Edinburgh

So no talk of running this post, but just a relating of my (second) yearly Edinburgh Fringe trip. I had good intentions and took along my running gear - however I found that I'd neglected to pack my trainers, probably one of the more vital parts of kit, and I wasn't running anywhere dap-less. So I came to the necessary conclusion that lots of walking was good enough to suffice. Snort.

Just over 3 days of heady Edinburgh glory - starting each day with a spring in my step, optimism in my heart and skipping down to Grassmarket.... ending each day trudging up the hill towards Haymarket, weighed down by flyers and trying to figure out how I felt about serious things like suicide and lyrical poets.

The thing that I (along with almost everyone else) love about the Fringe is the complete departure from the normal things I would choose to go and see. Sure, the comedy brings me in, but it's all the theatre and dancing and that that I stay for. Along with the good company. And the comedy.

The only downside of the trip was the travel through Cardiff "International" Airport, which was yet again another exercise in frustration and misery. More about that in the next post, no doubt!

This year I saw a broader and more numerous selection of shows than last year, but I can definitely do better with more advance planning. Edinburgh 2013 will be EVEN MORE jam-packed and emotionally confused than 2012. The selection of shows I saw this year were:

The Booking Dance Festival Split Bill - consisting of the Hammerstep Dance Company performing some pretty impressive tap/Irish dancing/street dance fusion complete with beatboxing, and The Dallas Black Dance Theatre, with a piece inspired by a poem about painting black angels (as opposed to white ones), and a really beautiful ballet portraying some important moments of the wonderful Nina Simone's life, set to her music, and brilliantly narrated (I assume from her autobiography). This was just stupendous and gave me a glimpse of what an amazing life she led - I walked away thinking that I'd better that autobiography to my to-read pile before I forget about it.

I then when to meet my lovely host Sally to go to Caesarean Section - Essays on Suicide which was very absorbing - some amazing singing - I call it singing but it was more like emoting through vocalisation - quite primaeval at some points. It was really amazing, but I have to say, I wasn't really sure what was going on a lot of the time. There were three cast members actually moving around (as opposed to singing, playing instruments and percussing the whole affair) and I was constantly confused as to which one was trying to commit suicide and in which context the other two related to them. I think this is largely due to the I'm basically used to a very straightforward narrative, like in films, and am not particularly adept at following stories when there isn't that same kind of linear progression. I did massively enjoy it, however!

Following that, after a watching a triptych of ultra-slow-motion film clips of (mostly naked) people doing various things, which was really hypnotising, we gatecrashed a lovely wine reception where most of the people were really friendly, the wine was deeeeeeeeeeelicious and the view if Edinburgh was spectacular. Then we walked home and got proper chips on the way. Nom.

Sunday morning and my first port of call was Tony Law's Maximum Nonsense. As per, @mrtonylaw didn't fail to impress. The show culminated in a lovely song sung by various elephants, as we, the adoring, flag-waving crowd, were surrounded by spinning elephants fashioned out of neon-coloured plasticine. I can't say too much about Mr Tony Law. I envy his "twin 3-yr-old obnoxious troll" children that they get to grow up with a dad that probably, probably, might be as good as mine. If he tours, I might just go and see this show again. Brilliant.

Sunday evening, after a lovely Japanese meal at Bonsai I went to see Jayde Adams is Master of None which was a delightfully bonkers show which deserved a much bigger audience than it got on that night. Jayde used to manage my local quirky cocktail bar before heading off to London to make her name as a comedian. She was always really funny when I spoke to her so I thought I'd check out what she was like on stage. I was a little trepidatious but she was brilliant. The show was a discombobulated train ride through balloon modelling, malicious childhood nativity re-enactment, and videos - I think my favourite bit may have been the manically-fast interpretation of a massive bunch of music videos. She runs a comedy night in Shoreditch called The Painted Grin - should be pretty hila-ma-larious if her show is anything to go by.

Monday morning (ish) saw me head to a hip-hop hip-hop imagining of Shakespeare's Othello which was wonderfully interpreted through the use of lyrical poetry (I am using this as a fancy way to say: rap). All the highs and emotional bits and the miserable inevitability of a Shakespeare play, but pretty different than the last time I went through it (a bunch of bored/embarrassed 15 year olds reading it out in a South London comprehensive).

I tried to see the Oxford Imps improvisation show but unfortunately I didn't realise that Othello was 75 minutes long and they wouldn't let me in because I was late. I was a bit miffed - I could understand if it was a big intense play, but - improvisation? Hmmm.

After than was Nick Helm's This Means War, to which I went with a hastily arranged date (with the lovely Lloyd) since apparently this is a show you cannot go to alone. It was bloody hilarious, especially considering I was there are a 5 minute clip from Russell Howard's TV show. Which I have re-watched too many times to admit to here. My favourite bit of THIS show was when he had a break down in the middle of the floor and started crying to the audience member that he had pulled up and made to peel potatoes. AAAahahahahaha crying! It's funny!

Also that evening I spent a bit of time watching "graduates" from a comedy school - they had about 10 minutes each and there were some very funny people in there, so eyes out for them in the future, so I can yell obnoxiously "I SAW THEM WHEN THEY WERE REALLY NEW AND YOUNG AND TERRIBLY NERVOUS!". I had to leave halfway through, sadly, as I had to get over to The Caves on Grassmarket to watch the brilliantly dry Henning Wehn - in his own words, the most successful comedian, because either he makes people laugh, or he confirms a national stereotype. I like him because he asked my which Olympic events I went to and then blamed me for the ticket shortage, then everyone laughed at me which totes makes me populair.

The next morning was my last day, so I headed to the box office and picked up a bit of a lucky dip of tickets - I went to see Ride of the Bluebottles which was a really enjoyable and mostly funny play about a terrible band, Peter Panic which was a mildly dystopian and warped imagining of what would happen if Peter Pan came back and Wendy was an adult and married to the Prime Minister in a version of the UK that was being ripped apart by rioting. I can say that this was the weirdest thing I went along to watch, and I think most of the audience felt the same. There was a lot of confusion to be heard walking out of that theatre. But my favourite show of the last day was Sad Faces Remember It Differently, which was possibly my favourite show of the lot. Effing brilliant - a great premise, four very gifted comic actors, brilliant scripting wit the cracked like the lovechild of brittle toffee and lightning. Fantastic, and hopefully they will be back on Radio 4 Extra sometime soon - I CAN'T WAIT!