The Gilded Balloon at 30: An interview with Karen Koren
Going strong for 30 years, The Gilded Balloon's founder and artistic director Karen Koren tells us what it takes to make a home for pioneering comedy
Transforming Edinburgh into the world’s biggest performing arts festival is not only a work of genius, but also a question of ‘how will all this fit in?’
Along with some actual theatres, the Fringe relies on a medley of impromtu venues. Amongst others, this includes our favourite pubs, the top of Arthur's Seat and even a couple of double-decker buses. 30 years ago, the latest new space adopted by performers was the 369 gallery on Cowgate. It had a room upstairs that seated 150 people and hosted seven stand-up comedy shows a day. Taking its name from the defunct restaurant next door to the gallery, the Gilded Balloon was born.
Karen Koren had worked at the Norwegian Consulate for close to 20 years and managed a couple of comedy spaces in her spare time. "I started the Gilded Balloon while I was still working there," she recalls.
Andrew Brown, the 369 gallery owner, approached Koren about the room upstairs and her extracurricular activity soon became a full-time role: “All that time I was striving to find out, 'What can I do?' I asked the Norwegian Consulate, 'Can I have a year off?' They said no, and I left, and the rest is history.”
The stand-up comedian was not new in the 1980s, but was a rare beast at the Fringe. When the Gilded Balloon first opened its doors, stand-up was a little more underground, its performers “a bit like the rock‘n'rollers”. However, “the sober comics came along: the ones who took it seriously. There’s quite a lot of them now,” says Koren.
The young Gilded Balloon helped to raise a generation of quality stand-ups. Koren's rowdy creation Late’n’Live, for example, became a gathering place for comedians both on stage and in the audience. “You hear the older comics talking about it, because Late’n’Live was the first and only late-night show... It was very much a comic’s venue, and that’s what grew from it.”
The Balloon's beginnings are a who's who of comedy: from Brand to Bailey and French to Ferguson. If you can name a comedian who was around in the 80s, Koren can tell you when they first played a show and what their favourite drink is. Many are making their way back to Edinburgh for the Balloon's 30th birthday celebrations this year, among them Ed Byrne, Jo Brand and Barry Cryer.
Despite being part of the 'Big 4' and therefore perceived as a more commercial venue, Koren is adament that she is not financially motivated: “I’m driven by the performers I book, and trying to help them. I remember thinking five years in, 'My god, can I do this again next year?' And you do... You have to have stamina and foresight" – and, in some cases, remortgage the house to finance shows that you believe in, and make sure your staff get paid even if the venue doesn't turn a profit.
As the venue grew in popularity and in size, Koren and her team spread into Teviot Row House in 2001, and ran the two venues in tandem until a spark from a fuse in Cowgate meant disaster for the original site.The ensuing fire filled the city with smoke for days and destroyed the 16-year-old venue. The spot on the Cowgate where the Balloon was born was until recently scarred and wrecked, before turning into an outdoor bar for a couple of years. What was once owned by eleven separate parties, comprising a warren of University holdings, gallery spaces and a bar – the ‘Gilded Saloon’ – is now smothered by a supermarket and a hotel like so many other pieces of prime real estate.
A fundraiser and a year later, the Gilded Balloon opened up again with its new main home at Teviot. In the early days of the George Square venue, though, Koren tried her hand at opening spaces in the Caves, Cabaret Voltaire and on Calton Hill. “I was trying to be as big as the others, and I just couldn’t be."
Over 30 years, the Gilded Balloon has made its way from the back of an art gallery to the fore-front of the Fringe, and has brought many of today’s comedy greats with it, Koren included.
Koren still smiles when she describes the continuing stresses of such a huge endeavour: “It’s a big strain on everybody. When you get to the end of the festival and everyone gets ill, you just have to think about it in a different way – this is what feeds me all year, so going into the office the next day, after the last day of the festival, it’s just like every other day.”
For a full look at Gilded Balloon's Fringe programme and anniversary celebrations go to gildedballoon.co.uk