t CC in all the other producers of all the jobs you are applying for that day. If you are really too lazy to send more than one email, learn to use the BCC button. If you are still to lazy to send more than one email, maybe you should consider a different job. Youthful eagerness isn’t an excuse, I guess I’m just saying send more than one email. Take the time to personalise your emails, I’ll appreciate the time taken.

5. Big up yourself but don’t. Let me know what you’ve achieved, awards you have won, reviews you’ve received. If you’ve never been crowned, don’t call yourself ‘Burlesque Queen’. Who called you a star? If it was an audience member, don’t take it too seriously because there were five others that called you unmentionable names! If the times called you ‘The Next Big Thing’, tell me. Don’t claim you’ve headlined a show when you were simply on the bill. A quote from one of the top performers can be risky, as it depends entirely on whether said performer and I share the same taste.

6. 15 minutes of fame. I cannot stress enough how much I don’t want to watch a 15 minute, badly filmed, shaky phone camera video of your act. Even the best performer in the world will look terrible on a bad video. Take the time to get your act filmed well. Or get a showreel made which shows all your best bits. Then send me a link, not the actual video! Do I want to download 5GB of video? Not really.

7. Independent thought. If I feel that you have been overly influenced by another performer I probably won’t book you. After all, who wants a line up of Misky & Fannish, Puff the Magic Lizard and Magic Tape Head Man? Inspired by is fine, but if you are using the same costume, music, gestures and style the you need to take a look at your own creative process. Equally, if you are ripping off my best friend/husband/cat, I will never book you. I’m a bitch like that.

I hope that this blog inspires you to look at what you send out for potential jobs. Most of the time I find the quality of acts that contact me incredibly high and there are some truly inspiring performers around the burlesque and variety circuit. I really do enjoy perusing acts and doing a bit of treasure hunting, so don’t put your light under a bushel but display it to its most glamorous advantage.

Love Lili
x

Lili gets shot!

Tags

clothing, Deadly is the Female, Edinburgh Fringe, edinburgh fringe festival, etsy, Fashion, jema hewitt, killer curves, milady de winter, millinery, photographer, showgirl, style, Vintage, vintage lovers, What Katie Did

This week, I was lucky enough to shoot with one of my favourite photographers, Ian Treherne. It was my first shoot back after having Rafferty and I’m still feeling a little bit curvy, so I was concerned about my double chin and lack of cheek bones – thank heavens for shading and contouring.
I needed some photos for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and also for a couple of shows I’m working on so I threw together some costumes (the ones that fit me, anyway!) and went to Ian’s fab little studio about 20 minutes from my house.
Ian shot a photo of me last year which made it onto the front cover of Level 4 Magazine, a mag for local music and other artistic what-not. I adored that picture, so he was a natural choice for me. I also wanted something which wasn’t completely ‘vintage-styled’.
I find that it takes me about 10 minutes to warm up into a shooting rhythm and Ian takes a pause roughly every seven pictures or so but we soon found our way and started to come up with some really fabulous images.
I took along a dress from Deadly Is The Female, a black ruched number which when paired with a What Katie Did Morticia corset, provided me with some killer curves. I also flung on an awesome vintage statement necklace and earrings set. I imagine the photos will have a Mafia Mama attitude to them, as I was channelling ‘Don’t F*ck With Mama la Scala’!! I think that Ian really enjoyed shooting that dress and it’s really interesting how something so simple and black can ooze sexuality.
Then we shot my fabulous purple and green hosting frock which was made for me by the incredible Jema Hewitt.

It’s thoroughly boned which makes sitting down nigh impossible as is bending, turning or even just walking. This made shooting in it quite tricky, but I do hope that we got something amazing, the colours are incredible and the style is great. I wanted something which channelled Milady de Winter from the Three Musketeers and Jema created it perfectly.

Our final pictures featured the most incredible piece of millinery – a hat with a ship a la Marie Antoinette. It’s common knowledge that I adore a tricorn and this is a spectacular example. I found it on Etsy, my gosh, that site is a treasure trove of delicious handmade allsorts! I wanted to use the hat for an image for a new show I’m working on called Siren, it’s a collection of nautically inspired music. I wanted a soft but strong image with the hat centre stage and here is a sneak peek.

I can’t wait to see the rest of the images that Ian took, especially the amazing black dress and I look forward to sharing them with you, too. So for now, this blog is to be continued…
Love Lili

Lili goes to work

Tags

agent burlieque, baby, breast feeding, burlesque, cabaret, costumes, Ipswich, Miss Jones, Regent Theatre, road trip, Sapphire Rox, show

