What a Picture.


We took a Polaroid during every performance of our 2008 Edinburgh Fringe show 'The Balloon Debate'. See below for the lot.

"It's been a hard day's night..."

The play was set in the basket of a hot air balloon. Two thousand feet above East Anglia to be precise. The show was a three-hander, with me as Dan, a tetchy friend to the idiotic Gary (played by Glyn), with the funniest actor I've ever worked with, Calogero Tumminello, as the pilot. Gary's plan to propose on a balloon trip backfire when his girlfriend pulls out last-minute and Dan is roped in as a reluctant replacement. Things then go from bad to worse, when the pilot falls out of the basket mid-flight.

The Polaroid scene was the hardest-not-to-corpse moment of my life. Cal would offer to take a souvenir photograph, to which we’d reluctantly agree. He’d whip out his camera and spend ages ushering us into position before releasing the shutter. He’d hold the photo in front of us while we huddled together. We’d then spend five minutes in silence, waiting for the picture to develop, only to find it never did.

Except, of course, it would. We’d stare at it, pretending nothing was happening, when in reality, another new and amusing scene would form before our eyes. Despite doing this every night for a month, it never got easier. I remember this one being a particular challenge:


It was an expensive gag, as Polaroid film wasn’t cheap. Still, it was worth it. What’s a hundred quid spent on film, when you’re losing thousands of pounds everywhere else? I try to laugh through the tears.

 

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