Walking the Fringe

An Edinburgh Fringe 2013 scrapbook

[walkingthefringe]

1. Fuckers

2. It's Pneumatic

3. America

[walkingthefringe]

Top 5 Shows I Saw at Edinburgh

Sort of in order...

HeLa

The Events

Our Fathers

Wot? No Fish

Ban This Filth!

Also enjoyed:

Breaking News

A Long Distance Affair

Stats:

Venue: 5 at Summerhall, 1 at Traverse, 1 at Scottish Storytelling Centre

Cast: 4 solo, 2 two-handers, 1 three-hander

Type: 4 drama/3 comedy-drama;  4 devised/3 written; 5 topical/2 personal; 4 documentary or inspired by real events;  

[walkingthefringe]

Amazing shows How sweet the sound Saved a punter like me I once was lost But Summerhall I found Was wandering Edinburgh with a very heavy backpack, and tired, and trying to find good shows But now I see.

--Song I just made up

[cityelf]

A word of advice if you’re ever given the chance to visit Edinburgh around the Fringe Festival season:

take it 

bring your camera

enjoy

[walkingthefringe]

Captures the spirit of the Mile

[walkingthefringe]

Review: A Long Distance Affair

A Long Distance Affair is quite a trip. You’re lead down to shadowy basement cum internet cafe, where you take part in three one-to-one solo playlets via Skype with performers from around the world. There are 6 possible performances per day, and 18 in total. You pick where you start, but not who you speak to or even who YOU are: I was psychologist to a suicidal bridesmaid, past-life lover of a New York City romantic, and sole witness to the ghost of a Mexican man killed by a drug cartel. Intimate and pleasantly uncomfortable, each performance invites the viewer in, albeit to a greater or lesser extent. Ideas of materiality, specifically what’s imagined and real, ran through each play. At the end, a guide took us outside, gave us a present from our performers (a torn cheque from the bridesmaid) and invited us to write them a postcard. The experience was thought-provoking: clearly there’s a lot of potential for Skype as a medium for performance. It retains the liveness of in-person theater but opens up new cinematic, design, and storytelling possibilities. The best of the playlets was the ghost, who moved sinuously in and out of frame and, finding peace in the end, moved the camera delicately up into the light.

[walkingthefringe]

FRAGMENTS

OLDER MAN: Does anyone want a ticket to the dance show upstairs in 10 minutes.

::long pause::

OLDER MAN: Anyone?

LADY NEXT TO ME: Sure, I'll take it.

::he walks off::

ME: That was a nice gift.

LADY: It was nice. But, uh, I'm actually performing here so I get in for free.

ME: So you didn't actually need it.

LADY. No. Doesn't seem right.

ME. Maybe you were giving him a gift by accepting it.

[walkingthefringe]

1 The Elephant House

2 Expecto Patronuuuuuum / French fans love Harry Potter

3/4 Tom Riddle did a piddle

5 In loving memory for Fred or George...I don't remember who died / I open at the close

[walkingthefringe]

Fragments (Saturday)

Singing "The Wheels on the bus" with a friend's friends' adorable 2 year old.

Getting tickets for the 2 shows I wanted most to see at the Traverse, even though they were sold out.

Watching the clouds shift while lying on my back in Waverley Park.

In the Assembly Courtyard, getting increasingly hysterical discussing animal mating habits. Best story, though not strictly about animals mating: Once a monkey at the zoo watched my mother while it wanked." Literally running late to a show I didn't have a ticket for -- getting there, getting the ticket, getting in the queue. And then the ticket taker says, "Didn't you do a solo show about the two towers? Really enjoyed that. Great characters."

