HiFi PiG’s Guide To The Edinburgh Fringe with John Scott.

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival began in 1947 when eight theatre groups turned up uninvited to perform at the Edinburgh International Festival. This year some fifty-thousand performers will turn Edinburgh into the biggest celebration of arts and culture on the planet for three weeks during August. 

It would be possible to spend more than twelve hours a day, every day, reviewing show after show. You’ll be unsurprised to hear that we won’t be doing that but John Scott will be out and about supplying a flavour of Fringe throughout August. 

Day 1

Dreich (adjective): A Scots word describing wet, dreary, grey weather.

Dreich didn’t even scratch the surface as your intrepid reporter set out in that thin persistent drizzle that somehow manages to be much wetter than ordinary rain. The section of Edinburgh’s Royal Mile that stretches between the Tron Kirk and the Castle serves as a showcase space for street performers and others keen to push flyers onto potential customers and is normally thronged with visitors. As I trudged my way along the rain-slicked cobbles on my way to the Fringe Media HQ to pick up my media’s pass, the street was virtually deserted. It’s early days yet though and I suspect things won’t really pick up here until the weekend. 

Press pass in hand, I made my way to Greenside Venue’s launch event where a small selection of their 100 performers showed off a sample of what would be on offer. Greenside has an open performer policy, welcoming a diverse range of performers from across the world including those from across the spectrum of neurodiversity and sexual orientation.

Liz Toonkel opened with an excerpt from her Magic for Animals comedy/magic mash-up. Other comedy routines included John Franklin who made a punchy impression by restricting his performance to just one laugh-out-loud joke and Philippa Dawson whose Character Flaw show presents stand-up from the perspective of a person with ADHD. Her explanation of what ADHD felt like for her was both amusing and insightful. 

Musical theatre was represented by Eigg-The Musical, whose plot was a bit tricky to discern from the performed excerpt, and the family-friendly musical A Girl MissRed, whose cast of adults and children gave an energetic and impressive performance. 

Other highlights included Sarah Hirsch and Philip McDermott’s MAGNETORECEPTION dance piece and South Korean performance art performance Did You Eat. 

An ideal entry into the variety of the Edinburgh Fringe. I wonder what the next three weeks will bring. 

MORE FROM THE EDINBURGH FRINGE

John Scott

UPSTAGE PHOTOGRAPHY