Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival Ready to Set Records

In August, the cultural capital of the world moves to Edinburgh, Scotland. Such a statement is bound to annoy New Yorkers and the odd Parisian (actually rather a lot of them are odd), but it remains true nonetheless. Some 16,000 performers will put on nearly 27,000 performances in 300 venues before month’s end at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It makes Shakespeare in Central Park look a bit feeble.

After the Second World War, Europe was in the throes of general ickiness. So as the website says “The Fringe story began in 1947, when the Edinburgh International Festival was launched. It was seen as a post-war initiative to re-unite Europe through culture, and was so successful that it inspired more performers than there was room for. Well aware that there would be a good crowd and focused press interest, six Scottish companies and two English decided to turn up uninvited and fend for themselves. The Fringe is now 58 years old and still young.” This year, the 500,000th ticket has already been sold.

Of course, not all of the performances will be worthwhile. Quality is often sacrificed when quantity turns up, but just as often, the marginal entertainments are the ones that take the biggest artistic risks – and when one pays off, it justifies the rest of the event. In the summer of 1981, Cambridge Footlights won the Perrier Award for Comedy, a line-up that included Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Tony Slattery and Emma Thompson. It is still be best work any of them has ever done despite rather astonishing successes since.

This year, “Burlesk's Little Bo Peepshow” is hardly winning plaudits. “Galileo” is playing to lukewarm reception. “Singing I’m No a Billy, He’s a Tim” may win for the most Scottish sounding title, but it turns out to be a play about bigotry in Scotland that reviewers say could translate anywhere. “Halo Boy and the Village of Death” would win for oddest title except that it seems to be garnering raves – “I haven't seen a better show at the 2005 Fringe” according to one reviewer.

Regrettably, there are armed security folks on the streets of Scotland’s capital, and that is an unfortunate sign of the times. Yet, the local constabulary (who could teach the LAPD how to fight dirty without a gun if need be) say everything’s swell. Neil Richardson, chief superintendent of Lothian and Borders Police, said the opening parade was a “safe, happy event was enjoyed by all." Sounds like something out of a pantomime, doesn’t he?


© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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