Edinbourgh Festival '99: Reviews - Diary
Riggs O'Hara Director of Women of Troy: 2099
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.WELCOME TO the Edinburgh Festival said the Lion to the Christians. The place is filled with students who can't afford Tuscany so spend their time sitting down and drinking or standing up and telling jokes. Does this sound like sour grapes? Well, it is.
After working for a year on Euripides' The Trojan Women in a new adaptation by Courttia Newland, we thought the world was waiting for us: we had the publicity behind Courttia's new book, Society Within, brilliant actors, a production going from street to classical via commedia dell'arte, and a sold-out run in London.
After the agony of adjusting to the let-down, analysis set in. One suggestion was to change the colour of the leading lady's shoes (she's barefoot), another was to buy my dog a coat with "Women of Troy" printed on it - still no audience, but we kept going, hoping word would get around - after all everyone thinks it's amazing. We did what we wanted and we're right. That's enough.
So time to start thinking about the next one. Will we come back? Can we afford it? Have we learnt anything? Yes. Don't come up without a substantial publicity budget, although we will continue to put the work before the sales and hope others will discover us. It's hard but it can't stop the work. Noel Coward once said: "A bad review can ruin your breakfast, but it must never interfere with lunch."
Pleasance, Venue 33, 6.50pm, to 30 August
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments