Edinburgh Fringe Festival
A City transformed,
A world of possibilities.
Every August the city of Edinburgh is awash with people. 50'000 international creatives who choose to perform at the original Fringe Festival, drawing over 2 million people to Edinburgh.
The Festival itself began in 1947, with a few companies turning up uninvited, to the inaugural International Festival here in Edinburgh and performing on the 'Fringe'. 70 years later the Fringe has grown to become the greatest platform for creative freedom in the world.
The Fringe Festival encourages all creative art aspects. From comedy, dance, theatre, circus, cabaret, spoken work, musicals to exhibitions and events.
Not all shows will cost you a lot of money. Many of the performers here have a PWYW (pay what you want) and you can find listings here for these shows.
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| Saucy Jacks & the Space Vixens Show |
Along the Royal Mile, daily schedules of various street performers/performances are listed.
If you stop and are entertained, video their show or parts of it to share later, take their photo or have your photo taken with them, please show them respect and give them something for their time and the work they have put into their craft.
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| Big Trouble in Little Monkey's Daycare |
The Festival kicked off on the 3rd of August and being myself from Australia, I was keen to see Courtney Act, an Australian Drag Queen on her opening night.
She did not disappoint.
Her show, Under the Covers, is a musical based comedy and that lady has some pipes. She is performing at the circus hub down on the Meadows & well worth the ticket price of £19.
Other shows on my list to see are Criminal, described as a anarchic improv night in which four comedians have an hour to solve a grisly murder. Having met one of the cast, I am looking forward to this.
Another comedian I met was Paul Currie. Self described as 'Wasabi' comedy with a hint of Monty Python on acid, early Steve Martin & a touch of the Mighty Boosh crossed with the muppets. Quite honestly, one of the funniest pitches I have heard.
One show that I saw at the Yes Hub was Twenty Minutes to Nine.
This show piqued my interest, again, because of the home town connection.
Amanda Santuccione is a Melbourne based artist and was nominated Best Performance at the Melbourne Fringe festival last year.
Amanda Santuccione is a Melbourne based artist and was nominated Best Performance at the Melbourne Fringe festival last year.
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| Amanda Santuccione - Twenty Minutes to Nine |
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| The Yes Hub |
Amanda's show, Twenty Minutes to Nine, is an auto biographical account of growing up, dealing with loss, grief, suicide, older siblings, a large family and the issues we face in trying to understand them.
She intersperses the performance with her music, poetry and soundscapes. Giving a poignancy to the stories she is telling us.
At times I was nearly in tears from laughing and at other times I was barely holding my tears in check.
Amanda's story is one that so many of us can relate to. The feeling of regret you get when the 'What If' questions and the 'If Only' thoughts start resounding through your head...What her story, open and honest, gave me was the feeling that it was alright to move on from those questions and thoughts. In fact, the only way to move on was to not dwell on them. Her show, while tackling issues that are still not openly spoken about like suicide and mental health, left me with a feeling of hopefulness.
While I never set out to give a full review of her show, I know it will be the one experience from the Fringe that stays with me the longest.
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| The Udderbelly - George Square |
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| Along the Royal Mile |
So regardless of the crowds, regardless of the shows you may get to see or not, I hope you all get to experience the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It is a spectacle of Art that cant be duplicated, no matter how many other countries have a Fringe.
Bella
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