Day 2 at Edinburgh Fringe. Night. Thrown out of the Pleasance Courtyard. But John Slater, Guy Masterson, his daughter and Holyrood 9A helps.

Maybe it’s because it’s a Sunday, or maybe it’s because the Pleasance Courtyard REALLY needs – more likely – to sort out their stuff. But after one of the biggest shows they’ve had this year with Mervyn, we have a drink afterwards and the security staff are telling us to get out of the Courtyard at 10.30! I’d ordered a Stein at 10.20. I’m not sure whyI found this so depressing! Fortunalty, there’s a brilliant pub just down the road. It’s called the Holyrood 9A and they sorted us out!

It was a good evening overall though. After Pie and Mash in the Assembly Gardens, I literarily bumped into John Slater, an old chum who I initially met when we both worked at BRMB Radio in Birmingham, but then later on was key in the success of the Maverick Theatre Company. He came to help me out with a show for two weeks and ended up staying for seven years! We had a few beers, then I was off to see Mervyn Stutter again with tonight’s guests who included Guy Masterson, another stalwart of the Edinburgh Fringe. I recorded some of the night for my radio show and I may put an extract on here later, now that Mervyn has finished his run and returned home.

It was great seeing Guy again and an added bonus was seeing his daughter, Luli. At 16, she is also a fringe veteran, having first travelled up here at the age of 4! At the last Edinburgh Festival she was 14 and I got to know her quite well over the month. She is warm and open and not at all precocious and I found it quite amusing how we used to end up chatting. She asked my advice about a nail polish colour! And gave me a few ideas about getting a hair cut. And I won’t be taking her down the pub for at least another two years, but she’s a good ‘un and a credit to her Mom and Dad!

I got to know Guy though the Dylan Thomas Centenary Festival in London, the brain-child of comedian and presenter Griff Rhys Jones. Guy is now a treasured friend as well as a colleague. I directed Guy in my adaptation of Dicken’s ‘A Christmas Carol’ If you’ve seen it, the coat he wears is the one I bought for my Shakespearean adaptation, ‘Henry V – Lion of England’ In 1992! It’s a real showbiz coat! On stage, Guy does the first speech from ‘Under Milk Wood’ by Dylan Thomas, a show he is presenting here in Edinburgh this week. He does a great job and then is very professionally interviewed by Mervyn.

And then we go for a drink. Yep. See above…!