Edfest Review: Best of the Fest

It's been a few days since the festival ended and, predictably, I have a cold. It's been threatening for a while, but I totally believe in mentally pushing it off until a more appropriate time. 

The travel back was a bit of a nightmare. I'm normally a pretty good traveller and unfazed by lenghty bus journeys - I would even go so far as to say I like long journeys; it gives me time to just sit and do things I normally put off in favour of more pressing tasks. On this occasion a lack of communication and a poor attitude from staff made it quite an uncomfortable experience.

But I'm home and have an actual PC which works. This means I can format my blog properly and add pictures. This makes me unreasonably happy. 


I thought I would take a bit of a look back at my month at the fringe and work out some stats. First of all though - my WINNERS...

The Final Countdown - My Overall Top 5

5. Spillikin

4. The Ted Bundy Project

3. Molly

2. 64 Squares

and my ultimate favourite ......

[*Drumroll**Drumroll**Drumroll*Bated Breath*Drumroll**Drumroll**Drumroll*Bated Breath*Drumroll**Drumroll**Drumroll*Checks Watch*Drumroll**Drumroll*]

1. CELL

Of course it was CELL. I knew from the moment I saw it that I'd found my winner... which was a little awkward considering it was waaaay back at the end of week one. I just loved everything about it - the movement, the storytelling, the puppetry, the music - it was a perfect amalgamation of many elements and I could see it had been lovingly crafted. It moved me a lot. It missed out on a few 5 stars from the big publications, regularly getting 4 stars, which mystifies me. To me this is everything a 5 star show should be. I'll be following these guys on twitter to find out what's next for them @cellshow @dogfishtheatre

Some facts and stats:

I saw 51 shows across a broad range of genres.

My top 2 were both performed at Underbelly Cowgate.

My most visited venue (not including forest fringe) was :- Pleasance Courtyard (8 shows)

followed closely by :- Pleasance Dome (6 shows)

This is a total of 14 shows seen at Pleasance venues. This is not surprising in the least. Pleasance has had a pleasantly consistent good standard of shows.

Underbelly and Assembly were my next favourite venue choices with a total of 7 visits each across all their venues. 

Most disappointing shows :- TheSpace

Venue I wish I'd visited more :- Summerhall 


Well, that's it. The Fringe blog is officially over. For this year atleast. Who knows where I'll be, or what I'll be doing next year. As terrifying as that is, it's also incredibly exciting. So here's to the next stage.... 

Edfest Day 26: And now, the end is near; And so I face the final curtain

Error 404. A problem occurred. Please check the connection and try again.

Connection. Something I've been thinking a lot about. When a connection comes loose on a computer, it simply won't work. When a connection comes loose in life, it may take a while to notice.  Things still move along until one day you realise you're in a bubble and you can see out but can't touch anything. 

Today's Forest Fringe show was about connection. A show that found me. Literally.  The guy in charge had some no-shows and the nature of the show is dependent on participants. You can't connect if nobody's there.

I'm glad it found me. The show is called "Landline" and connects you with a counterpart in Reykjavik through Skype.  A show about connection that requires an Internet connection.

You are given an Ipod and a map and sent off to wander wherever you want in your local area. The participant in Reykjavik is also listening to the same recording, pressing play at the same moment.  We're wandering on different roads but taking the same journey.

The physical distance and relative anonymity gives us the freedom to be completely open with each other. We are prompted to find places that remind us of certain things and then to share that story with our partner.

It does require some quick thinking and an open approach but the gentle voice and the freedom to say exactly what you want... anything. .. makes it so worthwhile and I got a lot out of this experience.

The same cannot be said for the show I saw after my shift, again at zoo venues. Regrets, I've had a few, and one of them was seeing this show. I don't want to waste any more energy on it than I already have, so I'll simply say - stop when you get to the Pleasance courtyard for physical theatre performance featuring superheroes. Avoid the zoo venue just up the road. Although, given that the festival is wrapping up, I suppose that advice is redundant.

There's definitely a sense of finality in the air on this crisp and clear night. The crowds have thinned, the sound of drills can be heard in the distance as get-outs commence. Greenside has disappeared completely, while the BBC is skeletal.

The city and the remaining people in it are sleepy and looking forward to a long, well deserved rest.

I will probably try to fit in a few more shows tomorrow daytime, but doubt there will be a blog post as I'll be getting to bed early to be up at 5am on Tuesday for the bus home... Have I mentioned I'm not a morning person?

I'm pretty happy with how this daily blog went and glad I decided to do it. It's added an extra dimension to this experience. It's going to be weird not ending my day this way... Time to start a journal? 

