Georgie Grier, an Edinburgh Fringe artist, went viral after she posted a tweet about one of her audience members showing up to her act – but not all is as it appears.
The Scottish capital’s month-long arts festival is infamous for artists walking up and down the Royal Mile, handing out fliers to anyone with a hand.
However, Grier, who is doing her one-woman show Sunsets, turned to X, previously Twitter, with an emotional post after performing it to one audience member – and as a consequence, sold out her performance.
‘There was one person in my audience today when I performed my one woman play, “Sunsets” at #edfringe. It’s fine, isn’t it? It’s fine…?’, she wrote in a post, alongside a selfie of her wiping away tears.
Famous comedians rushed to Grier’s aid, with Jason Manford delivering a consoling video reaction.
He said sweetly: ‘It’s absolutely normal… for one person to rock up to your show, especially at the beginning of Edinburgh, and also for you to be a bit upset or annoyed or p***ed off about it. That’s totally fine as well.
There was one person in my audience today when I performed my one woman play, ‘Sunsets’ at #edfringe. It’s fine, isn’t it? It’s fine…? 🥹 pic.twitter.com/D0lfAsMMz0
— Georgie Grier (@georgie_grier) August 3, 2023
‘I did Edinburgh in 2004-5 and I remember [the] first couple of shows, the first week I think, was just, it was such a slog and I was out in the rain and I was flyering and people weren’t coming.
‘I got total impostor syndrome. How much is this costing me? What am I doing here? Look at all these amazing people. How embarrassing that… nobody’s turned up but, you know what, you’re on the path and it’s just the start, that’s all.’
Meanwhile, Mock The Week host Dara O’Briain commented on the post, saying: ‘Tomorrow will be better and next week will be better…so just enjoy yourself, if you can.
‘We’ve ALL done it. Soon, you’ll dine out on this anecdote. More than once I had to buy my audience a drink, as a thank-you for being the only ones there.
‘Best thing though, it’s all stage time, and the show will get better every single time, ready for the big crowds later!’
According to one insider, numerous individuals perform to one person in the audience throughout the course of the month – and they believe everyone is irritated at Grier for supposedly utilising this as a ‘PR ploy.’
‘We had our first one audience member last night. We had a lovely time, we just did it to her,’ the source said.
‘We didn’t cry about it on Twitter. Which apparently, the gossip is around the town is that that is a massive PR stunt anyway, and that was all prearranged and that’s how they’ve sold out.’
Grier supposedly did the same thing last year.
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival concludes at the end of August, with the last week already underway.
Last year’s event drew 3,334 concerts to the city. 2.2 million tickets were distributed throughout the month. That equates to 70,967 tickets sold every day. On any given day, just 21 tickets are available for each event.
Grier played a sold-out gig barely 24 hours after her post, according to The Guardian. While some may think this is clever, it appears that her other Edinburgh performers do not.
While Grier herself declined to comment on the whispers, despite reports of her run of shows selling out at the Fringe, tickets are still available for every performance.
