Mobius take a look back at the last 22 years at Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Another Edinburgh Festival Fringe has come to an end and after a much needed few days of R&R, the Mobius team have had a chance to decompress and reflect on not only this year’s events, but the last 22 years of representing artists at the world’s largest performing arts festival.

We’ve asked some of the Mobius team from past and present about their favorite memories and parts of the festival from over the years. Let’s get nostalgic!

To kick things off, let’s hear from our Head of Press Emma Berge:

“One year, we were out at The List launch party and had hit all the big beats: spoken to journalists, drinks with clients, Wannabe at the karaoke. We were just leaving when we had a text from a colleague who'd left early because she had early morning filming next day with a circus artist who was going to teach a Sky News presenter Diablo: he'd left his Diablo in the venue, which wasn't open til 8. We spent the taxi ride home trying to solve the problem. A few days later, having seen all the shows I needed to see for the moment and done all the parties, I sat down at my laptop and pitched and pitched. When I finally got up at the end of the day, I'd been sat in that kitchen chair so long that'd I'd done my back in and had to see an osteopath!

That's Fringe PR: 12 hours on a Sunday firing off emails, hoping and praying some of them are getting cut through; and lying awake half drunk at 1.30 in the morning desperately trying to think where you might find a spare Diablo.”

Going right back to the beginning, we hear next from the founder of Mobius, Dan Pursey, who now lives in Los Angeles where he writes film and TV:

“A key memory that really stands out for me is seeing Laura Solon win the last ever Perrier award (before it became the Edinburgh Comedy Awards) for her debut show Kopfraper's Syndrome, a character-based comedy sketch show. Quite incredibly, she was due to stage a show with another comic, but he dropped out, so she had to rewrite it in three weeks and perform it in the back room of a pub where they emptied the recycling skip halfway through each day!”

Next up, we have Amber Massie-Blomfield who worked with Mobius over a decade ago and is now a non-fiction writer and the executive director of Complicité:

“One of my happiest memories of working at the Edinburgh Fringe with Mobius was doing the PR for Laura Mugridge's debut solo show, Running on Air. The show was performed by Laura for just five audience members at a time - sitting in the back of her orange, 1978 VW campervan (known to friends as 'Joni'). The van was parked up in the Pleasance Courtyard, surrounded by noisy queues, beer drinking punters and a smelly burger stall - but stepping into the van we were transported into a cosy nest lovingly crafted by Laura, where she shared stories of her adventures in the van across the country, from the Cornish coast to the top of a mountain. The whole experience was so soothing and nourishing, exactly what was needed in the midst of the noisy, larger-than-life, often demanding experience of August in Edinburgh. Unsurprisingly, the show was a hit, and thinking back to it now, it seems to capture the magic of the fringe for me - the creative acts that shouldn't really work but somehow do, and the generosity that underpins the exchange so many fringe artists make with their audiences, in this strange setting where almost everyone, in one way or another, is running on air.”

Following on from Amber, we have Flavia Fraser-Cannon who worked at Mobius for almost 7 years and was a regular at Mobius’ Edinburgh base. Flavia is now Head of Communications at New Diorama Theatre:

“Although I didn't work on Edinburgh campaigns during my time at Mobius, I used to come up every year to join the team and see the shows. I have very precious memories of being in the flat with my son when he was little bouncing all over the place and making everyone laugh, it was where my ex heard the offer on his flat had been accepted and cooking everyone dinner as a string of messages from Beatrice, Zoe and Isobel pinged into our Whatsapp group from the top of a windy and rainy Arthur's Seat - which rudely turned out not to have a pub at the peak. Plus a special mention to the madness of party nights at Summerhall with the Finnish team - bonkers performances and dancing the night away.”

Finally we have our Junior PR Account Manager Annabelle Mastin-Lee, who has just taken part in her third Edinburgh Fringe with the company:

“Edinburgh Fringe ‘22 was my first time attending the festival in general, not just as part of the Mobius team, and I’ll never forget my first full day. The atmosphere during the fringe was not quite like anything I’d experienced before - electric, buzzy and everyone seemed to be on some mad mission, be them artists, critics, flyerers or the punters! My objective was to head to every press office we were working with that year and introduce myself... I got lost at every turn, was drenched in the process (in an outfit not suitable for the tumultuous forecast) and I returned to the Mobius base having walked over 25,000 steps… I immediately fell in love! While I can now navigate the city and venues like the back of my hand, the frantic need to bounce from place to place truly sticks with you.”

Do you have a favourite memory or feature of Edinburgh Festival Fringe from over the years? Drop us a line at team@mobiusindustries.com and let us know!

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