The Streets of Edinburgh

We spent the first couple of days doing a lot of back and forth as we learned our way around, but it was never dull with an ever changing lineup of performers. Some more photos now to give you a taste of the street entertainment. 
Down the Mile there were always people out, from magicians to acrobat acts, often doing a twenty minute spiel to hold the crowd's attention for a thirty second stunt. Here is the bubble man, bewitching passing children with enormous bubbles:

and a girl doing hoola hoops:

Hunter Square on South Bridge seemed to be an official performance space, occupied by a series of performers throughout the day.  

Friday we saw Basketball Man doing stunts in the rain. 
He is one of the performers with the 360 Allstars

Down the Meadow Walk there were musicians, it's more open there with space to loiter or sit on the grass to listen:

We spent quite a bit of time down on the Grassmarket too:

But my favourite street entertainment was being able to walk past the ticket queue, usually half an hour long:

to the 'Friends' booking office. It was worth every penny.

Coming up tomorrow, circus and poetry.

The Grim Tales

The Fourth Monkey Theatre Company are presenting four productions this year; Year of the Monkey participants are putting on three Grimm's Tales: Rapunzel, Little Red Cap and Hansel and Gretel, while the two year course are doing 'The Bloody Countess' (which we did not see), based on the true story of mass murderer Elizabeth Bathory.

While they have all been directed by different people the three productions have all used a dual narrative, with the original tale running parallel to an alternate more modern story. Their interpretations have more in common with the disturbing original tales than any sanitised version that you might be familiar with, and are not suitable for families. In fact Steve had to insist that one parent who came in with a young child was asked to leave by the box office staff. Rapunzel gives us three witches who jealously guard the innocence of their 'adoptive' daughter, with the parallel story being about a modern day mother suffering from post-natal depression. Little Red Cap follows the naive young girl sent into the woods to face a fantastic wolf. The second story mirrors it more directly with a tale of a young girl coming to work in a care home, and finding that there are unpleasant goings on beneath the benign surface. Hansel and Gretel gets to grips with the big issues of child abuse, neglect and incest, in a dark and disturbing story told without words. Their second story tells the life of Antonin Artaud whose theories about the Theatre of Cruelty have influenced 20th century theatre, and this production. They have had one 'bad' review (all publicity is good publicity so they say) and one good one, and they have enjoyed counting how many people walk out each evening (only three on Friday), but the flyering has obviously been going well as they have been consistently packed and even sold out several nights. 

They are preforming in Space 9 on Niddry Street every day until the 29th, at 4.30pm, then 6.00pm and 7.30pm. I left Monkey my camera so hope she will get some other photos of them in costume/on stage, but Dunk caught some of the cast doing an impromptu rehearsal outside just before their performance earlier this week:

(Edited 15th September) The cast of Hansel and Gretel looking awesome after their last performance.

Theatre at the Edinburgh Fringe

The 'What was your favourite show?' question is really impossible to answer, because everything we saw was so different. I have divided the shows we saw up, roughly, by genre.

At the Bedlam Theatre we saw Ada (trailer on Youtube here), the story of Ada Lovelace, who worked with Charles Babbage, and whose notes on his Analytical Engine is considered to be the first computer programme. The piece blends technology and creativity, with cast members explaining the science behind their work alongside telling the story of her achievements. They incorporated imagery of computing into the play with a repetitive cycling of some of the dialogue, and people mimicking the workings of Babbage's machine. A fascinating and beautifully put together production, this was the only thing that Dunk chose for us to go to. Venue 49 is a real theatre (unlike many of the spaces that are often function rooms or spaces carved out for the purpose) and there were many other interesting productions going on there. Their tea was only £1 and there are comfy seats in a room papered with posters from years of past productions.

The second morning (I think) we were sitting on the Mile early discussing our plans when we were approached by Teresa herself and handed this flyer. I said what a coincidence that we had no plans for twelve o'clock. 'Wing It Dusty' sets its scene in the bedroom of a middle aged lesbian couple discussing the history of their relationship. It was one of those plays that seems small and intimate, and yet touches on universal themes of belonging and acceptance, just quietly getting under your skin. We ended up seeing a lot of things in Space 39. I began to notice a theme developing, we saw an awful lot of plays where people changed their costume on stage ... is that just the way they do things these days?

