Festival Agenda
Talk of the town
As the Fringe enters the home straight and the International Festival reaches its climax, what have been the major discussion points of 2006?
WAR
It was. if there can be such a thing. a good year for war. With Black Watch heading up proceedings wuth its rigorous examination of soldiers at war. and Girl Blog From Iraq looking closely at the same war's Victims. this was a year where big statements were made from small people. In What / Heard About Iraq we might have heard the self—contradictory statements of tub thumping politICIans as part of the show. yet it was through ordinary people's words that the power emerged. War was looked at from close up in this and many other theatre pieces. subverting the abstract mass media coverage of Iraq. and domg what the theatre does best; making it person to person. (SC)
INTELLIGENT FINANCE
Whatever your opinion of the Perrier Awards (yes messrs Lee. Herring and Thomas. we know you‘re not keen) at least it was easy to remember the bloody name. Now that the fizzy water lot have exeunted stage left after a quarter of a century’s comedy sponsoring, we are left trying desperately to remember what they are now called. People seem to be plumping for the Eddies (the company's website is
www.if.com) but this is just
asking for the likes of Ed Byrne
and Justin Edwards to take the
Mick. Or the Eddie. (BD)
AMERICA
At first it looked for all the world like this would become the Festival of Religion. but as the bombs rained down in the Middle East. it turned out to be the Festival of the End of America. The seething anger of its liberal-minded arts community was at its most extreme in Doug Stanhope's bileous stage performances and in the deranged stage antics of post-grunge band members in Finer Nob/e Gases. but it found a more optimistic mice in TEAM's Particularly in the Heartland. (NB)
SMOKING
Whether the pantomime horse smoking police that haunted the Festival were seen as misguided modern versions of the Reverend Bowdler or more sinister censors. in creative terms there's no doubt they had an impact for the worse. To see a non—smoking Freud in The Visitor was bad enough — for a cigar actually wasn't a cigar here — or Mel Smith's representation of a paradoxically PC Churchill sans smoke. subjected history to tortures banned at Abu Ghraib. Smith‘s threat to light up didn't in the end lead to the dramatic
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arrests and closures we feared. and it was perhaps more cringeworthy to watch the soldiers of Petrol Jesus Nightmare mime the smoking of an entire jomt. One fears for our artistic future unless the Executive acts to amend the legislation. (SCI
RUSSELL BRAND
Few comedians in recent times have arrived in Edinburgh on the back of mass pubIICIty which has had very little to do With comedy. Though you can only laugh over the as yet unconfirmed story that he was tackled by London Underground staff who were a bit edgy over his deCiSion to travel by Tube dressed as St Peter in flowmg holy robes. With a plastic sword in hand. And it's not just juiced-up Big Brother fanatics who seem to love him; Wil Hodgson dubbed him as the heir to the Bill Hicks throne while Andrew Maxwell performed a lovmg impersonation of ‘my friend Russell.‘ (80)
VENUE HOTSPOTS The Assembly/Gilded Balloon/Pleasance triumvirate of Fringe venues was damaged indelibly in the Cowgate fire in 2002 and the Gilded Balloon lost its gilding. Four years on. after a couple of shaky Festivals. the Gilded Balloon is now part of something vital at the Fringe again. Bristo Square has been revitalised as a hub of activity with the
big Silly cow. sorry UdderBELLY. knitting the whole space together into one big untidy can't-find-the-venue lump of Silliness. The Assembly Rooms. conversely. felt a little isolated and well, CiVilised. Like an indoor ver5ion of the Book Festival in fact. The Pleasance. despite escalating hot dog prices and the Hare Krishna-like tactics of those ever perSIstent flyer distributors. was fun while the sun shone. but could it be losmg its stranglehold on the title of ‘Hedonism Central’ to Bristo Square? The Underbelly itself. despite the random mustiness gave humans a reason to wander down to the Cowgate. At least once a year anyway. (MR)
OUTDOOR MOVIES
Even in August the logic of watching old movies under a chilly Edinburgh evening sky might seem lost. But by joining Hepburn. Connery and co at the Mound with a complimentary
Grouse ginger and lime in hand. it was almost possible to feel part of cine high society yourself. Were it not
What wouldn't you do to get attention?
UdderBELLY: the king of publicity stunts this year
i
for the disposable plastic cup. lMJi
PUBLICITY STUNTS
Catching the punters eye is a tricky busmess. This year. the king of publiCIty stunts has to be the UdderBELLY itself. for sheer wacky corporate flamboyance. The success of the giant. purple. inflatable upside down cow is testified by the large crowd daily milling around its rubbery teats.
On a smaller scale. most productions have opted for prancing along the Royal Mile in costume. The lelQUlIOUS folk from Crunch have taken a wholesome approach by handing out free apples. Far less salubrious have been the exploits of The Cosmic Family. whose cast made a naked foray on to the Spank stage and proceeded to defecate into buckets. It's made them a talking pOint but the ability to shit publicly into a container isn't usually a guarantee of popularity. So far. it's caused more of a stink than a stir. (MHi
SKETCHES V STAND-UP
I think we can call it Solon Syndrome. There is a noticeable increase in solo female comics domg multi-character shows this year and none of them have come close to matching the power and the gIOry of last year‘s Perrier Winner. We Are Klang. Penny Spubb's and The Future gave the sketch show a good name this Fringe while the noble art of stand-up remains safe in the hands of Wil Hodgson. Mark Watson. Reg Hunter. Let's declare it a score draw. (80)
LOVE IT OR HATE IT
Doug Stanhope. Anthony Neilson's Rea/ism, Terry Alderton. Jim Henson's Muppet Improv, Bill Bailey. Ron Mueck. Russell Brand. Midnight Cowboy. Zidane: A 215t Century Portrait. Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs. by Irvine Welsh.
Contributors: Nick Barley. Brian Donaldson, Steve Cramer. Maria Hodson, Malcolm Jack and Mark Robertson.
I Maria Hodson appears in Slap! Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 28 Aug, 2.15pm, $750-$850 (ES-£7)