Everything's different in the UK.
Things are measured in metric. Voltage is twice that of America's safe and friendly 110v. Plugs are different, fire regulations are different. Gaff tape is a ludicrously poor imitation.
A million differences, some small, some catastrophically large, all hinder my job of putting up this show in Edinburgh.
Not to mention the already-gargantuan task of installing a 2-year old site-specific piece of devised theater into an ex-church-turned-Fringe-venue. Without any drawings.
Even the truss is different over here.
I'm in Edinburgh in the last few weeks of July, getting ready for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August. It's the largest arts festival in the world. Every August, Edinburgh turns into the epicenter of all sorts of creative pursuits, from theater and dance to visual art to books to comedy.
I'm working for Barrow Street Theatre, an Off-Broadway producing company in New York, who has picked up Flesh and Blood & Fish and Fowl, which premiered in the Live Arts Festival in 2008. I'm the production manager, in charge of the trans-atlantic shift and successful mounting of this (aforementioned) site-specific-turned-touring piece of theater.
I had one week on the ground here to source and secure everything, from shop rentals for lighting and sound materials to lumber orders for our set to crew for staffing all the calls. After a week, the actors came in from Philadelphia, ready for setting up and rehearsal. A few days after that, the designers came, for the last-minute touches then a weekend of tech. Two weeks and two days after my arrival in this city, this show, in all its technical glory, will preview to an audience. The next day, it will open for its European Premiere.
Even the coffee is different here.
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