It’s been a long time since we did a blog post (infact over 2 years) so let me catch you up with where we’re at. The last time you heard from us on the blog was to talk about our new show My Pet, My Love. We premiered this piece at Melbourne’s Midsumma Festival in 2015 and it went really well. As a performer, it’s quite normal to experience nerves before going onstage. You harness that energy in a positive way and once you get on stage the nerves disappear and you’re in the moment. On the opening night of My Pet, My Love I experienced the worse nerves I’ve ever had. I was standing backstage waiting to go on and I thought my heart was going to explode out of my chest! Despite that, I got through it. It was an exhilarating experience and we got some great reviews, including a 4-star review in Time Out Melbourne!

A year later we took the show to New Zealand Fringe in Wellington. I’d never toured a show to an international festival before and although it was a huge learning curve, it was one that I relished. I got to perform at BATS Theatre in Wellington and met some really generous and amazing people. Again, we got some really great reviews!

Then at the end of 2015, came United Solo Theatre Festival in New York City. Now for those that know anything about me, you’ll know how much I love NYC, so to have the opportunity to perform my one-man show, in a festival in NYC, at a theatre on 42^nd Street was something I never imagined I could do. It was a thrilling experience, and even though I was in NYC, there were so many familiar faces in the audience; people who I’ve crossed paths with over the years in various aspects of my life came to see the show and it meant the world to me.

After New York, I thought that perhaps I was done with this show, and it was time to move on. So I threw out all the keys that I had used in Melbourne and lugged to New Zealand and New York (7kgs of keys to be precise!) and said goodbye to the show.

Then something completely unexpected happened. I was back in Melbourne and I found out I had been awarded Best Actor of the United Solo Theatre Festival. I didn’t think my New York experience could get any better – but it did! So on the back of that, I thought I need to give this show one more go, and what better festival to head to then Edinburgh Festival Fringe! It’s the 70^th year of the festival and I’ve always wanted to take a show there, and now seems like the perfect time!

I applied and was accepted into C Venues, one of the big hub venues in Edinburgh. I’ll get the chance to perform my show 26 nights in a row, which will be a huge challenge but a great learning experience. I’m super excited, nervous, anxious, everything! Tickets are already onsale so if you happen to be in Edinburgh, Scotland in August why not come along!

I plan to keep you all up to date and blog more often about my experience in Edinburgh, so keep tuned for more details.

In the meantime, I’m running a fundraising campaign to help me get to Edinburgh. If you’re interested in finding out more, please head to this page for more information: https://australianculturalfund.org.au/projects/my-pet-my-love-goes-to-edinburgh/

Rob 🙂