A couple of weeks ago I got a phone call from the lovely Miss Sapphire Rox. She had been let down by her compere and needed someone for an Agent Burlieque show at the Ipswich Regent Theatre on the 22nd March. I had previously turned down doing the show as Rafferty was expected mid-February but since he made his appearance early, I jumped at the chance to get back onstage.
As the show approached, I was understandably nervous. It would be the first time that I had left Rafferty for longer than an hour and a half. This time I would be gone for the best part of seven hours.
The day arrived and I packed my show case, which took an absolute age. When got pregnant, I put my regular performing costumes away. At the time, I thought myself rather well organised but now that I need them again, I see that there was absolutely no rhyme or reason to my packing. There’s a hat here, a bustle there and goodness only knows where I’ve put my fishnet tights?
I also seem to have forgotten what one packs in to a show case. In the past, I’ve been able to pack everything into a ‘carry-on’ sized suitcase but this weekend, however, it looked as if I was going away for a month!
As four o’clock approached, I made sure I had everything and my husband packed the breast pump as I would need to pump because I was away from the baby for so long. I primed the grandparents and gave them the bottles for the evening. Then, with my heart in my mouth, I jumped into the car and sped away, Suffolk-bound.
Like any first-time mother away for the first time, I worried all the way to Ipswich but a quick phone call home reassured me that everything was fine although did little to assuage my ‘mother’s guilt’.
I arrived at the Regent, soundchecked, threw my face on and wriggled into a rather tight costume. Note to self – less cake. Before I knew it, it was showtime and Lili had to get on with the job at hand.

The show was huge fun, lovely acts and a stellar audience who knew how to have fun and being back onstage felt like the most natural thing in the world. The first half flew by and we got to the interval, cue a costume change and a quick pump as there was a risk that my boobs might explode!
Catastrophe! In his eagerness to help me, my husband had missed a piece of the pump, so I couldn’t express at all! By now, I was starting to resemble a porn star with these enormous engorged knockers! Looked fab, felt like hell.

The show finished with a bang with the fab fire performer, Miss Jones.

She completely killed the audience with her devilish fire routine and nothing remained but for me to send them out smiling with a song.

After the show, I packed up my case and dashed back to the car, by now feeling like someone had strapped two huge balloons to my chest. I drove like a bat out of hell down the A12, (within the speed limits of course since it had begun to snow when I left Ipswich) and made it home safely.
It was absolute heaven to get home to my boys, although Rafferty was fast asleep so I had to wait for him to stir before I could feed him.
My husband said my poor boobs were at the same time the most and least sexy thing he’d ever seen!
I guess the moral of the tale is that motherhood alongside travelling performer/compere for hire is a learning curve and I’m sure with time I’ll have it down to a fine art but for now, it is a case of ‘can do better’!!

Love Lili

World Buskers Festival

It’s mid-January and normally I am in Christchurch, New Zealand. I’m usually very excited as the World Buskers Festival is about to start. The World Buskers Festival is a ten day long festival of street performing and evening shows. The festival organiser always does a fantastic job of picking the very best of the world’s street performing talent. The street performing circuit is really like a big global village, everyone knows everyone else and it’s a world in which I take pleasure being a part.

I started out my career as a street performer, singing opera in Trafalgar Square.

They nicknamed me ‘The Songbird of Trafalgar Square’, just a scrap of a girl who looked like she’d stepped out of a 50’s movie, singing operatic arias. Everyday, come rain or shine, I’d put on my sweater, circle skirt, rouge up my lips and head into London with my little pulley suitcase. Once in Trafalgar Square, I’d pop on my heels and maybe an underbust corset, pop my hat on the ground and sock it to ‘em.

After my show, I’d gather up my money and retreat to Prêt a Manger for a well-deserved hot chocolate. They were happy times, until the police got mean and moved me on after three years! I’ve retired from street performing now, but I always look forward to the World Buskers Festival; Christchurch is one of my favourite cities. This year is their 20th birthday and the line-up is huge including Le Gateau Chocolat, Gamarjobat and some of the top names in street performing. They have street shows, cabaret and burlesque and I wish them all an amazing festival.
For my husband and I? We are spending January shivering in England as we are expecting the patter of tiny, next generation busker, feet!
Maybe he’ll be part of the line-up for the World Buskers Festival’s 40th birthday?

Musica-Lili speaking!

My fascination with vintage songs began when I was very small. Growing up, I spent an awful lot of time with my Great-Aunt who told me stories of WW2 and first introduced me to the wonderful songs that she’d learnt all those years before. Since then, my collection has steadily grown, although in the last few years it has begun to sky rocket. People who have seen me sing and have heard about my hoarding habits have started to send me their old piles of vintage music. Music that they have found in a deceased relative’s house, or that was left to them, or that they have bought and framed to hang on the wall. My collection currently takes over a cupboard, a 3 drawer filing cabinet, half my office floor (temporarily, I have assured my long suffering husband!) and I have music from the late Victorian era all the way through to the late 50’s . Each day a new brown paper package arrives, like the song says, tied up with strings, and I have to tell my husband that it has been there weeks! Piles of music are gradually making their way towards the front door. I thought I would share some of my favourite pieces with you.

I adore songs from WW2, these covers tickle me especially.

A coronation album from 1937

A song from 1913, what a fabulous dress!

Just one small selection of my collection.

Of course, there are some pieces that I would love to find but have yet to lay my hands on, I’m desperately looking for ‘The Deepest Shelter in Town’, a rather naughty song from WW2. You never know, it might just be in the next pile to arrive. Until then, I’ll just keep searching.

Lili la Scala.