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My 2006 FringeDateline: 18th August, 2006This was my tenth Fringe as a reviewer: seven days of (almost) total immersion in theatre and so probably my shortest visit, apart from the year I had to leave early because I fell ill. Just 33 shows this year, really an average of five a day as my last day had to end early because I was heading back home. Usually I manage six or seven, so I'm definitely slowing up. Age has a lot to answer for! Part of the reason was that there weren't that many shows in the programme which really grabbed me and said "See me!", and many of those were also the shows that most of our reviewers also wanted to see. So, to be honest, I thought that I was going to have a Fringe of more than usual ordinariness. I couldn't have been more wrong! Either I have just been very lucky or have mastered the art of spotting good shows (or of avoiding bad ones) or the standard is higher this year. I suspect it's the latter. Before the second week had even finished (while I am writing this), we had 27 five star reviews out of a total of 120 online. That's 22.5%, which is a pretty large percentage. But, of course, we also have to take into account the number of four star (i.e. better than average) productions, and there were, at the same point in time, 44 of them (36.6%). That's just short of 60% in the top two categories. Which only goes to show how misleading first impressions can be! So that's conclusion no. 1 about the 60th Fringe. No. 2 - and this is based purely on the shows I saw and doesn't take into account any other reviewers' - is that more people seem to be experimenting with cross-genre shows: dancers making use of theatre and/or clowing skills; plays with dance; physical work. It's an interesting development and one which augurs well for the future of theatre. When Edinburgh pushes the envelope, the rest follows some time later. I have the impression - and, again, it's no more than that - that European theatre is having more of an influence on UK-based groups than in previous years. My third conclusion is less positive: there does seem to be a fair amount of creeping commercialisation. Now don't get me wrong: I love shows like End of the Rainbow but I'm not sure that the Fringe is the right place for them. The whole point of the Fringe is that it is, as a Norwegian journalist who interviewed me about my impressions of this year said, a "laboratory" for experiment, whether it's experimenting with new ideas, new writing, new theatrical forms or even just finding out if what a company has to offer has an appeal to a wide audience. Now End of the Rainbow is a great show (I wouldn't have given it five stars otherwise), but it is commercial product - it could quite happily (and successfully) tour major theatres: and, indeed, it has done in Australia where lead Caroline O'Connor won a major award. The Traverse and Dance Base simply continue their normal normal programming (only more so), and that's fair enough because they aren't "real" Fringe venues, i.e. venues which appear for the Fringe and then vanish again, but some others have abandoned the Fringe ethos of allowing anyone to take part, providing that they are willing to meet the necessary costs, and are vetting the shows that they allow in. These are the "biggies" - Assembly, Gilded Balloon and Pleasance. It is not many years ago that Bill Burdett-Coutts of the Assembly was in debt to the city council for over £100,000 for back rent so it will come as no surprise that it is the Assembly which leads the way in presenting commercial shows: Allegiance with Mel Smith, The Diary of a Nobody with Rodney Bewes, The End of the Rainbow, The Gruffalo's Child, Midnight Cowboy - all shows which either have already toured, will do so, or could easily do so. Then we have Paul Merton's Impro Chums and Mike McShane and Les Dennis in Marlon Brando's Corset at the Pleasance and innumerable major names in stand-up at all three biggies. They will no doubt argue that it is this commercial product which enables them to take risks with less well-known or even experimental pieces, but that's somewhat of a specious argument because at every venue visiting companies are charged enough to cover - at the very least - the venue costs. Then there is the suggestion that comedy is taking over. It's not quite true: a rough guide would be the number of pages given to the various art forms in the programme and there are 72 pages for theatre (not counting musicals and dance/physical theatre) and 63 for comedy. However if we were to add in the number of theatre shows which are described as comedies, the differnce would be smaller, so, although comedy is not "taking over", it is certainly becoming an increasingly large part of the Fringe. And the mention of a "large part" brings us to the other suggestion that is being discussed: is the Fringe getting too big? If we are talking about the fact that it has extended by almost a full week (the so-called Week 0, or preview week), then many residents of the city would agree. They know that the Fringe brings enormous financial benefit to the city but they are not happy with the extra disruption caused by Week 0 and many are still very annoyed that the Fringe decided some years ago to start a week earlier than the EIF, so that now their lives are disrupted for five weeks instead of three, which was the case ten years ago. But although that's the residents' complaint, that's not what those who ask the question mean. They ask, are there to many shows and too many venues? This year, if we take into account pubs where music is going on, exhibition spaces, outdoor events and so on, there are 333 venues. When do we reach too much? I suppose the answer is, when there isn't enough audience to go round. But hasn't that always been the case? I've been in audiences of two in the past but so far none of our reviewers - and there are more of us this year than ever before - have reported being in that situation. And certainly there seem to be more people in Edinburgh than in previous years (and it was crowded then!). Getting along High Street during the day can be a shoulder-to-shoulder shuffle - pity the poor reviewer rushing to his/her next show! And the New Town is more crowded than I remember it in the past. One morning last week the queue waiting to see Allegiance at the Assembly Rooms stretched from the Assembly Rooms door all the way along George Street and down into Hanover Street! So the numbers of shows and venues have grown, but so, from my observation, has the audience. But it has to be said that Edinburgh must be nearing saturation point in terms of the accommodation available to visitors, whether performers or audience. And just try getting into an Edinburgh restaurant around 7.30! The 60th Edinburgh Fringe is full of life and bursting with vitality!
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