Last week I travelled up to Edinburgh in Scotland, to the famous Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I’ve wanted to go for a few years now, and finally I got around to it! (Well, it was my birthday present to my boyfriend, who wanted to go too, so I thought that was as good an excuse as any!).
During my time at the Fringe I kept being taken aback my just how it completely takes over the entire city: it’s not just a few places all in one small area, as I had expected, but venues spread across the city centre – all of which were remarkably well signposted. The venues themselves were all fitted to accommodate the various types of performances at the Fringe, both big and small. Not only was it well-organised, including the many bars and food stalls, but the number of posters covering the city was astonishing – on the sides of buses, on lamp-posts, and on the walls of buildings all the way into Leith (where we stayed), in addition to all the flyers that were being constantly handed out. Given that this year marked the 70th anniversary of the Fringe I suppose I shouldn’t have been so surprised at the level of organisation, but I really was impressed.
As expected, we saw some brilliant shows – we booked all of them in advance (as is often recommended), which although makes it easier once you get to Edinburgh, also has the potential to be a risky strategy as we didn’t know how good they would actually be. We stuck mostly to what we knew, particularly with the short amount of time we were there, but still packed 12 shows into three days – with our fourth day spent exploring the city itself before we caught our train.
The Shows
Improvised Comedy:
‘Austentatious‘ was by far my favourite show we saw; it’s relatively well-known, having sold-out at the Fringe for the last 2 years, and for good reason! It takes a ‘lost Austen’ book title, suggested by an audience member at random, and performs the story in the style of Austen, but completely improvised. It’s hilarious!
‘Folie à Deux‘ ran along a similar idea (although not Austen-themed), improvising small scenes all related to one word, chosen by the audience (ours was ‘civilian’) – performed by only two actors, who both also perform in Austentatious: Andrew Hunter Murray and Charlotte Gittins.
‘Murder She Didn’t Write’ was also very impressive; an improvised murder-mystery which uses the audience’s ideas to create the title of a case, before setting about a humorous enactment of a murder – a cross between Agatha Christie and Cluedo, where at the start even the actors don’t know who the victim or murderer will be! (And no, I didn’t correctly guess ‘whodunit’!)
Stand-Up:
Ed Byrne was the most well-known of all the comedians we saw, and definitely stood up to my expectations. We also went to some smaller venues to see comedians I hadn’t heard of before: Kai Humphries, Gary Delaney and Edd Hedges. I feel like I’ve never laughed so much in only a few days, they were all so funny in such different ways.
Theatre:
We also went to a couple of more serious theatrical shows, which I really enjoyed. I would love to see some more if (when) I come again. They seem to be nearly always forgotten among the big names of all the comedy.
Inside the National Museum
Typical Tourists
We also spent some time going around the city, seeing what it had to offer separate from the Fringe. We went to some of the more typical tourist areas, including the National Museum (which was in a gorgeous building), the National Gallery, and the Royal Mile. However, out of everywhere I definitely enjoyed our visit to Victoria Street the most. Edinburgh seemed to be rather proud of its literary heritage, particularly its roots to the author JK Rowling and her creations. Just off Royal Mile, Victoria Street is a two-levelled street – the perfect example of an incredible triumph of Victorian design. However, its literary connection is what makes it so interesting: this impressive architecture was the inspiration for ‘Diagon Alley’ in the Harry Potter series. It really is quite striking!
I had the best time in Edinburgh, and especially at the Fringe Festival – I laughed so much that I don’t think it was possible not to enjoy myself! I have no doubt that I will return to the Festival one day.
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