Edinburgh Fringe
Sep. 18th, 2016 04:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
daibhidcThis was ages ago, haven't I written it up yet? Okay, here we go.
It was a good Fringe. I was only down for three days, but I saw The Reduced Shakespeare Company's Shakespeare's Long Lost First Play (abridged), Mort by the group who didFaust Eric last year, and stand-up by Mitch Benn, Robert Newman and Barry Cryer and Ronnie Golden. And they were all excellent.
Arrived on Saturday afternoon, met my aunt, who I was staying with, at Waverley and dropped my stuff at her flat. Also had a cup of tea, since the train trolley was out of hot water. How does that even happen?
Reduced Shakespeare was at the Pleasance, which I'm very familiar with since it's where the University Skiffysoc used to meet (and as far as I know still do), so I headed there no trouble and located which of the six queues leading to four venues I was supposed to be in third try.
It was really good. It was a mashup of all the plays, supposedly Will's first draft before he realised it was too much for a single work, which the RSC found in a carpark in Leicester, next to some old skeleton. So you had multiple sets of twins, Hamlet dating Lady Macbeth, Richard III turning into Richard II and dating Falstaff (no, really, thing that happens) the three witches as Lear's daughters and much more nonsense, all caused by Puck and Ariel casting various spells.
And it was Austen and Reed, two thirds of what I think of as the "classic" RSC, because they were the first ones I saw and were on the Reduced Shakespeare Radio Show. The Adam replacement, Teddy, was also very good, playing Ariel in a red wig and mermaid tail, and insisting that Shakespeare and Disney were basically the same when challenged on this.
Mort was at Paradise in Augustines, and I wasn't sure where that was (although I think it was the same venue as last time), but luckily my aunt did and was going to see actual Shakespeare at a theatre opposite, so we walked up together. It was excellent, although marred slightly by the fact there weren't enough seats, so I was leaning against a pillar trying not to get in anyone's way - especially when the actors entered through the audience, which happened a few times. At one point near the end, the entire cast was next to me waiting for their cue, so that was a bit awkward.
There were a couple of good lines I'm sorry they cut, and the Discworld pedant in me was perplexed by the decision to relocate the scene with the stall-owner from Ankh to Sto Lat (which makes perfect sense, since it streamlines things a bit) and then clearly play him as CMOT Dibbler, but it was basically brilliant.
I spent much of Sunday in the National Museum of Scotland, where I was pleased to note they'd reopened the technology bit, and all my favourite things are still there, along with new stuff like a wall of Bikes Through The Ages. There was also a fascinating special exhibit on the Celts. Lunch at Piemaker, which has changed their menu since I was down for the Science Festival, so I had a boring cheese'n'onion pasty instead of the Morroccan vegetable one I'd been looking forward to. Still very nice, though.
After lunch I wandered for a bit, heading in the general direction of the New Town, since I was going to The Stand for Mitch Benn. I did divert in the direction of the Transworld sf bookshop, but nothing in particular caught my eye.
Mitch was brilliant. The show was Don't Fear the Reaper, and it was his take on the Curse of 2016, although it digressed into many other things. Some of the songs I'd heard before (the title track, as it were, was a Blue Öyster Cult pastiche that was on the last series of The Now Show, but it was better live, especially since he opened by handing a cowbell to someone in the front row and saying "You'll know what to do"[1]), but some were, as far as I know, original (I definitely don't remember "Rock'N'Roll Zombie Apocalypse", or the beautiful Victoria Wood tribute).
I forgot he had merch - a memory card with music from the past three Fringe gigs and both his books - so I didn't have cash with me. Ah, well.
Since there was plenty of time before my next show, a relaxed walk back to my aunt's for dinner[2], and then out to Summerhall for The Brain Show, in which Rob Newman explained his problems with reductionist neuroscience through a story about dating a neuroscientist. Some of the anecdotes were familiar from his Science Festival show about his problems with reductionist evolutionary biology - there's obviously overlap - but the through-story gave it a different feel and the punchlines and visual aids were great. (One bit I remember is where he says he was asked to debate a scientist who said that in the real world there was no such thing as sound, and he replied "Pardon?")
