Begun as an add-on to the main Edinburgh International Festival, the three-week Fringe has outstripped the main festival in many respects, including the number of individual performances - 25,000. It is hoped that ticket sales will top the million mark this year. The Fringe always manages to stage performances in some unusual venues as every hall, church and theatre is pressed into service. This year there are shows in an Indian restaurant and a sports car. Comedy always makes a big impression - this year there is a political satire named Guantanamo Baywatch.
If you didn't manage to see them all (!) or even if you didn't see any, you can always read what other people had to say about them (after all, many will go on to perform their shows in other venues, after the Edinburgh shindig is over). Here are some reviews of a number of Fringe shows by Edinburgh-based Vivien Devlin who is the author of "Kings, Queens and People's Palaces - a history of Scottish Variety Theatre, 1920-1970" (published by Polygon 1991).
Somehow, amid the rush of the Fringe Festival, Vivien Devlin was also attracted to two of the presentations at the Edinburgh Book Festival which runs at the same time. Her reviews of the events with Dame Muriel Spark and Alan Hollinghurst are in the index below.
- After Chekhov - Reminiscenses by Chekov's wife. Rated ***
- Sisters, Such Devoted Sisters - A fairytale featuring queens of a rather different nature.... Rated ****
- The City Club - A new musical blending classic blues songs with a punchy dialogue. Rated *****
- Bob Kingdom's Truman Capote - The private man behind the public image. Rated *****
- The Love That Dared Not Speak Its Name - Two premiere works - "Possession" and "Ballet Rimbaud". Rated ****
- Chaucer's Cock Tale - A potent cocktail, blending Chaucer and Noel Coward Rated *****
- Still Seriously Funny - Needle-sharp observations about the challenges of everyday life. Rated ****
- Sherlock Holmes - The Delicate Art of Murder - Performed around the Dean Gallery and the Water of Leith. Rated ****
- Ripe - A fresh, energising, captivating celebration of physical movement, art and life. Rated ***
- Scottish Dance Theatre - Youthful enthusiasm, energy, individual talent and dance skills. Rated ****
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - A masterpiece. Rated *****
- The Bridge - Staged in the open arena of the University's Old Quad. Rated ***
- The Tiger Lillies - Punch and Judy - a very dark, sadistic interpretation based on the 17th century morality tale. Rated ***
- Marilyn Monroe - Aims to tell her tragic story of life and death. Rated **
- Book Festival - Dame Muriel Spark - Without doubt the greatest living Scottish writer.
- Book Festival - Alan Hollinghurst - a fascinating insight into the working of a novelist's creative mind.
