First time at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival #edfringe - Part 1 - The shows

As part of a research trip with 4wordcreative I headed to my first ever Edinburgh Fringe. The bus journey was an experience but failed to dampen our spirits. After much rushing around and confusion we sneaked in five minutes late to the first performance of the day, "NOBODY'S HOME: A MODERN ODYSSEY"(Link). A performance based solely in a bathroom set around the main prop of a bath tub. The performance is 'A Modern Odyssey' tying in all the myths, adventure and dangers of Homer but in the mind of a war veteran coming to terms with life back at home with his wife after the scars of war. Like all the plays we witnessed in our day there was a heavy reliance upon audio and visual special affects. Unlike other plays though this one truly embraced and lavished the audience with deeply emotional scenes enhanced by audio and visuals rather than reliant upon them. By missing the first five minutes I was disappointed but seeing people leave five minutes after we arrived was even more gut wrenching. Is this how the fringe is? If people are not gripped within ten minutes they are off. It set a tone of worry that was to continue as we ran around the narrow streets of Edinburgh searching for our next show.

The World holds everyone apart, apart from us

We made it on time, better than that we were first at the door. This was an intimate venue, The Iron Belly, seemingly a cowshed with tiered seats. Stuart Bowden was our one man adventure assistant as he whisked us on a mission to save planet earth from loneliness in "THE WORLD HOLDS EVERYONE APART, APART FROM US"(Link). This one man band with his ukulele, harmonica, keyboard, loop peddle and beer crates was a sight to behold and the songs were beautiful symphonies for each character and plot driven sliding in and out of song like a musical. The story is of a man who builds a space rocket to go and lasso a planet and bring it to earth so earth wont be lonely. Along this story he meets a number of randomers and old friends. Unfortunately Stuart's songs are perfect. His story however when compared to them just does not cut the mustard. But he is "not dead, just wind.....dead."


The adventure depended as we headed to our next venue to see "THE SEAGULL EFFECT"(Link). I am gona throw this out there I cannot stand over acting and performances that start with somebody in the crowd acting as though they are not part of the act when they are part of the act and then proceed to create an act from the notion that they are just another audience member. Now stick those two things together and I am getting ready to throw punches and choke on my Haribo Tangtastic (supplied by my team member Tony, yes indeed our team was Tony and Guy). This performance was based around the 1987 hurricane in England which caused mass destruction and mayhem. We focused on the effect this hurricane has on a broken romantic relationship. There was way to much information on weather forecasting that was of no interest and 90% of the visuals were just for oohs and aahs, bringing little to nothing to the plot. I was disappointed as I felt the synopsis was promising but the execution was lacking. I did find out though that I am a disgusting romantic and such will always like a love relationship in anything no matter how bad it is. 


The final performance was the hotly anticipated "DEATH SONG"(Link). The story of mexico, childhood, love, immigration, generators and incest. So yeah generators I hear you say. What on earth are they doing in there well they play a rather big part. The highest respect must go to this cast. Not only where they performing but also managing the sound, lighting and props at all times. There was a truly talented musician in the corner on either strumming a spanish guitar or changing the tone of the scene with his beautiful Cello sound in the intimate space. I found myself watching him at times, not just for his talent but also due to the performance taking place behind me and in front of me simultaneously. All of this while being blinded by hand held lights following the performers. I feel the used the space wisely and effectively but they could have done with a bigger space but perhaps the challenge of the smaller space enhanced their performance.


Overall I have to tip my hat to "NOBODY'S HOME: A MODERN ODYSSEY".  A strong and poignant message timed to perfection that sucked me even after I missed the first five minutes. Will Pinchin as Grant and Dorie Kinnear as Penny will have you with their final scene. A thing of beauty that to be honest I did not get from the other plays. A final scene that made me think I want to see that again. If you are able I advise a visit. (Tickets and Info) also they have a wefund.com which is still open to funding.




NB: Part two on the fringe in general is on its way.