 'Consumption' was another spur-of-the-moment choice, also in Space 39, is by Two Forty Two Theatre. It is the story of Sebastian and Penelope who fall for each other at a speed dating event. Sebastian finds himself sucked into the aspiration lifestyle that Penelope enjoys, sinking further and further into debt, while his mum seems to be having problems of her own. A morality tale certainly, and while it was really well executed I was not convinced by their relationship and sat through it thinking 'stupid people' and having very little sympathy for his troubles, a bit too much 'Made in Chelsea' for my taste.

I went to see 'The Beanfield' by myself. Produced by Breach Theatre Company it is a reconstruction of the events surrounding the 'Battle of the Beanfield' that took place in 1985 when the police, enforcing an injunction to prevent a festival that had been taking place at Stonehenge, instigated a violent confrontation with Travellers in a nearby field. The story is told through correspondence between the participants as they researched the story, the testimony of eye witnesses in pre-recorded interviews, but also recounts the experiences of the students themselves as they piece together the story and try to discover the truth about the events. It highlights the change in policing tactics that had been taking place during this period, that coincided with the miner's strike. A very emotionally charged piece that got me caught up with the story, taking me back to a period that I remember quite vividly.

The thing I enjoyed very much when walking the Mile (people did flyer other places, there was just such a concentration of them there) was stopping to let people tell you about their show. And so it was with 'The Very Grey Matter of Edward Blank', where a man painted orange was sitting on the curb and another in a brown suit introduced us to his imaginary friend. Produced by Familia de la Noche this was probably the most 'straight' theatre that we saw, as in it was a single story, told by a set of fixed characters, on a stage with actual scenery. But I think it was my favourite. Edward's troubles seem to be quite deep seated. His imaginary friend from childhood never left him, and in fact has been joined by several others, and in spite of 'treatment' he choses not to silence them with pills, and so hides in his flat and makes a living by typing up, and editing, bad manuscripts. It is a very vivid portrayal of mental illness; the voices of his 'friends' lurch from being companionable and encouraging to being chaotic and threatening. It moved me to tears, which is high praise indeed. We saw 'Edward' when we were queueing to see 'Bruce', but I was too shy to ask him to sign my flyer. 

(Tickets for all events can be booked through the Edfringe Website.)

Flyers, flyers and yet more flyers

Walking the The Royal Mile in Edinburgh during August is not for the faint hearted, even on a damp day it can be quite an ordeal (though fortunately for us the sun shone most of the time). Everyone has a suggestion for how you might like to spend an hour or so of your day. I had browsed the Edinburgh Fringe Festival website quite extensively and had a handy list of things that I thought I might see. As you might imagine, I did not see many of them, because there were so many other, much more exciting things to see.

People turned up with banners, in costume, and with puppets of every shape and size:

From the monotone:

to the vibrant:

to the downright scary:

Some with interesting techniques for staking out their spot:

It is part of Monkey's responsibilities to spend a couple of hours flyering every day (that's Casey, not everyone is so enthusiastic):

Though it is exhausting work, so you do get to take a break:

Flyers, and more flyers

and yet more flyers

inside and outside, on every available surface...

And then you carry them home and use them to repaper the living room.

Coming up next, reviews and recommendations.

Spells and Charms

I came across my copy of 'Too Many Magpies' by Elizabeth Baines in the Oxfam bookshop. I reviewed 'The Birth Machine' several years ago but also read her short stories, 'Balancing on the Edge of the World', which are exquisite. I just realised this is yet another first person narrative. In this tightly written novella a young woman recounts the story of her marital infidelity and the disruptive effect an all encompassing passion has on her life.

The two main characters are nameless, which curiously makes them feel more familiar. The man appears from nowhere, and invades the quiet certainty of what seems to be a peaceful family life.  The woman feels as if she is under a spell, as if some supernatural force is acting upon her, and the magpies that flutter through the pages are a portend of her powerlessness in the face of his persistence. So she takes off into the night, along the motorway, unable to escape the inevitable. But the pull of her children is just as powerful a force, tugging her back. There is a curious dichotomy between the growing independence of her older son and his vulnerability and obvious need for her. Their neat existence begins to fall apart and we watch with her as his behaviour becomes strange and, along with her, we blame the situation.

