Comedy news: Edinburgh Fringe 2010: Comedy duo Robin and Partridge’s art flier challenge

Tweet

It is the kind of project that would make even the most artent arts and crafts fan quiver with apprehension, a comedy duo at this years Edinburgh Fringe are attempting to produce 5,000 fliers by hand as part of their art-inspired Edinburgh show. 

SSP caught up with the two intrepid art-improvisers 

SSP: What is it like attempting to hand-write 5000 fliers? Have either of you thought of any quirky ideas to make them in a speedy way?

Charlie:  Its pretty daunting. But we've quite a few artist friends who offered to chip in. In fact even non-artists - everyone loves getting a bit crafty. Even so, I'm not sure I could possibly HAND WRITE them all... A lot will be stenciled, graffiti-style. Some will have hand written longer blurbs photocopied and stuck to the back - I still think it counts though as the fronts will still be little works of art.

Robin: It is a big old push... Fortunately, we have some really gifted friends who are going to be all gluey, glittery hands on deck. We might try using our toes and left hands to get them done quicker.

SSP: What do the fliers reveal about their show?

Charlie: Well the nature of the task hopefully makes the flyer a little more engaging... which is what we always try and do in our show. We always try and have poignant as well as funny bits in the story telling elements of the show.

Also, a lot of the show incorporates hand made props - we do shadow-puppetry with hand drawn and hand cut silhouettes. Also, there are video animations in the show, which we've made ourselves quite painstakingly and we hand make some of our costumes too.

Robin: We pay at lot of attention to the aesthetic of our show, we want it to look good and be imaginative. And making things yourself can be a super fun way to do that. We do a lot of work for Gavin Turk's and Deborah Curtis's art collective the House Of Fairy Tales which has been really imspiring. 

SSP: Is hand-made fliers a much more 'Fringey' thing to do?

Charlie: I'd like to think so, if you engage the fantasy that the fringe is made up of struggling performers doing far too much inefficient promotion to get a few more people into their show. It would probably be more 'fringey' to have raised 15 grand and incorporated a budget for a flyering team with an aim of shifting 50'000 during the run.

We couldn't afford to go in the Fringe guide when the deadline came, so that’s why we've got to make sure the flyers we do shift have more impact. There's also a green thing to it as well. When I did a student show a few years ago, we shifted 30'000 flyers. If you multiply that by the 1000s of of shows there are, plus all the guides, free magazines and posters - thats quite a saddening level of waste we generate. Hopefully, by making each flyer a little piece of art, we have at least reduced the extent to which they are disposable.

SSP: You were mentioned by Jarvis Cocker (an ex-art student himself) on his Sunday Service last weekend, a: what did he say and how did you get involved with him??

Charlie: We did a recording with Jarvis as part of his coverage of Port Elliot Festival. We were doing children's stories there with The House Of Fairy Tales, a travelling arts and education circus. We discussed the work they do with families, what its like to work with children, largely how funny they are and then we did an improvised story with him in the way we would normally do with children.

He has come to the House of Fairy Tales a few times which is how we ended up doing the interview. In Glastonbury 2009 the House of Fairy Tales put on an event called Blue Beard's Banquet, where guests were treated to a meal, but also invited into a world where a story unfolded throughout the evening. 

Robin and I hosted it as well as staging a lot of Vic and Bob style games throughout, complete with hand-made props. Jarvis really enjoyed one of these and asked if we could do a personalised one, there at the festival, as part of celebrations for a soon to be married friend. You can't refuse that, and we were really pleased with the party we put together. There may have been a few rockstars there too. That was a pretty special festival experience.

Robin: He was really supportive. he chatted to us about our show and we did an improvised story with him. He rapped in geordie, and was bloody good at it. We met him in Glasto 09 when he asked us to organsie a party for his bandmate stag do. We have met a lot of amazing and talented people through the House of Fairy Tales.

Robin and Partridge are performing as part of the Five Pound Fringe from the 19th - 29th of August. For more information visit www.robinandpartridge.com