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The
Edinburgh Fringe
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Fringe 2003 DiaryBTG editor Peter Lathan arrived in Edinburgh just after noon on Monday 4th August: by noon on Thursday 7th he was on his way home again. This is his diary.Monday 4th August Threatening? Surely a heatwave's a good thing. It's what everybody wants on their holidays. Not at the Fringe, it isn't! All of those tiny venues with full lighting rigs belting out kilowatts of heat. And if the show turns out to be popular and there are full houses... Well, you can imagine. And then, of course, you have to hurry from one to the other. If, like me, you are more than a little overweight... Well, again, you can imagine. Anyway, the train was more or less on time. I'd arranged my first show for 4.45 to give myself enough time to get to the digs, unpack, get to the press office, collect my pre-arranged tickets, head off to the Pleasance press office, have some lunch, and be in good time for my first show. All went well, even though the Pleasance has moved its press office to the much roomier surroundings of the Dome. As that's just round the corner from the George Square Theatre where my first show was, that was no problem. Plenty of time! Too much time, as it turned out, even after spending some time at a new cafe, Monster Mash, over steak pie and chips. By the time I got to George Square, there was still an hour and a half to go. Still, I could sit with a nice cold glass of fresh orange juice and read the novel I'd begun on the train. Even that palled a bit, so I went for a walk. Wandering through the grounds of the Gilded Balloon Teviot I bumped into Malachy Bogdanov, formerly of the English Shakespeare Company. Shows how well I'd read the programme! I didn't even realise he was in Edinburgh this year. He's doing Shakespeare's Italian Job, which sounds typically irreverent. "You are coming, of course?" Of course! Now I'll just have to find a way of fitting it in! Anyway, into the theatre for the first show, Cheek. A two hour running time (which felt like two weeks!), meant that I had an hour to get to the Roman Eagle Lodge to see Pip Utton's (Adolf, Hancock's Last Half Hour) latest. Got there and bought myself a packet of crisps and a cold drink and watched the world go by. Suddenly a voice behind me said, "Mr Lathan". "Mr Utton," I replied, and so it was. During the chat which followed, the big news story of the Fringe was revealed! "Someone's nicked my Roy Orbison sunglasses," he announced. And then, typically, "I suppose I could have lost them. And I can't find a pair like them in Edinburgh." Although it was quarter to eight, it was still really hot and, of course, his show, Only the Lonely, would be on the top floor of the Roman Eagle! It was still hot when it finished at nine, so we adjourned for a drink at the Castle Inn where we sat until ten, when I wandered off for fish and chips before my thrid and last show of the day, Some Kind of Love Story just down the road at C Cubed. After which it was back to the digs and an early night, ready for five shows on Tuesday. |
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