The Edinburgh Fringe Festival celebrated its 61st year this year and with 2,088 shows and almost 20,000 performers, there was always something to go and see. With so many people crammed into Edinburgh’s streets there was real festival atmosphere, especially on the Royal Mile where the shows are advertised, and where more often than not you see people wandering up and down in crazy colourful costumes, handing out flyers as they go.
Some of the 20,000 performers encompassed the University’s own Big Band, Barbershop Quartet The Suits, and four shows that the Drama Department’s first years toured as Z Theatre Company. These included Said Alice, a modern interpretation of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll), and Wide Asleep, a black comedy, satirising the over-prescription of anti-depressants and chemically induced happiness. A Prozac or two in your tea? To feel numb is the new black, so why is this chemically induced happiness not enough?
I was lucky enough to perform in Said Alice. Performing at the Fringe is a fantastic experience; you get to perform every day to an audience who have hand picked your show out of more than twenty others that would all be on at the same time. Said Alice follows the journey of Alice on a night out. She is given LSD by her friend Cat, she takes a ‘trip’ into Wonderland and madness ensues as she meets the weird and wonderful characters that live there, whilst unable to tell what is real and what is not. She goes to a tea party with three tramps, has sex with a drug-dealing caterpillar, and gambles with the transvestite Queen of Hearts.
With so many things on offer it can be hard to decide which shows to see, so getting a daily guide really helped- it was an entire booklet which just listed what shows were on at what time on one day. Comedy is a must, as there’s so much of it about, from big names like Jimmy Carr to up and coming new acts, there is something for everyone. There is also a lot of free comedy which is definitely worth checking out, but be wary – if it’s free you risk sitting through a couple of bad acts before you get a good one. As well as the huge variety of comedy, there is a large amount of other shows including dance and physical theatre. One of the stand-out shows for me was Clockheart Boy – the tale of a professor who is searching for his long lost daughter with the help of his creations. A show full of emotion, and quite simply a fantastic piece of theatre.
It’s hard to sum up the Fringe Festival in so few words. There is so much to do and everybody’s experience is different, but every experience has its merits and the Fringe is something you should most definitely visit should you get the chance.
Alison Best
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