Courtney Pauroso on the best and worst of the festival

Courtney Pauroso is back on the Fringe with Vanessa 5000, which she performs as a sex robot, at 9pm in Pleasance Courtyard. Here she shares what she can't get enough of at the festival, her most embarrassing Edinburgh experience and the worst thing about the Fringe. Apart from the cost of accommodation, obviously…

Edinburgh binge

There’s something very romantic and (forgive me, but, to be honest) horny about the Edinburgh experience. It’s like summer camp on steroids for adult, weirdo, performing artists, so what can you expect? 

I’ve been twice, and both times I have ended up making really special connections with people. And then it’s crazy to look back and think about my life had I never had that August with them! 

It all feels very fated, or at least, I like to sigh and pretend it is. 

Each Fringe is a little time capsule of memories and inside jokes and fun drama. I of course love getting the chance to see everyone’s shows, but that’s obvious. I want to be surprised and delighted by the new people this Fringe brings into my life. I love falling in love, even if it’s just as friends. And if saying that makes me a corny loser, so be it. 

Edinburgh cringe

My 2019 show Gutterplum involved picking an audience member at the beginning of the show who I would keep bringing back up on stage. 

They would essentially become my romantic interest and co-star. I typically had very good luck and judgment when it came to picking this guy, but one night the pickings were Slim and I didn’t realise until it was too late that I had brought up a man who was very drunk, to say the least. Not rowdy drunk, but like, totally dead behind the eyes drunk. 

At first, I couldn’t tell what was wrong with him because he wasn’t saying much. But there was a part in the show where we gave each other piggy-back rides, and he fell over right away. And then it occurred to me I was in deep trouble.

It was the only time that has ever happened. Now that I’m more experienced with it, I’m very picky about my audience participants and will gladly throw someone back into the crowd and bring someone else up if the vibe feels off, but at the time I was concerned about going over my time limit and once I was in too deep, I was worried about derailing the narrative. 

Luckily there were reviewers there that night. Eh, what can you do. 

Edinburgh whinge

It’s a necessary evil, but I find it challenging to market and promote my show while I’m still developing it ahead of Fringe. It can be hard to muster the confidence to be like ‘I’m amazing! Come to my amazing show! This is what my show is!’ when in reality, I’m stuck in the shit still trying to figure it out, trying to bat away thoughts like ‘Oh my God I suck, I suck, this show sucks, I’m screwed’ and ‘What the hell even is this and what the hell am I even doing?’

 When I turn in my promotional material, I feel like I’m totally bullshitting. My last show was called Gutterplum because I was in such crisis at the time I had to turn all my stuff in, I had to call it something totally nonsensical so that I didn’t pin myself into a corner with it. 

I love that show now and am very proud of it, and I don’t know what else I should have called it, but I still don’t think it’s the right title. But alas, timelines sealed its fate, and now it is what it is.

This is an unsolvable issue, by the way, just something I notice I struggle with. And I’m very grateful that there is a system in place to get people to come out to shows. So yeah, this is pretty much a personal spiritual issue not a formal complaint. 

Published: 3 Aug 2023