David Pollock
Made in Scotland is ten years old this year. asks three returning performers what the annual showcase means to them.
“The first show I had in Made in Scotland was If These Spasms Could Speak back in 2013. It was a smallscale, one-man show talking about disabled people and their bodies, but it went nuts; we ended up taking the show to India, the US, Brazil and all round Europe. Through Made in Scotland a guy called Neil Webb – who’s head of theatre at the British Council – saw it at the second performance and loved it, and it just built up momentum from there.’
“If not for Made in Scotland, he wouldn’t have come to see it, and if he hadn’t seen it … it’s all these knock-on effects that something like this provides. Not everyone knows about Made in Scotland or that they can apply, so there’s a lot of good work by Scottish artists at the Fringe that might not be part of the showcase. We need to be careful about saying this is the be-all-andend-all, but it’s still a quick way to get a quick impression of what’s good in Scotland at the time.
“After Spasms, I co-directed Wendy Hoose through Made in Scotland in 2015 with Johnny Mcknight, and I’m in it again this year. I’m a bit of a repeat offender! They help cover a lot of the extra marketing stuff, especially when we want to reach new audiences who are deaf or blind. We also want to tour it internationally, and Made in Scotland will give us the range to do that by staging it at the Fringe.”
“I didn’t get Made in Scotland the first time I applied for it, so I made Pulse anyway, got a few experiences under my belt of playing the show, and they gave it to me the second year. Made in Scotland has been a huge help financially, they give you support for a venue and PR, and you get a chance to meet a lot of promoters as well. I can say it definitely brought me one opportunity in America, which I took up, and it helped with things like getting certain Scottish streams of funding for rural touring.
“The Fringe is a really expensive thing to do, it’s a big risk. I did Pulse again last year (it was first on through Made in Scotland in 2016) and I only just covered my costs. That’s with it being a solo show, and I live in Edinburgh anyway. With Made in Scotland it means you can at least earn an average income for doing your show.
“I think you’ve got to be more patient than you realise with applying for things like this, and it gets harder the older you get, I really want things to happen quickly now. But all you can do is throw yourself into the work. I do feel well supported, and I’m very grateful to Made in Scotland. This year we’ll see what happens, the subject matter of my show is more universal, and if I don’t get any further gigs with a good show called Auld Lang Syne, then I’ll be a bit miffed! But it’s up to me as well. You can’t wait around, you have to take advantage of every opportunity, because you’re one of many clamouring for attention.”
“I think possibly I’ve had more shows in Made in Scotland than any other individual. White Tea and Susurrus both happened in the first year of the showcase (2009), then Sub Rosa, then Horizontal Collaboration and City of the Blind happened at the same time, now we have Coriolanus Vanishes; oh, and Long Live the Little Knife. It’s a funding application to help you do the Fringe, essentially, but it’s assessed by a panel of people from the industry, and that’s part of what’s so good about it – they get really good international promoters to assess the applications and chose the best.
“It’s difficult to know how much of a profile it gives you – I haven’t done the Fringe for over a decade without being part of it, so I can’t tell the difference. It’s often seen as being a poor cousin to the British Council showcase, which has a very clear impact, because they bring in lots of international promoters and the phone starts ringing with offers. It’s not so automatic with Made in Scotland, but it’s good that it exists, that it’s a way of focusing attention on Scottish work happening during the Fringe.”