Spent far too long Sunday night trying to get my phone and iPad signed up to BT WiFi, including phoning Mum and asking her about passwords she had no recollection of whatsoever. Got it sorted eventually.
[1] He later said that there had been a previous performance when the person clearly hadn't known what to do - "Never heard of the song, never seen a cowbell before" - but he reckoned this one looked the right age.
[2] Mum muttered something about being spoiled when she realised my aunt had made dinner for me all three days - including the one where I was on a train by half seven.
Headed down to the BBC tent on Monday morning to see what was happening. As it turned out, nothing - I'd missed the big comedy events, and I was going to miss The Life Scientific on Tuesday, and just now all there was to do was buy a cup of tea and watch the Olympic closing ceremony on the big screen. (I said it was weeks ago.)
So I decided to spend the rest of my morning in a vague meander through the Fesitval streets, having lunch at one of the pop-up food stalls on the way. By 2pm, as my shopping bag filled with leaflets, I was absolutely desperate to find a food stall that had a veggy option that wasn't pizza (since I had pizza for dinner the day before). I eventually got a very nice vegetable pakora wrap from what I can only describe as a Bollywood ice cream van. (There was a booth next door called the Mac Shack which just sold pots of macaroni cheese, but I can have macaroni cheese at home). And while enjoying this, I suddenly noticed that the bratwurst stand that I had passed repeatedly, ignoring it because bratwurst stand, had a large sign saying "Ask about our vegetarian wurst". Maybe next year. (Assuming they haven't disappeared next year, like the burger place in 2013 which did an awesome beanburger.)
Anyway, by this point it was time for my last show: Barry Cryer and Ronnie Golden's gig at the Gilded Balloon. They remain brilliant. There were a couple of new songs this year - one about Nicola Sturgeon had us in hysterics - and I think even a couple of new jokes, but there were also some of the same jokes and songs they do every year, including my absolute favourite, "Peace and Quiet". (You can hear them perform it here, but it's not the full version, which has two more verses so the gag creeps up on you.)
And then back to my aunt's to finish packing and have something to eat before the train home. (This one had tea available.)
It was a good Fringe. I was only down for three days, but I saw The Reduced Shakespeare Company's Shakespeare's Long Lost First Play (abridged), Mort by the group who did
Arrived on Saturday afternoon, met my aunt, who I was staying with, at Waverley and dropped my stuff at her flat. Also had a cup of tea, since the train trolley was out of hot water. How does that even happen?
Reduced Shakespeare was at the Pleasance, which I'm very familiar with since it's where the University Skiffysoc used to meet (and as far as I know still do), so I headed there no trouble and located which of the six queues leading to four venues I was supposed to be in third try.
It was really good. It was a mashup of all the plays, supposedly Will's first draft before he realised it was too much for a single work, which the RSC found in a carpark in Leicester, next to some old skeleton. So you had multiple sets of twins, Hamlet dating Lady Macbeth, Richard III turning into Richard II and dating Falstaff (no, really, thing that happens) the three witches as Lear's daughters and much more nonsense, all caused by Puck and Ariel casting various spells.
And it was Austen and Reed, two thirds of what I think of as the "classic" RSC, because they were the first ones I saw and were on the Reduced Shakespeare Radio Show. The Adam replacement, Teddy, was also very good, playing Ariel in a red wig and mermaid tail, and insisting that Shakespeare and Disney were basically the same when challenged on this.
Mort was at Paradise in Augustines, and I wasn't sure where that was (although I think it was the same venue as last time), but luckily my aunt did and was going to see actual Shakespeare at a theatre opposite, so we walked up together. It was excellent, although marred slightly by the fact there weren't enough seats, so I was leaning against a pillar trying not to get in anyone's way - especially when the actors entered through the audience, which happened a few times. At one point near the end, the entire cast was next to me waiting for their cue, so that was a bit awkward.
