Guys & Dolls at the Festival Fringe

Over the summer twenty-one current and past pupils of Merchiston and St George’s re-formed to stage Guys & Dolls at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Originally staged as the senior production in 2003 to great acclaim, it was decided to revamp it for the audiences of 2005 as a swansong for several of the cast and, of course, Damian Sandys.

Due to the unavailiablity of some original principals, some recasting was necessary but the “new” cast members soon slotted in as if they had always been part of the cast. The rehearsal period was a little unusual to say the least. For the first week of the summer holiday the cast lived in Pringle, dubbed the Big Brother House by all. We had four days to re-block everything, learn dances and work out how we were going to cut a two and a half hour musical into one hour and forty-five minutes. No problem! Luckily, the moment we would start rehearsing a scene, memories would come flooding back and several of the cast found themselves off-book by the end of the first day. In fact, the whole rehearsal period was relatively stress-free and the cast worked immensely hard to complete the show and do two full runs before the end of the week. However, we did not have a full cast for any of the rehearsals as holidays, school and unscheduled trips to Indonesia got in the way. Nevertheless, as we finished rehearsals, everyone was full of excitement for what lay ahead.

Three weeks later we met up again to piece the whole thing back together and to slot in those missing cast members. The excitement soon went. It was not the best of rehearsals and it became apparent that a lot of work was needed before we opened three days later. However, the energy returned that night when we moved to the theatre. We were performing at C electric, part of the C venues chain. With over 170 shows from 140 companies, 110 UK premieres, 100 theatre shows and 14 children’s shows, C venues held the largest programme of theatre on the Fringe. It is one of the most exciting venues to work in and we were very fortunate to have a space there. Every company is granted a four-hour technical rehearsal and we were lucky enough to be given the slot of 11pm – 3am on Monday evening. However, putting it down to “all part of the Festival experience”, we achieved one of the best rehearsals so far, with sound checks, lights being plotted and spacing being checked all at the same time.

Three days later, following a rehearsal of our own and our dress rehearsal in the theatre, we were opening. The turnaround before the show was very tight. At 11.55am we would be let into the theatre itself, having already changed and done notes; five minutes later, we would open the house for the audience to come in. Before we knew it, the first performance was up and away, meeting with a great reception from the audience.

From that point onwards, everything fell into a routine. The shows would happen in the earlier part of the day, followed by an hour or two of flyering on the Royal Mile to entice an audience in. The cast had a ball on the Mile, singing and dancing on the streets and meeting lots of other performers at the same time. We were even spotted on the BBC News singing the title song!

There are always horror stories about performances at the Fringe having no audience to play to. Fortunately, we avoided this and for the first five days of performing, we were actually the highest selling company in the venue. By the end of the run, over a thousand people had been to see the show.

Performing in a show at the Festival is completely different to performing anywhere else as you always have to expect the unexpected. Nevertheless, there is such an amazing atmosphere during it that everyone gets swept up in the enjoyment of it all. In addition to the stage experience, the cast all made good use of their company passes, allowing them free tickets to over a hundred shows. Several of them were going to see five shows a day!

For several of the cast, it was their last “Merchiston” show – but it was a great one to go out on!

What they said about us:

“This is a delightful rendition of ‘Guys and Dolls’, performed by a young cast who are talented beyond their years…Richard Muckle and Stephanie Noble, who play those lovable characters Nathan Detroit and his ‘doll’ Adelaide, are rather reminiscent of old time stars and steal the limelight with their great chemistry…The cast have bundles of enthusiasm and engage well with the audience. A swell day out for all!” – Three Weeks

“The famous take-away hit ‘Luck Be A Lady’ was performed with style and harmonic panache. ‘Sit Down, You’re Rocking The Boat’ was a joy to watch and Stephanie Noble’s voice was almost made for ‘Adelaide’s Lament’.” – Broadway Baby

“All the principals play their roles effectively with Richard Muckle revealing a real and mature comic talent. The principals are well supported by the minor characters, particularly Archie Millar as Nicely-Nicely…Tight direction ensures the show proceeds with pace from the start to the big finale. Well done to the company for presenting enjoyable and energetic musical theatre.” – One 4 Review