I'm sat in a cafe eating the healthiest breakfast I could find (a fry up) and I'm taking time to reflect before the madness of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

I heard about Buddug James Jones before I met her. She was a theatre designer, had finished University, done some successful fringe productions and had ended up back in Wales working for the government. From hearing this, I knew we were going to get on. My life was pretty similar only I was trying to form a career as a producer and I was working in a shop because the welsh government didn't want me as I don't siarad Cymraeg.

The first time I remember meeting her was at a TEAM evaluation party, we were in the same group and I remember us moaning about the same things. We were on the same page.

She told me about Hiraeth and from that initial conversation I wanted to help her make it happen. Her head was screwed on, she had a brilliant laugh and the show she was describing sounded exciting. She captivated me.

Hiraeth is a show created by Jesse Briton, Buddug and Max Mackintosh. It's the story of how she came to make the decision to not carry on her family farm. It's funny because it's from her perspective but it's also poignant because everything in it is true, albeit a little exaggerated.
They came to create the show because they were friends and they wanted to tell this story.

Hiraeth is a devised comedy theatre production which has been built through friendship and truth, and this is what makes it what it is and what has made it easy to produce because it's apparent to all who see it or have it pitched to them and last night is the first time I really realised this.

We are up in Edinburgh thanks to IdeasTap and the Underbelly. We were chosen as one of the four winners of their 2014 Edinburgh award,given a slot at the Underbelly and a little bit of dosh. It was one of the worst pitches I felt I had ever done, they picked apart my budget and we answered their question with awkward answers due to verbal diarrhoea brought on by nerves. We even admitted that a lot of the time we don't have a clue what we're doing. We bumped into one of the panelists last night and we let out how scared we had been at the pitch and how terrible we thought we'd done and to our surprise he said they were impressed with our honesty and how close we were as a team (I'm pretty sure it also had something to do with the welsh cakes we took with us).

I suppose I'm writing this blog post because I want to thank NTW TEAM for creating the opportunity for myself and Bud to meet and for all the support it has given to Hiraeth, and also to give a little hope to anyone reading this who is in the middle of a project and are at the point where they can't see where it's going or how it's going to happen. If it's true and your honest and you love it. It will happen because others will see this and want to be a part of it with you. Keep going and make the work you have to make.

Hiraeth is on at Underbelly Cowgate from now until the 24th of August (except the 13th), we would love to share it with you. We've seen 2 welsh companies already and will see more. If anyone is up there and needs to let off steam, let me know and we'll grab a cuppa.