Reykjavik Fringe Diary #1

By James "JPAT" Dalton

originally published: 06/27/2023

James Dalton, a performer and songwriter from New Jersey, is performing his show "Asbury Park & Me" at the Reykjavík Fringe Festival in Iceland. He will be blogging for NJ Stage from the festival. Click here for all of the blogs from his trip.

So here it is, my first morning here in Iceland, eyes opening in the bottom bunk of a hostel bed, sharing a room with a few fellow performers as well as some divers and an academic here for some sort of EU conference. The performers and I have landed in town, all of us having had a marathon yesterday that began on Sunday and muddled its lovely way through to the midnight sun of Tuesday through laughs, naps coffee and public transportation.

Either I am getting a little too old for this, or I am just out of practice, because there were quite a few times after landing in Iceland Monday morning, that I had to apologize and repeat my questions because the answers had already slipped out of me, or having to take the stairs and hills extra slow and deliberate.

Things were a little hectic before leaving because I had booked a lot of different shows and performances leading up to my flight, like literally.

Saturday evening, I was blessed with the opportunity to host a show I had pitched to Rachel Cohen of the Barn Theatre at Thompson Park in Lincroft, Storytellers In The Barn, which is exactly how it sounds, only the building lost power and so we had to make use off the natural acoustics and be open the big barn doors to allow the late summer light in there fill the space.

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The following morning was Art In The Park in Bay Head, an annual event that has me playing sets of music in the gazebo of Bay Head’s Centennial Park, all throughout the day, and Sunday it was hot and slightly humid. Two very different shows back to back, before I had to race home, ditch the car, clean up the house, pack the suitcase and make my way to…dare I say it out loud…JFK Airport…from the beach in Jersey, on a Sunday afternoon…in the summer…ughecruygbuyfb…IYKYK

If you are lost on the above statement, just know that it means hours of travel before even getting to the airport, over three hours to be exact on several trains before the messy security and the overnight flight.

Anyway, I am here now and I have been having a wild time. The performers I’ve been palling around with are from a group called the Hairy Godmothers a d they are putting on a show called Disney in Drag:Once Upon a Parody (@thehairygodmothers) and Marcus Ryan (itsmarcusryan doing his “Eat, Pray, Laugh” show).

Fringe life, for the uninitiated is full of quick friendships, dozens of accents, plenty of jokes and a lot of love. Because Fringe theatre festivals are supposedly focused on arts and performances on the “fringes”, theaters rarely the big budget rich company sleeping in the fancy hotels being handled and catered to by the festival organizers. Everyone is huddled together in cheaper accommodations with cheaper food and drink, accents and vernacular are being dissected and celebrated, everyone’s got a show, a lot of silly, brilliant ideas and people sitting on early morning busses through Icelandic lunar landscapes or sharing barstool space while a drunken shirtless acrobat with rabbit ears on there head juggle swords dangerously close to the front tables become fast, best friends. Everyone is transient and everyone is included. “While you’re here, or while you’re Fringing, you’re family.”

I’m typing and it’s now 10:30am here in Reykjavik. I’ve got performances all week and they begin tonight. Asbury Park & Me, my little one person show has played Brighton, UK, NYC, Asbury Park and this week, another city. I thank New Jersey Stage for allowing me to keep this little diary. You’ll be getting sites, sounds, tastes, etc of Iceland, the Fringe and whatever else pops up.

If you are in country, please get in touch. Otherwise, I’ll post the week’s itinerary next. If you have questions, comments or even requests direct them to [email protected] or catch me over on Insta @jamesdaltonjr and @asburyparkandme

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