The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the biggest arts festival in the world, with nearly 3,500 shows. This year, Playbill is in Edinburgh for the entire month in August for the festival and we’re taking you with us. Follow along as we cover every single aspect of the Fringe, aka our real-life Brigadoon!
15 years after making his debut at Edinburgh Fringe, cabaret star/personality Le Gateau Chocolat returned to the festival to give the keynote speech at the Fringe Society's annual Artist Address. Held August 4 on the opening day of the Fringe, the Artist Address gave Le Gateau Chocolate a chance to reflect on his journey and what work still lies ahead for the Fringe.
After his debut in 2008, he returned again in 2011. "The magic of Edinburgh Fringe was very present, and I was lucky enough to tap into the zeitgeist. Shows sold out. Reviews were great. It got a London transfer to The Menier Chocolate Factory. The Sydney Opera House. Poland. Christchurch, New Zealand. Melbourne. Auckland. It set me on a course that introduced me to Basement Jaxx and had me performing with them and Metropole Orkest at the Barbican. It’s how T-Mobile found me and reached out for me to be part of the flash mob ad at Terminal 5. It changed my life," he shared to the crowd.
But despite the positive reviews and audience accolades, there's a lot of work that goes into putting a show on at Fringe. "When you’re not performing the show, you’re selling it. When you’re not selling it, you’re doing PR. When you’re not doing PR, you’re rehearsing, adjusting to the conversation with the audience—in a permanent state of dampness," he said in his address. "The exhaustion at a cellular level whilst also being deeply invigorating. You’re on a constant high which amplifies the lows—however brief they are."
Le Gateau Chocolate brought three shows to the Fringe in 2018: Duckie, Icons, and Jonny Woo’s All Star Brexit Cabaret. And through his years experiencing the festival, Le Gateau Chocolate has noticed the rising costs of accommodations, the financial risks artists take, as well as other obstacles Fringe performers face. He spoke to the need for greater inclusivity and access stating, "Inclusivity is not a word, it’s an action, it is practice."
He concluded, "There is magic here. I haven’t found it at every Fringe I’ve attended, but I have found it several times. You can and will be in conversation with your audiences—my hope for artists present and all artists at this festival is that you indeed find audiences. You are enough, and the experiences that have brought you to this moment are valid. Lean into telling your stories as authentically as you can versus seeking validation from audience numbers, audience responses, and reviews. If you succeed at doing that, tell me how because at [the age of] 41, it’s a code I’m yet to crack. And to the facilitators of the storytellers, my plea to you is don’t take advantage of our reality; what we do is who we are."
