Crush

Two days to go and it’s time to go viral… The first teaser-trailer for Crush is up on YouTube! I spent two hours trying to choose the muzak to go at the end of this. I’m not naturally musical. Or muzakal. I almost went with the big top music… Did did diddle iddle did did der-duh… Hope you like the one I chose instead.

Previews

A big thank you to everyone who came to the previews in London and Cambridge last weekend! I learnt a lot from getting the show up on its feet. It has now been honed, re-honed, tried, and tested, and we are ready for Edinburgh! (By “we”, I mean “me and my laptop”. Or more correctly “my laptop and I”.) Over the three performances the audience gradually turned from 100% people-I-know to about 90% people-I-don’t-know so it has been a brilliant way to ease myself into the Fringe scariness.

Reviews

While I’m here I’d like to shout out to the Cheddar Chica who has written the first review for Crush on her blog. Thanks Donna!

There’s also been mini-reviews on Twitter and Facebook from other members of the audience – thank you all! As it’s just little old me doing all my marketing, word-of-mouth will be essential for the show during the Edinburgh run, so it is all much appreciated.

I spent quite some hours yesterday posting listings on various websites that haven’t yet syndicated from the Fringe site. There are lots of sites that accept reviews from the public these days too, so if you’ve been to the show and enjoyed it, please take five minutes to spread the word on sites such as  lovefringe.com, thepublicreviews.com, and festivalpreviews.com

And as always, Tweet about it! I’m @LizzyMace and the hashtag for my show is (drum roll…) #crushhh to match this website address.

I still haven’t really figured Twitter out to be honest. Yesterday I succeeded in linking my Tweets into my Facebook status updates. Honestly, when I’ve seen people do this before, a little part of me has scoffed at the laziness. Surely these are different audiences, I thought to myself. People on Facebook are friends, it’s personal. People on Twitter may not be friends, it’s public. But then again a lot of the people following me are friends… And those who aren’t might well be soon… Or they might just for some reason or other be interested in my every thought… But is that reason enough to let them have my every thought? I don’t know. In any case, I came to the conclusion that yes, it is lazy to link them, but I’m about to go to the world’s biggest arts festival, and I’m not going to have time to give two different accounts of my life up there. Laziness wins for August. It’s all public in Edinburgh.

By the way, am I supposed to follow everyone who follows me on Twitter? I wouldn’t do the same thing in the real world. That would be weird. But then, it’s not the real world, it’s t’world of Twitter and there’s different rules I’m still figuring out. Is this one of those different rules?

Seaviews

Now to the seaviews… I’m about to jump on a train to Edinburgh. Yes, it’s all happening! And the first little bit of track heading north out of Lancaster is one of my favourite bits of rail travel in this country.  Watching Morecambe Bay open out beside the train always gives me a little bit of calm.

Incidentally, my other favourite bit of rail travel is also heading towards Edinburgh, on the opposite side of the country. There’s a little moment where the train is skimming the cliff edge near Newcastle and suddenly between the rocks there’s a glimpse of a tumbledown stone cottage on a ledge half-way down to the sea. Then just as suddenly it’s gone again. It’s a special moment. Look out for it if you’re on the east coast line heading to the Fringe any time this month. Or if you’re just heading north any time ever. It’s lovely.

And for those of you on the motorways… Erm, you just get motorways…

Yay for trains! Toot toot!

It’s nearly two weeks since I started my Crush of the Day feature on Twitter and I still have plenty left to count down to the Fringe! Follow me to join the conversation, laugh at my increasingly weird crushes, and share your own crush history – if you dare! It’ll also be the best place to get the latest developments with the show once I’m in Edinburgh.

I’m a bit new to Twitter. I’m a Twitter newbie (Twoobie?). It still feels a lot like an online version of talking to myself. Mind you, it was only last week that I discovered how to see if someone has sent me a reply. Which could explain that issue… One thing it is very good for is eavesdropping on conversations between celebrities. I’ll give it that.

Join my Twitter Competition (Competwittion?)! I need a unique hashtag to promote my show during the run. To non-Twitterites, a hashtag is a word or phrase starting with a hash sign (#) which you can include in each post to identify what it’s about. It lets Twitter users follow a topic by searching for posts containing a specific hashtag. It’s nothing to do with hash. Unless your hashtag is #hash. Anyway, I need one for Crush and I want your suggestions! #crush on its own is already in use for posts about crushes (who would’ve thought?!). I need one that specifically identifies Crush the show without using lots of characters (which rules out #crushtheshow for example). Post your suggestions as comments below, send them to me on Twitter, or Facebook. I might also ask for audience suggestions at the previews this coming weekend. Yes, in person. Weird. Ok… Ready… steady… go!

Tickets for the London Preview of Crush are now available! That must mean it’s, like, a proper theatre and everything…

Call the Hen and Chickens reservation line on 020 7704 2001 or visit www.unrestrictedview.co.uk and follow the links to TicketWeb. Please note you can only buy full-price tickets in advance; if you want the concession price you need to pay on the door with proof of eligibility.

PS You can now sign up for Crush Alerts!, my regular ickle newsletter about what’s new with the show. My DNS propagated (which is not as painful as it sounds) so emails to and from info [at] crushhh.co.uk work like a dream.

PPS You can also follow me on Twitter, where I’m counting down to the Fringe with a Crush of the Day every day. No surprises yet, but let’s see how weird they get by August!

There is one month to go until the awesomeness that is the Edinburgh Fringe! To celebrate, I have spent the last 24 hours elbow-deep in html code and DNS information to bring to you… the CRUSH WEBSITE! Wooo! Here it is. You’re on it now. Yes, this, in front of you. With the grass, and the doodles. I hope you like it.

This is the online home of my new show “Crush”. It’s the first time I’ve written a whole show, and it’s the first time I’ve performed at the Edinburgh Fringe. Yes, I know, I’m probably skirting the edges of lunacy. But it’s all in the name of art. Art, I tell you!

It’s strange how giving something a virtual home makes it seem more real. It almost hadn’t sunk in that I’ll be performing in Edinburgh in exactly one month until I’d set up a Facebook event page and given it a little picture. Suddenly it’s actually happening, it’s not just an idea any more. And not just a crazy idea either. It’s a crazy idea turned crazy reality.

So, I will leave you to have a look around… There’s not much on here yet, just some more info about the Edinburgh show AND previews in London and Cambridge for anyone who can’t make it to the Festival. I’m very excited about these, as they will give me a chance to see how the show works in front of actual people. Last night I dreamt about the London preview. If the dream has any relation to what it’ll be like in reality, there’ll be awesome videos but I won’t have learnt my script yet. And I’ll also be naked.

Come back very soon as I will be adding photos, videos, and more in the lead-up to the Festival. There will also be a chance to sign up for Crush Alerts! – a regular newsletter that will keep you updated with everything that’s new on the site and with the show. Just waiting for my DNS to propagate, then it’ll be all go.