[walkingthefringe]

REVIEW: THE EVENTS (@Traverse Theater / By David Greig)

Claire, a priest, is coping with traumatic events. A disturbed young man has shot up the community center where she runs a multi-cultural choir and she’s haunted by the question of the killer’s motivations Inspired by the Breivik shootings in Norway, but fictionalized and set in the UK, we follow Claire on her quest to understand. Most of the other characters, some recurring (Claire’s girlfriend, her therapist, the shooter), some one-offs (The Father, The Politician, The Friend) are played by another actor. Additionally, a real English community choir provides music, bit parts, and the broader responses of the public. In the end, it’s their presence that gives a gripping but occasionally dry play it’s biggest emotional punch, providing a real-life example of the hope to which Claire and the play aspire: that what we have in common in more important than how we are different. Having done a show about a traumatic event, September 11th, I was intrigued by how The Events would handle a similarly complex, potent topic. A collage held together by the central character’s through-line, the play deftly and sometimes humorously presents the complex reactions and multiple points of view such as a event provokes, both for individuals and in society at large. While it’s careful not to present one answer, you leave satisfied and, if not uplifted, cautiously hopeful.

[walkingthefringe]

5 TYPES OF SOLO SHOWS

What is a solo show? It’s a broad term, that covers all the arts and, as Google Alerts has brought to my attention, the world of sports — “Are the Los Angeles Clippers Just a One-man Show? Blake Griffin blah blah blah.” Here’s a humble list of some of the different types of solo shows I’ve seen. It’s focuses on theatrical work, excluding solo concerts, exhibitions, and dance.

One-person show: Usually refers to a one-person play, often autobiographical or biographical, and involving multiple-characters and storytelling. Anna Deavere Smith became famous for doing verbatim one-person shows about social crises like the LA riots.

Storytelling: Performance storytelling, typically for children, but gaining popularity with adults via story slams like The Moth.

Stand-up comedy: Perhaps the most common, well-known, and structured form of solo performance. It is a rigorous and demanding craft and one that I want to study to make my theatrical efforts stronger.

Spoken Word: Another nebulous term that encompasses performance poetry, some hip-hop, character comedy (John Leguizamo), and the rants of Henry Rollins.

Performance Lecture: A one-person show that is half presentation, half one of the above. See Mike Daisey, Gary McNair’s Mint, or Daniel Bye’s The Price of Everything.

What solo work have you seen that doesn’t fit into the list above?*

[jona--than]

Spent half an hour walked around the royal mile in edinburgh. Didn’t see any shows or anything just passed through to see what the fuss was about. My god what a fuss! It was amazing. I normally hate random people handing me leaflets but this time I was taking everything!  Interacting with people so in love with their art and watching people expose themselves to for their craft was breathtaking. I was overwhelmed. I also met the star of the jekyll and hyde production who was doing her own leafleting, lovely person. It was a shame I was a blabbering idiot to her cos simply the whole half an hour left me speechless. I want to go back. I want to go back and see everything I possibly can!

[johnmcannon]

I’m running away on an adventure #EdFringe

[walkingthefringe]

Andrea Dworkin: radical feminist. Alan Bissett: man. One stage. Bissett plays himself, telling stories from his own life, with a penis, and Dworkin, one of the most controversial women in history, who has a few things to say to him. Expect laughter, Led Zeppelin and live reconditioning of a man who’s had it too easy. Until now. 'Brilliant stuff ... audience were literally shouting with laughter.’ **** (Joyce McMillan, Scotsman on Bissett’s The Moira Monologues). 'He has real presence as a performer; his writing glitters with unusual erudition and deft wit.’ **** (Independent on The Red Hourglass).

[walkingthefringe]

FRAGMENTS

Eating a pie to help take the edge off my whisky hangover.

Almost walking into a white-haired man in a kilt carrying bagpipes.

Not having any plans, picking up a copy of Fest and finding 10 things Iwant to see.

Watching a good solo and feeling inspired. Watching a bad solo show and feeling inspired not to do a show like that.

At the end of the day, emptying my pockets of all the flyers you've been handed -- enough to make a small fire.

[walkingthefringe]

During the Fringe, the population of Edinburgh doubles.

(Overheard)

[walkingthefringe]

Mmm...PIE.

[walkingthefringe]

What I did at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival Generation 9-11: So Far/So Close Chris Wolfe "Opening Scenes"