The Edinburgh Festival fringe is truly an outstanding experience - from the variety of cultural acts that pour in from all corners of the earth, to the sheer mass of humanity that congregates in this remarkably beautiful city for almost a month. It is estimated that about 2 million visitors flock to Edinburgh each August, which is perhaps four times the normal city's population.
While the Fringe started off as an "outsider" to the established Edinburgh festival that also runs at about the same time, it has rapidly turned into something much bigger - billed as the largest arts festival in the world. I decided to head up for a weekend to see for myself what the buzz was about. Arriving into Edinburgh airport on a Saturday morning, I got into the double decker bus (the city is chock-a-block with them!) which then proceeded into the center of town - Princes Street, right opposite the imposing castle. It was just about 11 am but the place was already starting to get crowded, with the usual tourist crowd taking pictures of Scotsmen in kilts playing bagpipes. As I proceeded to climb up the hill towards the Royal mile, I got the sense that something big was happening, which was confirmed as I came to the top and found the entire street filled with people milling around. Every few yards, a performing group would setup a small banner advertising their upcoming show and handing out leaflets encouraging people to buy tickets. Along the street itself were dozens of "free" shows - these were street performers, mostly magicians or mime artists, who essentially made a living by displaying their talent in the street. Not too different from the little urchins who wander the streets in India and entertain motorists stopped at traffic signals with acrobatic displays - the difference of course is that one would either ignore or shoo them away, whereas in Edinburgh, a crowd would gather and watch the performance and then toss a few coins to show their appreciation. You see this in virtually every city in Europe (not so much in the US) - there is a well established culture of "patronizing" street performers, which is considered very different from begging. After all, many of these people could just as easily have their own TV show and be making millions doing what they enjoy (I'm sure a good number of them appear on shows like "Britain's got talent").
Pushing my way through the crowds, I went to the ticket office to pick up tickets to the shows that I was interested in watching - the system was quite efficient, a series of computers placed against a wall where you entered a confirmation number and inserted your credit card, and voila - the machine printed out all the tickets one after another. The first show was a stand up comedy act in a poky little room, with just 5 people in the audience - the act itself was reasonably funny but I left with the feeling that the festival wasn't quite what I had expected it to be. The next show completely reversed my opinion - a play about four soldiers in Iraq, with the barest of props, and each one taking on multiple roles, delving into their personal lives with such great skill that at the end of the 45 mins, you felt you had actually been there in the bunker with them. By now it was getting to tea time so I went and grabbed a tea and snack and decided to take get my room key while it was still light out. The ride to Heriott-Watt university took us out of the city and into the open countryside, with its rolling hills and green fields. The university itself was quite well laid out, and the room was basically at the conference center and for 45 pounds, had features that one might not typically find in big cities.I picked up my key and dashed back to the city, but was unable to make it in time for a show to which I had tickets - so instead I took the opportunity to walk around and take in the free events, many of which were quite good - one in particular with a mime artist who was using a young couple from the audience to act out a love story, complete with balloon props.
The skies were starting to get grey as I headed to my next show, which was put up by a dance company from Calcutta - I decided I should support Indian artists, a rush of patriotism that unfortunately suffered a big let down as the play was quite boring even to someone who knew the storyline and the themes that were being described. To make matters worse, my socks were wet because of the rain and were starting to cause problems while walking. I trudged back uphill (the area around the city center has lots of ups and downs!) and stood in line for the last performance of the evening, the Indian comedian Papa CJ who was outstanding, and revived my faith in the desi cause. The audience was into the act, and even though a lot of the material was what I had already seen on Youtube, it was still funny watching it happen live. A stand up comic has to be extremely smart and able to link seemingly distant things together very quickly - not sure how much of it is prepared vs made up on the spot (for a few days after the event, I flirted with the thought of trying my hand at it, perhaps at the Hyde Park Speakers corner).
The next morning, I got up early and went back into town (the bus service was every 10-20 minutes, even on weekends - unfortunately there was no train station nearby) - the shops were still closed and the tourists hadn't yet flocked into the city center. That gave me some time to just wander around Princes St and take some pictures of the castle and other buildings. I also tried unsuccessfully to find some free wi-fi and despite being assured by several websites that there were enough locations within the city to get connected, I was constantly hitting up against firewalls. I walked to my next event "The Butterfly effect" which was on its last day - and was sold out! It was easy to see why within the first 5 minutes - the show was unlike any other I had seen, an amazing musical journey using such a wide range of instruments made from every objects (cycle spokes played like steel drums for example - you can see this online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Dli1W4mXaA). The audience was alternately in splits (these guys were also cracking jokes all the time, in their lovely scandanavian sing-song english) and dancing off their seats, the only downside being that it ended way too soon! The next few events were decent, nothing great, although I did end up getting into another stand up show on "sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll" with an Aussie comic with long blond tresses down to this waist. The much awaited "Soweto Entsha" was great for the music, but the presentation seemed too similar to many Motown bands of the fifties - I expected them to come in more traditional African getup than the suits and ties that they wore. I also snagged a ticket to watch Ahir Shah, a young British-Indian stand up comedian who had a hilarious act about how his upbringing in a fairly conservative Gujarati household plagued him while growing up. He had boundless energy, was filled with confidence and weaved a spectacular tale that had the audience in splits.
