Four weeks ago we arrived in our flat on a miserable, rainy Sunday armed with little more than a fresh batch of Imps’ t-shirts, 35 000 flyers and a healthy dose of hope. Today we sit here on a beautiful, sunny Monday afternoon following our final show of Edinburgh 2013 with a batch of not-so-fresh Imps’ t-shirts, a handful of left-over flyers and an unhealthy dose of banana bread made from all the forgotten bananas left by various imps in our flat kitchen over the past month. The statistics for the past month tell a triumphant story:
Twenty-seven shows at the Gilded Balloon. Eighteen sell-outs. Three 4-star reviews. One appearance on BBC Radio Oxford. One performance at the BBC Pink Tent. Loads of banana bread.
The BBC dressing room was in Imps colours
However, the real triumph of Edinburgh has been the hard-work, dedication and camaraderie within the group. Of the 165 performing man-hours at the Gilded Balloon this run, 110 of those came from imps who only joined the company last October. This meant that shows were compered by Imps who had previously only compered one or two shows, raps were rapped by those who had not previously considered themselves confident rappers and plots were moulded by those who had previously relied on more experienced improvisers to shape narratives. And it all happened wonderfully.
Particularly special praise should go to Tom Skelton, without whose experienced hand on the Assistant-Directorial rudder the journey would undoubtedly have blown off course, and Ryan Norris, whose calm Producerial efficiency at keeping us and our flat ship-shape was a constant joy throughout.