Edfest Day 22: Toilet Humour

Back in the old favourite space this evening - pleasance above, that of shows Molly and I Am Beast. I should get a loyalty card. Tonight I was there for Felicity Ward's comedy show "What if There's No Toilet?". The title alone was instantly relatable enough to catch my interest.  I wasn't disappointed. Felicity is a frenetic bundle of bouncy anxious energy. I can say this without offending as this show is all about mental illness, anxiety and ocd specifically.

The set is simply a toilet with rolls stacked up either side like a pyramid,  just begging to be knocked down - which Ward herself can't resist and succumbs gleefully to the urge. Talking of succumbing to urges (eh, eh?) Ward tells us candidly about her ibs,  the fear she battles that she's going to wet herself - or worse - during her stand up sets. We meet the niggling voice of anxiety in her head who she, somewhat viciously, named Beryl. I related to so much in this show and laughed the entire way through to the point where I didn't want to laugh anymore because my face ached. Indicative of how funny she is or how little I laugh? I hope it's the former. Is that my anxiety talking?

While we're on the topic of toilets, one of my anxities is public toilets but I also worry about being caught short. Consequently, I've used A LOT of public toilets over the last month and even started making peace with it. I have my routine - only wipe with ther right, so I can pick my bag up germlessly with my left... I've even used portacabins. I feel like I was almost over it... until today. There I was in the old enemy - the portacabin. I'd put my bag on the floor leaning against the toilet door, made the toilet seat paper ring, sat.... and noticed poo streaked on the wall inches away from the shoulder strap of my bag......... I'm not the religious type, but god knows I prayed for my bag not to fall over. 

Let's change the subject, quick....

Before this I saw a brilliant show that people and critics alike have been raving about called "64 squares" (that's right I'm working backwards folks, coz I'm feeling crazy. )

The hype is completely justified. The show is about madness and chess,  not natural bedfellows, but it works. This is a partnership of dialogue and physical theatre which has gelled well. The movement is so beautifully choreographed, it's like a dance, all in sync as though they are one... which, actually, is exactly what they're meant to be.  One person split into 4.

I love good use of facial expression and this show is full of perfectly captured expressions. I think facial acting is such a skill all by itself and the actors in this production were in total control of every muscle with great visual results. 

Everything was just so perfectly controlled and yet so skillfully smooth and slick, like you'd never know it wasn't natural and spontaneous movement.

The plot itself is more like a jigsaw puzzle than a game of chess. Piecing together individual moments to discover the events that led to the demise of the person we know simply as 'B' from the embroidered letter on the coat.

Again, I'd like to speculate and discuss this more but... time, y'know.  I'm discovering time is a real party pooper. 

Talking of pooping....... just kidding.

Finally - er, I mean, firstly (this is confusing) I went back to my roots and saw a musical. One I haven't seen but have very much wanted to - "Spring Awakening". This was in the Famous Spiegeltent in St Andrew's Square, but I think it would have been much better suited to a traditional space. 

There was a stage area, but also a circle of steel deck with the audience seated around on 3 sides. It meant, if you were sitting in the wrong place during an emotional moment, you might be completely cut off from it. In the right seat, you were way too involved.

This is just a venue issue. The show itself was excellent quality. It makes a change to see a show where the characters are actually, realistically the age they are meant to be. The whole cast are excellent all round performers and put so much energy into the show. On a par with RCS, for sure. 

Today was a race around Edinburgh to get to all the shows which started in quick succession. I didn't even get to the first show until 5pm today, after a misguided attempt to get up early and failing, followed by a Forest Fringe shift. I've decided to do separate blog posts for todays show reviews and my what's hot wednesday round-up, which'll be much briefer and will follow shortly..... 

Edfest Day 14: Love, Evil and War

And we're back on the show horse. It started with a beautiful, moving one-on-one exploration of love at Forest Fringe, through a haunting, engrossing tale of evil at pleasance and then finished with a disappointingly mediocre but not terrible production of war at C venues.

