Edinburgh - The End

I’ve had an amazing time, Edinburgh is beautiful and the Festival is huge, inspiring, exciting, exhausting but brilliant.  Five stars for everything ***** !

I’d like to thank Jane and John, without whom this trip would not have been possible!  Their generosity and sense of fun have enabled me to experience the festival again 32yrs later and I had an absolutely brilliant time.  Thanks also to Catherine, Bob and Emma for being lovely company and great housemates. 

Lots of love to you all for making it a very special Birthday treat which I will treasure forever.

Xxx

Feel like I have just given my Oscar speech!  The festival has gone to my head!


So that is No: 26 on the challenge list completed.  Next challenge is No: 3 which will happen on my birthday.

Edinburgh - Part Two

Wednesday 17^th August

Went to see the Scottish Parliament building which is very striking.  Viewed the World Press Photo exhibition and cried.  This is really turning into a very emotional week!

Saw Ten Plagues at Traverse with Marc Almond.  One man’s journey through a city in crisis.  I found the severe operatic style of music a hurdle to enjoying this show.  Marc Almond performed amazingly, he was vulnerable, if a bit two dimensional but he sang his heart out, it was a very brave performance.  Loved the rousing end with the extra voices.  Great set, the traverse is a wonderful performance space.

Jane introduced me to the Forest Fringe, which offers various forms of performance for free. They are housed in a ramshackle building with a café, some of the acts are from Bristol which was nice to see.  Both Jane and I took part in Hinterland, a poem that you play.  In order to receive your first canto you have to go into Edinburgh and have a conversation with a stranger, you phone in your answers and then are set the next challenge.  I only go to do my first poem but it was good fun and a great way to get chatting to people.  We also took part in a show!  This was Comedian Dies, again at Forest Fringe, an interactive play for fourteen people.  Each time the stage resets, you get to play a different person in the room: a drunk, a heckler, barman or even the comedian!  All you have to do is follow the instructions.  This was a bit scary, involved dressing up, improvisation but bloody good fun.

Saw Tim Key at Pleasance.   I enjoyed the show, not belly laughs but a slick, professional and confident performance.

Retired to bed very tired with a blister!

Thursday 18^th August

Saw an exhibition of work by Elizabeth Blackadder at the National Gallery, lovely paintings.

Release at Pleasance.  Story of three people newly released from prison and on probation.  Great acting and very physical.

2401 Objects by Analogue at Pleasance.  Play about ‘HM’, a man who has lost his short term memory.  Analogue use high tech multimedia in their performances which is refreshing.  Nicely told story.

Paul Foot at Underbelly.  Why do we have to sit in the front row?  This guy is frankly weird, quirky, manic but funny.  Cross between Dudley Moore and Frankie Howerd with a mullet hair cut.

Audience - thoughts

Audience by Ontroerend Goed.  This company is one of my favourites, they push boundaries and I have really enjoyed the shows I have attended so I was looking forward to seeing this show.  We had heard that it might be challenging, their shows always are, but I didn’t anticipate that I would find their methods questionable.  The audience are the focus of the show, a man trains a video camera on the audience and we see ourselves projected on to a big screen on the stage, its unsettling and unnerving. The Actors seat themselves with us in the seats, talk to us, talk about us and finally insult one member of the audience, this part of the show was very cruel. As the show continues we are taken on a disjointed rollercoaster of ideas, often slick in their execution and thought provoking but not ground breaking enough to justify their methods.  The idea of challenging the role of the audience is interesting, but I just can’t get past what they did to this young woman, it was a step too far and frankly not that enlightening.  What I will admit is that I have spent days mulling over my reaction to the show, the show is still with me, I am still thinking about the issues and probably will for a long time.  They are always provocative and I probably will go to another of their shows, oh god what does that make me!!!  See it just goes on and on ……. 

Some comments from other audience members:

http://www.thepublicreviews.com/ed-fringe-2011-audience-ontroerend-goed-%E2%80%93-remarkable-arts/

http://www.tvbomb.co.uk/?p=10996

http://ed.thestage.co.uk/reviews/1349

Edinburgh - Part One

Sunday 14^th Aug

Arrived in Edinburgh via Durham Cathedral at about 4pm.  Jane has found a fantastic flat right next to the castle, so very central and comfortable, it was brilliant.  Jane’s sister Catherine, her husband Bob and their daughter Emma are staying in the flat too and will be doing the Festival with us.  Everyone is ready to start the marathon so we go and eat and then take the plunge and see Doctor Brown at Underbelly.  He doesn't say much but his naive, quirky, naughty and anarchic act is very funny, really worth seeing. A great show to start the festival with. See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2011/sep/21/doctor-brown-comedy-interview

Monday 15^th Aug
Spent morning getting bearings and looking at venues.  I went to see Transluna Paradise by Theatre Ad Infinitum.  I really liked the show which is about loss and grieving – whats not to like?!!  Very sad but beautifully performed with haunting music.  People were blubbing all over the place, including me!

Went to see Joe Wilkinson at the Pleasance.  I think we all had high expectations, especially after Dr Brown but it didn’t hit the spot for me.  He's a bit like an odd friend with a quirky and funny way of seeing things who everyone likes and enjoys chatting to in the pub but not stand up for an hour.

Watched the logistics of herding crowds for the Edinburgh Tattoo with fly over and fireworks – got the whole Edinburgh experience!

Tuesday 16^th Aug

I did a couple of galleries in the morning and then went to see Overcoat – ACE productions at Pleasance, story of a quiet man, very average.  

Next saw Gentlemen of Leisure – The ‘Death’ of the Novel?  2 man stand up, enjoyable, intelligent, nice observations and generally funny (not belly laugh – but felt I had been entertained).  The show is in an amazing venue Just the Tonic at the caves, literally underground vaults with water dripping down the walls!

Next Holly Walsh at Pleasance, funny and refreshing and intelligent.

And finally we went to see Audience – Ontroerend Goed, I'm going to write about this show in another post, it needs some thought!  

Edinburgh or bust!

Saturday 13^th Aug

The adventure starts…..   We make the first part of our journey to Edinburgh via Whitby and stay in a wonderful quirky hotel called La Rosa (http://larosa.co.uk/hotel/index.html).   We spent the early evening drinking in the harbour, walking the 199 steps to the Abbey, taking the donkey route back, then ate fish and chips on a bench looking over the sweet town of Whitby and retired to the hotel lounge. We stayed in the ‘Saloon’ room and relived our own spaghetti western – see pics below!

John and I paddle in the Yorkshire moors

The dastardly duo!

Madam!

La Rosa lounge