In many ways, the Edinburgh Fringe is like life. There’s so much to do that it’s impossible to do it all; the choices you do make are often wrong, and at the end of your time it’s hard not to look back with some regret over opportunities missed. You can never see everything, and sometimes it’s easy to regret what you didn’t see more than enjoy what you did. Equally, everyone’s experience is different; people are interested in different things, and have different ideas of how they should watch things. Hence why this piece, based on my experiences, is biased towards comedy.
Also like life, accepting deals from strangers will lead you to be locked in unfamiliar cellars with dangerous lunatics, albeit those with BAs in Drama.
Amid rumblings of encroaching commercialism, decreased ticket sales and the competition with the Olympics, this year the Fringe didn’t start off on the best foot. However, for me at least, this year was actually a great one for the festival, and one that indicated something of a paradigm shift in live comedy.
On the heels of the strong showing from British women in the Olympics, it was a particularly fertile Fringe for women this year; Nina Conti’s ventriloquist act was in high demand at the box office, and for comics like Susan Calman the high demand for tickets demonstrates a change in the ludicrous but pervasive attitude nurtured by panel shows like Mock the Week that ‘women aren’t funny’. The Funny Women competition at the Assembly also yielded some choice acts, including winner Lara A King, whose show People-Pleaser was inventive, intimate and filthy. A significant milestone this year was the Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy award (formerly the Perrier) shortlist, which featured the highest number of female finalists in its history, in the form of Josie Long and Claudia O’Doherty. Neither won, though, and before we get too self-congratulatory the fact that two women on a list of six is a record highlights how unbalanced the Fringe still is.
The genre of the shows on the shortlist also bears closer inspection, with O’Doherty’s ‘difficult theatre’ piece based around a magic telescope that sees through time standing alongside the frenetic sketches of Pappy’s and the imaginative silent comedy of Doctor Brown. Their presence on the list, as well as Brown’s eventual triumph, seems indicative of a shift away from the dominance that stand-up has enjoyed in comedy for the last few years. In terms of raw numbers, it’s also clear that people’s preferences are changing; some of the most fully-booked shows this year were Conti’s aforementioned puppet show, the junkshop mime of The Boy With Tape on his Face and the riotous music and comedy show The Horne Section. Perhaps people are growing tired of stand-up comedy; perhaps they just see it when it tours to their home town. Who knows? Either way, these changes mean that it’s an exciting time to experience live comedy, and the Fringe did a great job of showcasing that this year.
Aside from this general commentary, certain shows (some already mentioned above) are worthy of extra attention; therefore, may I humbly present my personal picks from this year’s festival.
Best Stand-up
I didn’t actually see a lot of stand-up this year; of what I did see, Rhys Darby (of Flight of the Conchords fame) was particularly funny and, crucially, easy with his audience.
Best Musical show
A cappella was the name of the game this year, although in a post-Glee world the choice was a little more Warblers and a little less Ted’s band from Scrubs; (excluding, of course, Ted’s band from Scrubs, the Blanks, whose show this year unfortunately felt a little dated). For me it’s tied between the huge talent of African fivesome Soweto Entsha and the more fun and accessible Out of the Blue, both using the same medium to hugely different effects (and no, OOTB aren’t just here to fill an ‘Oxford’ quota. Shame on you).
Best spoken word
One of the funniest, most successful things I saw this year was Dirty Great Love Story, essentially a one-hour two person poem weaving a rich, hilarious narrative of a thwarted couple. Unique and unmissable.
Best Drama
Tucked away in a small venue at 11:45am, Female Gothic was nonetheless one of my overall highlights. Simply one performer retelling ghost stories from (largely forgotten) female gothic novelists, it was truly poignant and frightening.
Weirdest show
Alternative comedian Simon Munnery’s Fylm Makker, in which he experiments with the idea of ‘live film’ as opposed to physical presence in stand-up probably takes the prize, although it faces stiff competition; for example, an act I saw which can best be described as a powerpoint presentation on different religious interpretations of the afterlife, punctuated with Simon Cowell jokes and presided over by a man claiming to be Death himself. Odd.
Funniest show
While it’s almost a tie with the foul-mouthed man-and-puppet Australian duo Sammy J and Randy, at the end of the day The Boy with Tape on his Face produced the most honest, least self-conscious laughter at his inventive, immersive and nostalgic mime act.
And finally…
The ‘Spirit of the Fringe’ award
By this I mean the sense of community and discovery that the Fringe, at its best, can deliver to you in a show. This year I finally got to see The Horne Section, and honestly the mix of guest acts, incredible musicians and audience participation makes for a unique experience that would never work as well anywhere else. Unfortunately, on the last night of its run the show was suspended for 45 minutes after a fire alarm went off. However, the performers soon rallied the disgruntled audience as they performed extra songs acoustically outside while the venue was health-and-safety checked. Definitely an experience that stays with you.
In summary, bring on next year.
Maybe I’ll even get a press pass…
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