23 Aug A Sense of Direction – Edinburgh Endurance

Directing a show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe can be a brutal, bruising experience. It can also be a brilliant and beautiful one. Often, it is amazing and awful, all at the same time. Iceland-born, Scotland-based director Kolbrún Björt Sigfúsdóttir has experienced both sides of the festival since she first staged a show there seven years ago.

“The first show I directed at the Edinburgh Fringe was a one-man version of Richard III in 2015, and it was amazing,” Sigfúsdóttir remembers. “We got good reviews, met producers and programmers, and ended up taking the show on a long tour to Bristol, to Plymouth, to Prague, and even to Karachi in Pakistan. It was a dream. Other festivals have not gone anywhere near as well as that.”

Directing a show in Edinburgh during August is challenging for dozens of reasons, says Sigfúsdóttir. To start with, there are the financial constraints, the time constraints, and the space constraints. Then there is the fact that there are over 3000 other shows competing for audiences. Then, she adds, there is the fact that directing at the Edinburgh Fringe rarely involves only directing.

“I’ve never just directed a fringe show,” Sigfúsdóttir explains. “I’ve produced them, too. I’ve done the lighting design. I’ve done the flyering. I’ve done the marketing. I’ve done the social media stuff. I’ve done costume design. I’ve done stage management. I’ve dealt with the press. I’ve done pretty much everything apart from actually getting on stage myself.”

***

Sigfúsdóttir was born in Iceland, studied theatre at the Iceland University of the Arts in Reykjavik, then moved to Exeter, Devon, in 2011 to do a postgraduate degree in Staging Shakespeare. She graduated in 2012 and moved to Edinburgh, where she has lived ever since, and where she has built a career as a playwright, director, and a dramaturg.

“My mum did PR for Reykjavík City Theatre when I was young, and that opened up the possibility for me of working in theatre without being on stage,” Sigfúsdóttir says. “Before that, I thought you could only be an actor, and I knew that wasn’t for me because I wasn’t any good at it.”

“Theatre in Iceland and theatre in Scotland are comparable, but there are a few big differences,” she continues. “The biggest is that Scottish theatre is driven by new writing, whereas Icelandic theatre is driven by devising and directing. In Iceland, you make your mark directing the classics.”

Sigfúsdóttir’s company Brite Theater has been with her all the way. She founded it back home in Iceland in 2006 as a student and has continued to make work under its aegis ever since, including her acclaimed 2015 version of Richard III. The company’s line-up has changed over the years, and there are currently five members: artistic director Sigfúsdóttir, plus associate artists Emily Carding, Tom Oakes, Alisa Kalyanova and Rob Jones.

“Brite Theater started in Iceland, resurfaced in Exeter, then relocated to Scotland,” Sigfúsdóttir explains. “I tend to think of it more as a collective, than a company. There’s me, my associate artists, and whoever else comes on board to create any particular project.”

***

This August, Sigfúsdóttir is directing two plays at the Edinburgh Fringe. She is staging Steve McMahon’s Sandcastles – a new play about a tumultuous, trans-Atlantic friendship – at Assembly Rooms all month with Brite Theater. She also directed Red Alert – Cancer – Allan Wilson’s solo show about illness – that ran at Zoo Playground for the first half of the festival.

“I’ve been really busy over the last few weeks and months, trying to get both shows ready for the festival,” Sigfúsdóttir says. “Dealing with Covid-19 has been particularly tricky this time around. I tested positive on the first day of rehearsals, which was not ideal. We had to think about what we would do if one of the actors tested positive during the run, and all sorts of difficult stuff like that.”

Dealing with the threat of Covid-19 is just one new thing that a director at the Edinburgh Fringe must deal with this year – on top of the all the other regular worries that range from limited rehearsal times, to cramped performance spaces, to rapid get-ins and get-outs. Surviving the entire month takes a lot of resilience, says Sigfúsdóttir. It is essential, she adds, to have a plan to cope with it all.

“It helps to remember that it is a success to stage a show at the Edinburgh Fringe anyway, regardless of how successful you are,” she says. “If you really believe in the work, then that can sustain you for a long time, even if there are only three people in the audience every day.”

“It also helps to take steps to take care of your mental health,” she continues. “Listen to something nice. See some comedy. Eat and sleep enough. Remember that everybody struggles at the Edinburgh Fringe at some point. At no other point in your career are you fighting with 3000 other shows for audiences, for reviews, and for programmers. It isn’t directing. It is more like an extreme sport.”

ENDS

‘A Sense of Direction’ is written by Fergus Morgan.

Image credit:  Mihaela Bodlovic