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The
Edinburgh Fringe
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Fringe 1997 Diary (2)
Monday 25th August Up at 5.30 and on the road at 7.10 (in the morning, that is!), and all to be sure I get to Edinburgh on time to see Steven Berkoff's new show at 11.30. Got to Edinburgh in almost exactly three hours, time to call in at the Traverse to book for Caryl Churchill's Blue Heart. No way! It's another Royal Court/Out of Joint production, like Shopping and Fucking, and, according to the press officer, they will only allow reviewers from British national newspapers. Really, how stupid can you get? If I worked for the Sun (single digit reading age required), they'd welcome me with open arms, but, although you, my readers, are not only literate but also very knowledgeable about theatre, because we are on the Net, you are not important enough to warrant a review. How blind can you get! Anyway, on to the Assembly Rooms for Berkoff's Massage, followed by a quick bite to eat and a leisurely stroll to the Quaker Meeting House where I'm spending the rest of the day: first the Leaveners Theatre Company in Only Just, and then Eclipse's production of The Cheviot, the Stag, and the Black, Black Oil. A quick meal, and then off to my digs (for the first time), arriving at 9.20. In bed by 10.30, totally shattered! Tuesday 26th August I knew I would be tired today, so I arranged a (comparatively) easy day: first show at 2.15, the next at 6.30, and the last at 9.30. But the best laid plans..... Spent the morning - well, from 11.00 on - wandering to try and recapture that Festival feeling. There seem to be fewer people around, and conversations confirm this. Street entertainers are still out in force, but most seem to be companies promoting their shows and there are fewer actual street performers. The leafleters are going mad! How many trees have been destroyed in an effort to promote shows in venues so small that an audience of forty is a packed house? I'm travelling by car this time, because my new digs are a fair way out of town and I do want a base nearby, even if it's just a metal box! Unfortunately the car park I was sure I could get into was full, and I had to move the car from meter to meter every two hours! Anyway, off to the first show - Bare and Ragged Theatre Company in Marlowe's Dr Faustus at venue 123, the South Bridge Resource Centre. A quick cooling drink afterwards - God, it was hot in there! - and then off to find another parking space! Success, just in time to get to Bedlam Theatre for Illyria's The Tempest, followed by a meal at the Ayutthaya (yes, it is as good as I thought it was!), and off to see the Players' Company at St Oswald's, some way out of town. I never made it! I got totally lost and, just as the show would have been starting, I found myself well on the way to the Forth Bridge. Sorry, Players' Company. I really did want to see your show, but fate (and my lousy sense of direction) decreed otherwise! Wednesday 27th August Today was musical theatre day: three shows altogether at Southside. I reckon Southside is jinxed. Everytime I've gone to a show there, it has rained - and rained - and rained... Spent the morning at the digs, writing up my notes on the last two days, then into town where - mirabile dictu! - I got the very last space at the Tollcross car park. The first show was Shrewsbury School's The Time Machine. It was still raining hard when I went in, but had stopped by the time the show came down. Two hours to fill in before the next show, so a meal (Italian today: OK, but nothing to write home about) and then, at 5.30, I moved the car to somewhere a bit nearer - on-street parking charges cease at 5.30! And so back to Southside for A Slice of Saturday Night by Youth Connection, followed, after a twenty minute wait in the street outside, by Cambridge ADC's Company. Isn't it ridiculous? I was hungry again. Nothing for it but a wee fish supper and watch the street entertainers for a bit. Yes, they were still at it, even when I decided to head back to the digs at twenty to midnight! Thursday 28th August Some friends came to visit today, so I gave the morning over to showing them around and pointing them in the direction of the best shows to see in the limited time they had available. Thank goodness it's sunny again today. There's a definite nip in the air, but at least it isn't raining! I decided to see two shows by the same company: not something I would normally do, but they're such a contrast that it seemed like a good idea. So, for the first show, off to the Moray House Theatre for Strut and Fret's The Beaux' Stratagem, followed, fifteen minutes later, by their summer pantomime, Cinderella. Then a bit of a wander - can't meet up with my friends until after the next show: the timing's all wrong - and a walk along to venue 123 for Life with Idiots by Art-Vic, after which a mad dash along Chambers Street and the Bedlam Theatre to meet my friends, walk them back to Waverley Station, then rush back to Bedlam for the final show of the day, Aphra Behn and Nell Gwyn. Friday 29th August There comes a time when even the most ardent theatregoer reaches saturation point. I did this morning, so I decided to forego the pleasures of a physical theatre version of A Midsummer Night's Dream and do the tourist thing. So I slept in (lovely! but don't tell my editor), had lunch, did some shopping (a trawl around the antique shops), and visited the castle. I enjoyed it! But I didn't avoid theatre altogether. I went to two shows, Road Rage at the Gilded Balloon at 5.45, and then, at 8.00, Glimpse at Marco's. Here endeth, for me at any rate, the 1997 Edinburgh Fringe. It's been a fantastic experience, seeing 35 shows in 12 days, spread over two weeks. I've seen some superb theatre, and some awful theatre. I've driven some 600 or so miles, and met some lovely people, and the only blot on the landscape has been the rather arrogant and definitely short-sighted attitude towards Internet journalism shown by the Royal Court/Out of Joint management, the only company not delighted to have Web recognition. I hope my diaries and reviews have given you a flavour of a wonderful theatrical experience. Can I come again next year, Ms Editor? |
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