For two shows only, I’ll be at the 2014 Edinburgh Fringe

I’m pleased to announce, more or less more officially (I’m pretty sure a blogpost qualifies as an official channel), that I’ll be back in Edinburgh for the Fringe 2014. And not as a visitor – although there are about 300 shows I want to see – I’ll be back doing a very limited run (two shows) of The Pitch.

Or, as it’s known in the PBH Free Fringe programme: Ryan Millar in The Pitch!

I’ve been to the Edinburgh Fringe twice before, bringing my first solo show Roman Around there in 2010, and then bringing it back (and also doing my two man improv show Marbles with Dave Waller – and Rob Grundel on keys), the following year.

Well, this year I’m back for a very short snippet of fringe. And I’m really excited about every single aspect of it: the whole atmosphere of the Edinburgh Fringe is amazing, and seeing so many shows by so many great and talented people is ideal, and I get to participate in it with a show I love. It’s 100% of a total win.

Let’s talk about The Pitch
The show I’m bringing is a solo improv format I created called The Pitch. I developed it some years ago and finally debuted in the Amsterdam Free Fringe last year. It also played in the Remi Festival of Solo Improvisation, and Impro Amsterdam, both earlier this year.

It’s an anarchic high-adventure story of me pitching a feature film idea, which develops and evolves in real time, following characters and plot lines suggested by the audience, the story, and my brain.

The audience are heavily involved: they simultaneously play the high-powered studio executives to whom I pitch my idea, and my braintrust to whom I turn for inspiration and ideas, helping me concoct the characters, settings, details, dialogue and more on the fly, and in the moment.

The Pitch at RemiFest. Photo: Mathieu van den Berk

What the show ends up becoming, in essence – if I may speak loftily for a moment – is a collectively realized fantasy, where everyone in the room participates in the creation of an entirely satisfying live action, never-to-be-repeated entire feature film-length story, with side jokes about Hollywood, movie tropes, and other silliness.

“The Pitch promises to be an action-packed, tender, surprising, loveable thrill ride of a side-splitting romp through movies, film, cinema, and the human experience. You’ll laugh, cry, cheer – and ideally greenlight the movie of your dreams.”

BYOP (Bring Your Own Popcorn).

Other Fringe notes:

There are a tonne of shows I want to see there, many of them performed by friends, and many by people I don’t know. It will be a mad race in those few days to see how many I can see. Steve Roe of Hoopla just published a pretty solid list of shows that are going on my list if they weren’t there already.

I will also be performing a few guest spots while I’m up there (at least with The Maydays, and Lamabati, though I’m hoping a few others will see fit to invite me along to make some stuff up with them).

Come to my show! And/or tell your friends to come see The Pitch! I won’t have much (any) time to flyer or build up any word of mouth, so I’m attempting to turn that into an advantage.

I’m trying to be more selective about my audience: so friends,  friends of friends, movie buffs, aspiring producers, screenwriters and the like: watch my cinematic solo improv spectacular.

Also note that I’ve only got two dates for this, so don’t defer. If you put it off until tomorrow just once, you may miss it! So just come on Monday or Tuesday (if you’re a fringe performer this is probably your day off).

I’d really appreciate it, and I think you’ll enjoy it too.