As I left and made my way back to catch the airport bus, I mentally committed to returning next year, this time for at least a week. The variety of events at the Fringe is truly unparalleled, and opening your mind to all that it has to offer is well worth it.
While the Fringe started off as an "outsider" to the established Edinburgh festival that also runs at about the same time, it has rapidly turned into something much bigger - billed as the largest arts festival in the world. I decided to head up for a weekend to see for myself what the buzz was about. Arriving into Edinburgh airport on a Saturday morning, I got into the double decker bus (the city is chock-a-block with them!) which then proceeded into the center of town - Princes Street, right opposite the imposing castle. It was just about 11 am but the place was already starting to get crowded, with the usual tourist crowd taking pictures of Scotsmen in kilts playing bagpipes. As I proceeded to climb up the hill towards the Royal mile, I got the sense that something big was happening, which was confirmed as I came to the top and found the entire street filled with people milling around. Every few yards, a performing group would setup a small banner advertising their upcoming show and handing out leaflets encouraging people to buy tickets. Along the street itself were dozens of "free" shows - these were street performers, mostly magicians or mime artists, who essentially made a living by displaying their talent in the street. Not too different from the little urchins who wander the streets in India and entertain motorists stopped at traffic signals with acrobatic displays - the difference of course is that one would either ignore or shoo them away, whereas in Edinburgh, a crowd would gather and watch the performance and then toss a few coins to show their appreciation. You see this in virtually every city in Europe (not so much in the US) - there is a well established culture of "patronizing" street performers, which is considered very different from begging. After all, many of these people could just as easily have their own TV show and be making millions doing what they enjoy (I'm sure a good number of them appear on shows like "Britain's got talent").
Pushing my way through the crowds, I went to the ticket office to pick up tickets to the shows that I was interested in watching - the system was quite efficient, a series of computers placed against a wall where you entered a confirmation number and inserted your credit card, and voila - the machine printed out all the tickets one after another. The first show was a stand up comedy act in a poky little room, with just 5 people in the audience - the act itself was reasonably funny but I left with the feeling that the festival wasn't quite what I had expected it to be. The next show completely reversed my opinion - a play about four soldiers in Iraq, with the barest of props, and each one taking on multiple roles, delving into their personal lives with such great skill that at the end of the 45 mins, you felt you had actually been there in the bunker with them. By now it was getting to tea time so I went and grabbed a tea and snack and decided to take get my room key while it was still light out. The ride to Heriott-Watt university took us out of the city and into the open countryside, with its rolling hills and green fields. The university itself was quite well laid out, and the room was basically at the conference center and for 45 pounds, had features that one might not typically find in big cities.I picked up my key and dashed back to the city, but was unable to make it in time for a show to which I had tickets - so instead I took the opportunity to walk around and take in the free events, many of which were quite good - one in particular with a mime artist who was using a young couple from the audience to act out a love story, complete with balloon props.
The skies were starting to get grey as I headed to my next show, which was put up by a dance company from Calcutta - I decided I should support Indian artists, a rush of patriotism that unfortunately suffered a big let down as the play was quite boring even to someone who knew the storyline and the themes that were being described. To make matters worse, my socks were wet because of the rain and were starting to cause problems while walking. I trudged back uphill (the area around the city center has lots of ups and downs!) and stood in line for the last performance of the evening, the Indian comedian Papa CJ who was outstanding, and revived my faith in the desi cause. The audience was into the act, and even though a lot of the material was what I had already seen on Youtube, it was still funny watching it happen live. A stand up comic has to be extremely smart and able to link seemingly distant things together very quickly - not sure how much of it is prepared vs made up on the spot (for a few days after the event, I flirted with the thought of trying my hand at it, perhaps at the Hyde Park Speakers corner).
The next morning, I got up early and went back into town (the bus service was every 10-20 minutes, even on weekends - unfortunately there was no train station nearby) - the shops were still closed and the tourists hadn't yet flocked into the city center. That gave me some time to just wander around Princes St and take some pictures of the castle and other buildings. I also tried unsuccessfully to find some free wi-fi and despite being assured by several websites that there were enough locations within the city to get connected, I was constantly hitting up against firewalls. I walked to my next event "The Butterfly effect" which was on its last day - and was sold out! It was easy to see why within the first 5 minutes - the show was unlike any other I had seen, an amazing musical journey using such a wide range of instruments made from every objects (cycle spokes played like steel drums for example - you can see this online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Dli1W4mXaA). The audience was alternately in splits (these guys were also cracking jokes all the time, in their lovely scandanavian sing-song english) and dancing off their seats, the only downside being that it ended way too soon! The next few events were decent, nothing great, although I did end up getting into another stand up show on "sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll" with an Aussie comic with long blond tresses down to this waist. The much awaited "Soweto Entsha" was great for the music, but the presentation seemed too similar to many Motown bands of the fifties - I expected them to come in more traditional African getup than the suits and ties that they wore. I also snagged a ticket to watch Ahir Shah, a young British-Indian stand up comedian who had a hilarious act about how his upbringing in a fairly conservative Gujarati household plagued him while growing up. He had boundless energy, was filled with confidence and weaved a spectacular tale that had the audience in splits.
As I left and made my way back to catch the airport bus, I mentally committed to returning next year, this time for at least a week. The variety of events at the Fringe is truly unparalleled, and opening your mind to all that it has to offer is well worth it.
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