This year, Edinburgh Festival Fringe has an abundant total of 3,013 shows for audiences to choose from. As the biggest cultural festival on the planet, the choices are, quite literally, endless as it would be impossible for one person to see over three thousand shows in less than a month. Because of this, many performers find themselves in turbulent circumstances in ghost-like rooms. Georgie Grier is no stranger to this, as only one person showed up to her preview show on August 3.
In a tearful, heartbreaking Tweet that went viral this weekend, Georgie shared with her followers: “There was one person in my audience today when I performed my one-woman play, ‘Sunsets’ at #edfringe. It’s fine, isn’t it? It’s fine…?”
Thankfully, we don’t have to lose our faith in humanity just yet, as plenty of fellow artists and people from around the world showed Georgie compassion and support. Following her Tweet, which has now received over 5.4 million views, Georgie had a full crowd in for Friday’s (August 4) performance of Sunsets at Gilded Balloon’s Patter Hoose venue in Edinburgh with tickets selling for upcoming performances.
It’s a solo play about romantic comedies, Sunsets is a feel-good, heartfelt exploration of one woman’s relationship to fantasy and how far this can impact reality.
Georgie Grier said: “What a wild start to my Fringe experience. From one audience member yesterday to a personalised video from Jason Manford, thousands of supportive messages on social media and seeing more faces in the audience today; it’s been a whirlwind 24 hours. When I posted, I was hoping for a few messages of support or advice from fellow Fringe acts, however, I had no idea how much it would resonate with people.”
The Edinburgh Fringe really is a marathon, not a sprint, and I know there have been lots of people in similar positions. I’m on at Gilded Balloon’s Patter Hoose every day in August (except the 14th) at 12.20pm – it would be great to have you there!”
Looks like Georgie might have a happy ending to her Fringe experience after all. Sometimes, all it takes is to show your humanity, be vulnerable and others will understand us more than we realise.