One show at the Fringe - but a great one

I try to spend at least one day every August through in Edinburgh. Many moons ago, when Alex and I were students, we’d revel in the late night shows and late night pubs. When the kids were young, we’d spend a day watching jugglers, clowns and clean-mouthed comedians. When the kids were a bit older, we’d all stay in a cheap hotel for a few nights, cram in as many shows as possible - including a few late night performances since the kids were old enough to be subjected to sweary words - and thoroughly enjoy a sort of mini-break at the Festival! Over the past couple of years, we’ve come full circle in that the kids enjoy going through to the Fringe with their pals, however, it doesn’t mean that we can’t still sometimes meet up and take in a show together. Just like yesterday.

I had a thoroughly lovely day with my special choir buddy (and, up until yesterday, Fringe Virgin!) Christine. Gordon and his very special choir buddy, Beth, travelled through with us on the train, but set off to do their own thing shortly after arriving in Waverley Station. Now, I’d intended taking Christine to a couple of wee shows in the afternoon and was keen for her to experience the thrill of sitting in a poky wee venue either enjoying a golden nugget of a show, or cringing at some absolute garbage or another. The Fringe experience isn’t the same unless you take in a crap show! Darting between the venues, supping a beer between shows, people-watching and enjoying the sights and sounds of the multitude of characters on the streets, being incredulous at the variety of venues and the sheer vast numbers of venues and shows –  all of these things contribute to making the Fringe a unique and fantastic experience, but it’s not really the same unless you’ve experienced the thrill of walking into a venue, not having a clue what the show’s going to be like, only to discover that you’ve picked something really crap (one time we sat through fifty minutes of a guy standing on a stage rhyming off all the videos he’d ever bought. Just a list of videos. That was it) or something truly brilliant.  

So, the plan was to have a quick lunch, browse the Fringe Programme, pick out some wee shows, circle the map then head off to do the whole Fringe thing. However, that plan didn’t quite pan out and we ended up letting time slip away from us while we drank our wine and blethered over our pizzas in a nice wee restaurant off High Street! Realising that we didn’t have much time to suss out which shows to go to, we opted instead for a buzzy wander up and down the Royal Mile, taking in the street theatre and a variety of wee ‘taster’ shows. Although it was raining off and on, nothing could dampen the infectious enthusiasm of the performers, leaflet distributors or spectators – us included!  

We met up later with Gordon and Beth outside Venue 111 (or, to give it its Sunday name, St Andrews and St Georges West Church) for Christine’s first show at the Fringe. And what a show it was – we couldn’t have picked a better one for Christine to lose her Fringe Virginity to! One of our other choir friends, Hazel, was performing with the Edinburgh Music Theatre Company in a musical revue called ‘Pop Goes The Musical’. Aw man, it was brilliant. Fifty minutes of class entertainment by a group of extremely talented singers. No big set, no dialogue, no nonsense; just beautifully arranged songs sung, well, just beautifully! I am one of Queen’s biggest fans and I’m pretty fussy when it comes to covers of their songs, but the version of 'Bohemian Rhapsody' that the EMT performed was the best I've ever heard.

Hazel's solo performance of 'What Kind of Fool' (you know the one? Really sad, from Saturday Night Fever?) was superb. Just as she does at choir, she sang with such passion and emotion; I had quite a wee lump in my throat! I think it was a combination of Hazel’s performance and the fact that Gordon and I were sitting there watching a friend from the choir along with two of our best friends from the choir. I'm so very lucky to be part of Heart of Scotland. 

The four of us chatted and laughed a lot during the journey home on the train. It maybe hadn’t been my fullest day at the Fringe, but it was certainly another great one to add to the list. Yup, yet another August trip to Edinburgh that made me feel really good.