"I couldn't help noticing how skinny he was, his ribs showing through his chest, the nodules of his spine poking out down his back, such a bony little thing; as Richard said, you wondered where he put all that grub.
He scraped out his dish and got himself another Weetabix,fumbling, scattering more crumbs, as if something big depended on his eating it.
And then he finished, and shot away.
'Get dressed quick now!' I called as he slammed the kitchen door.
For comfort, I turned to Sam.
'Wee-Bick,' he said wickedly, spooning a bit in. With the other hand he picked some up, delicate, squeezed it with exaggerated gentleness, his face solemn concentration, and then dropped it over the side, listening intently to the splay on the tiles. And he looked over to see how it had splattered and broke into a wicked grin again." (p.51-2)

I found parts of the book very hard to read because her portrayal of Danny's fear of the circumstances that he seems to intuitively understand as threatening their family's integrity was very vivid, and it bought back memories of events closer to home. But the story is only partly about the breakup of a relationship, it is almost more about the woman's sense of divided loyalties, those to her family and those to herself as a separate person. When she comes to see that the man is just another person who needs her, it takes all her strength to push him away, as she tries to establish a new existence for herself and her sons. However the situation is brought to a head and a completely different kind of threat brings a whole new set of challenges to the family.
It is a very short book that packs a lot of emotional intensity into its pages. This quote sums up for me  something of what the story is trying to get across, how vulnerable we all are, and how things are so often not what they appear on the surface, and how easily it can all fall apart:

"And yet I grieved, for the man I'd thought he was, my careful scientist, my scientific carer, the man who would share unconditionally my burden of care.
The unguessed possibility, I thought grimly, which had now at last been proved.
Any person, I thought grimly, could be quite other than you think.
I stared out at the garden of the old house, waiting to be able to move into the new one, thinking these things. Raining, I would think, and then, no, a hair infant of my eyes.
You thought you were seeing one thing, and all along you were seeing another." (p.89-99)

Explorer

'The Explorer' by James Smythe (who sounds like such a nice man from the article about book sales on his website) was not really my cup of tea. I am still trying to review everything, more to record its passing through my hands than to tell you not to bother with it ... it might be just your kind of thing after all. It is an outer space exploration story that turns into something much more weird. I thought initially it was going to be a bit like 'The Martian' but it was quite different. It hops backwards and forwards in time, telling you how he applies to go on this deep space voyage and about the build up to their departure, the other people who are going too and then the breakup of his relationship with Elena. For all their psychological evaluations they still seemed to manage to send a really messed up bunch of people into space. I think I didn't like it because the plot seemed really weak; merely "going further" than any manned exploration had gone before seemed a distinctly pointless exercise. As the blurb informs you the crew die in a series of freak events and our hero Cormac finds himself alone on a ship that fails to make the scheduled turnaround when it reaches the outer limit of the voyage. Being merely a journalist he has no skills to deal with the technicalities (unlike our Martian) and so is something of a victim of circumstances. I don't want to spoil the plot for any potential readers so I'll just say that things are not as they seem and it reminded me of the scene at the end of the film 'Interstellar' (which equally annoyed me, but for different reasons), except I saw this coming. Yet again, the lack of decent female characters annoyed me, it often seems like a lack of imagination. Having said that it was well written enough for me to persevere with it, so I won't dismiss the experience completely. There are no aliens or fancy technology but if sci-fi is your thing then you will probably enjoy.

"Usually I set up the connection but this time Guy takes charge, like photographer in the olden days, lining up the shot, standing behind the camera to make sure we all look good. 'This will be the last time they see our faces for a good long while,' he says, 'you want to make sure you look your best for it. Smile. Look happy.' We do. 'Hey, remember what's important,' he says. 'We're intrepid, right?' He says the word like it doesn't fit into his mouth, into the repertoire of his language." (p.162-3)

Who will run the frog hospital?

I read 'Self Help', stories by Lorrie Moore, last year and I added 'Who will run the frog hospital' to my 101 Books list almost entirely on the strength of the wacky title, it's irresistible. I seem to have read quite a few first person narratives recently and am beginning to find that they have specific feel, a quality that is weirdly similar from book to book. I wanted to like this book so much more than I did, and I can't figure out why, and as such have had three sentences of a review written for a fortnight with no inspiration to finish it. 
Monkey tells me I shouldn't beat myself up over it or turn it into a chore, so I won't.

"The week she was hired as Cinderella, Sils made a painting of this, what we'd done with the frogs those years before. She painted a picture in deep blues and greens. In the background, through some trees, stood two little girls dressed up as saints or nurses or boys or princesses - what were they? Cinderellas. They were whispering. And in the foreground, next to the rocks and lily pads, sat two wounded frogs, one in a splint, one with a bandage tied around its eye: they looked like frogs who'd been kissed and kissed roughly, yet stayed frogs. She framed it, hung it in her bedroom, and titled it Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?" (p.18)