Tidemark Edinburgh Fringe Experience 2004
Sunday 8 August 2004 We met up with an old favourite of ours today John Hegley, the wonderfully witty and clever comic poet originally from Luton. John, who can be heard regularly on the BBC in various guises is known as a bit of a Fringe veteran this being his 21st year in Edinburgh!  | | John Hegley prepares for his show |
He has the amazing talent of being able to instantly improvise a poem from audience suggestions along the lines of the Whose Line is it Anyway? programme, and his main themes in his writing stand out to me as dogs, potatoes, specs and his childhood years in Luton. The whole family are big fans of Johns and on seeing him, my daughter Philippa blurted out his name told him that shed seen him at The Old Town Hall in Hemel Hempstead and that she thought he was fantastic. He was immediately surrounded by a sea of turquoise tie-dyed Tidemark people comparing notes and chatting about his and our shows which are all at the Pleasance this year. This happy, relaxed episode was in marked contrast to my first attempt to chat to him at the Fringe in 1997. Tidemark was producing The Gents, a play I co-wrote with TV writer Brian Leveson, at the Gilded Balloon. Wed just seen John in his new show and potatoes were his big theme that year. I ran over to him on the Royal Mile with a leaflet for The Gents to try to get him to come along to see the show, nervously rehearsing my chat-up line as I went. Naturally Maris Pipers and King Edwards were at the forefront of my mind and as I approached I thought of just the right sort of witty line needed to attract his attention. I battled through the sea of tourists and street performers and called his name John! He turned around nervously, probably expecting some weird celebrity stalker or maybe an axe murderer to appear behind him but I gaily continued regardless
come and see The Gents at the Gilded Balloon guaranteed no cruelty to tomatoes! He never did come to see the show
Rebecca will be reporting on Tidemark's experiences throughout this year's Festival. Come back to see how she's doing! Are you taking a production to Edinburgh this year? Do you want to tell the world about it? If so, let us know by emailing [email protected] | 