The first is a show I've been chaperoning for at Forest Fringe. After a no-show, I was given the opportunity to experience it for myself, which I'm so glad I took. It's a fully immersive experience, taking advantage of all 5 senses. It recaptured that feeling I got at punchdrunk's 'sleep no more' in New York, it has a very similar essence but very different ingredients. The show is called "I Worried My Heart Wasn't Big Enough" and it moved me enough that I had to take a moment to gather myself before going back to work. All the people who are booking but not showing up. .. big mistake.  Make sure you catch this,  it's only 20 minutes but it's 20 minutes you will remember. Lyn Gardner has also been along experience it, here is her review http://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2015/aug/18/theatrical-encounters-i-worried-my-heart-wasnt-big-enough-forest-fringe 

When my shift ended I headed for Pleasance courtyard to see a show that keeps catching my eye and has had great reviews all round. It's a show called "Molly" and explores the theme of the development of evil - what is the pivotal moment where 'evil' seeps in? It's not a new concept but it's told in a new way and had me gripped from start to finish.  For a moment, I forgot I wasn't the only one in the room watching - the audience disappearing is a sign of a great show. ... unless they are actually physically disappearing because they're walking out.  That's not so great.  Needless to say, no walkouts here. In fact, we all seemed to be leaning forward on the edge of our seats, holding in one long collective breath.

That took me to 6pm which I consider a bit of a dead zone. Between 6 and 8, I always seem to wander unable to find a show that really grabs me. 

I've been avoiding C Venues this year, to be honest. Like I've found with TheSpace, the quality tends to be in direct relation to the cheap prices. However, it was the dead zone and a company were putting on the musical "Dogfight" which was in London recently - the end of last year I think. It's a musical about Marines on a last big blow-out before their deployment to Vietnam the next morning. I'd heard good things about the London version but didn't catch myself. So, I put aside my C Venue qualms and went for it.

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't terrible, but in comparison to the other shows I'd seen today it paled to the point of invisibility. The company had a lot of gusto, but the singing didn't blow me away, the score was unmemorable and the plot rather bland. There was laughter, but unfortunately for the wrong reasons - a couple of prop mishaps, which resulted in me flinching every time someone stood on a flimsy wooden box (which they did a lot).

Nevertheless, today has been a good show day - to see two top quality shows in one day is not to be sniffed at. I'm not working tomorrow, so hope to get into town early and catch a pre-midday shows... I have good intentions now, but I'm not a morning person. I have booked 2 shows already, both at Pleasance again - "Institute" and "Blam!", both of which have had excellent reviews and have been on my list since the start. 

Edfest Day 13: Divorce Cocktails

Forest Fringe - where even ordering a drink is a performance... no really.  I'm currently drinking a cocktail that represents divorce, served by a lady wearing a pineapple on her head. At the fringe this is normality.

Well, kind of. It's not an everyday at-the-bar occurance. It's their opening night party at the delicioisly delightfully titled "biscuit factory" ... because it used to be a biscuit factory,  I imagine. 

I've mostly been focusing on the volunteering again today, so only seen one show, which was at their venue. Tomorrow I plan to get back into it and will see a few shows after my shift.

I also have wednesday off so plan to make that a hefty show watching day, and hopefully have a broad enough range to pick from for my "what's hot" roundup... Right now it's looking more like "what's tepid to lukewarm".

Edfest Day 6: Where is the Wifi?

Where is all the Wifi?  I mean, seriously, in this day and age surely free Wifi should be an essential? I can't believe the amount of larger venues that are just ignoring this need. Fair play to Pleasance, the dome has been my home (ha, rhyming) for my reviewing needs. Smaller venues like summerhall and zoo are trying hard to provide Wifi... They may not be able to meet demand, but they are trying, dammit.  The will is there.
So what's your excuse underbelly,  gilded balloon, assembly?  Surely you have the means to provide good quality Wifi for the good paying customers, the artists, technicians and, of course, critics. Get it together.
Oh well, I can always wait for a bus to pass and snatch seconds of Wifi on the move.

I've been trying to catch a bit of circus over the last few days at underbelly's new circus hub.

I saw bromance in the Beauty tent yesterday. Those boys are FIT... I mean in the athletic sense of course *ahem*. Their production manages to be funny as well as a spectacle with little more than a giant hula hoop to assist them.
On the other hand, Dolls at the Lafeyette tent uses a large set. I'm still not 100% sure on the story of this one, but it seems to me some sort of apocalyptic landscape. The set is beautiful and atmospheric but the show itself wouldn't be enough without that as a crutch.
This is why bromance is the winner in the circus battle for me.

Today has been completely free for me on the show front. Two to review and a chance encounter in a queue at the first show with a guy who had spare free tickets to a show I wanted to see that day = major score.

I did want to fit a few more shows in today, but as a 2for1 day lots was sold out and this eve I decide to come back early(ish) because I'm not feeling too great. 

Oh, and I was also excited to see a quote from one of my reviews last year being used on a poster. I was worried back then that it had been a stupid comparison that no one would get,  but it turns out the performer herself was happy enough with it to put it on a poster.  Let that be a lesson,  self doubt (self doubt never learns lessons,  nasty bastard)