There were a couple of good lines I'm sorry they cut, and the Discworld pedant in me was perplexed by the decision to relocate the scene with the stall-owner from Ankh to Sto Lat (which makes perfect sense, since it streamlines things a bit) and then clearly play him as CMOT Dibbler, but it was basically brilliant.
I spent much of Sunday in the National Museum of Scotland, where I was pleased to note they'd reopened the technology bit, and all my favourite things are still there, along with new stuff like a wall of Bikes Through The Ages. There was also a fascinating special exhibit on the Celts. Lunch at Piemaker, which has changed their menu since I was down for the Science Festival, so I had a boring cheese'n'onion pasty instead of the Morroccan vegetable one I'd been looking forward to. Still very nice, though.
After lunch I wandered for a bit, heading in the general direction of the New Town, since I was going to The Stand for Mitch Benn. I did divert in the direction of the Transworld sf bookshop, but nothing in particular caught my eye.
Mitch was brilliant. The show was Don't Fear the Reaper, and it was his take on the Curse of 2016, although it digressed into many other things. Some of the songs I'd heard before (the title track, as it were, was a Blue Öyster Cult pastiche that was on the last series of The Now Show, but it was better live, especially since he opened by handing a cowbell to someone in the front row and saying "You'll know what to do"[1]), but some were, as far as I know, original (I definitely don't remember "Rock'N'Roll Zombie Apocalypse", or the beautiful Victoria Wood tribute).
I forgot he had merch - a memory card with music from the past three Fringe gigs and both his books - so I didn't have cash with me. Ah, well.
Since there was plenty of time before my next show, a relaxed walk back to my aunt's for dinner[2], and then out to Summerhall for The Brain Show, in which Rob Newman explained his problems with reductionist neuroscience through a story about dating a neuroscientist. Some of the anecdotes were familiar from his Science Festival show about his problems with reductionist evolutionary biology - there's obviously overlap - but the through-story gave it a different feel and the punchlines and visual aids were great. (One bit I remember is where he says he was asked to debate a scientist who said that in the real world there was no such thing as sound, and he replied "Pardon?")
Spent far too long Sunday night trying to get my phone and iPad signed up to BT WiFi, including phoning Mum and asking her about passwords she had no recollection of whatsoever. Got it sorted eventually.
[1] He later said that there had been a previous performance when the person clearly hadn't known what to do - "Never heard of the song, never seen a cowbell before" - but he reckoned this one looked the right age.
[2] Mum muttered something about being spoiled when she realised my aunt had made dinner for me all three days - including the one where I was on a train by half seven.
Headed down to the BBC tent on Monday morning to see what was happening. As it turned out, nothing - I'd missed the big comedy events, and I was going to miss The Life Scientific on Tuesday, and just now all there was to do was buy a cup of tea and watch the Olympic closing ceremony on the big screen. (I said it was weeks ago.)
So I decided to spend the rest of my morning in a vague meander through the Fesitval streets, having lunch at one of the pop-up food stalls on the way. By 2pm, as my shopping bag filled with leaflets, I was absolutely desperate to find a food stall that had a veggy option that wasn't pizza (since I had pizza for dinner the day before). I eventually got a very nice vegetable pakora wrap from what I can only describe as a Bollywood ice cream van. (There was a booth next door called the Mac Shack which just sold pots of macaroni cheese, but I can have macaroni cheese at home). And while enjoying this, I suddenly noticed that the bratwurst stand that I had passed repeatedly, ignoring it because bratwurst stand, had a large sign saying "Ask about our vegetarian wurst". Maybe next year. (Assuming they haven't disappeared next year, like the burger place in 2013 which did an awesome beanburger.)
Anyway, by this point it was time for my last show: Barry Cryer and Ronnie Golden's gig at the Gilded Balloon. They remain brilliant. There were a couple of new songs this year - one about Nicola Sturgeon had us in hysterics - and I think even a couple of new jokes, but there were also some of the same jokes and songs they do every year, including my absolute favourite, "Peace and Quiet". (You can hear them perform it here, but it's not the full version, which has two more verses so the gag creeps up on you.)
And then back to my aunt's to finish packing and have something to eat before the train home. (This one had tea available.)
