So the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is all over for another year, the posters are coming down, venues are returning to their natural states (lecture halls, shipping containers and cupboards) and companies are making their way home, wherever that might be in the world, for a well deserved rest before heading out on national tours. Our Senior Theatre Producer Kevin Jamieson shares his ones-to-watch for the coming months…
This year was one of my busiest ever with 71 shows seen in two weeks across 26 venues covering the Fringe, International and Book Festivals.
Gender, Identity and Place
Gender and identity was a hot topic at this Festival and explored from numerous angles. Whether from Rash Dash’s Two Man Show examination of masculinity and the patriarchy, through to Hot Brown Honey ripping up the expected in a bold, necessary burst of cabaret brilliance, this year was full of companies questioning and challenging.
Nic Green’s Cock and Bull took aim at the language of male politics and transformed it into an extraordinary physical masterpiece. Initially made in the shadow of the 2015 General Election, it felt even more necessary in today’s post-Brexit world.
Richard Gadd’s show was one that everybody was desperate to get a ticket to. He elevated the ‘comedy’ show into something more, resembling an exploration of his inner demons and confronting the out-date and archaic notions of ‘man’.
It was also great to see companies looking at peoples’ place in the world; Sh!t Theatre’s brilliant Letters From Windsor House looked at the housing crisis affecting so many people and Yinka Kuitenbrouwer’s One Hundred Homes looked at ‘home’, all performed in her own custom made house.
Retro Projectors
As ever with the Fringe no stage was complete without a laptop containing the glowing orb of a certain well known fruit but it was fun to see the return of an old classic this year – the Overhead Projector (OHP). Used with staggering effect in Manual Cinema’s Ada/Ava, Bea Robert’s Infinity Pool and Scott Turnbull’s Where Do All the Dead Pigeons Go? It took me straight back to my school days.
Total Theatre Awards
I was once again involved in the Total Theatre Awards, helping to judge the Emerging and Innovation categories. I love these awards so much. They are totally independent and focus on the amazing independent companies and artists at the Fringe. It’s a huge undertaking, with 26 assessors seeing 528 eligible shows before the shortlist of 25 shows is handed over the judging panel. It’s a cliché but for me the shortlist is always more important than the winners, as to be on the shortlist is a big statement in and of itself. Seeing all the artists gathered for the awards is always a joy as it becomes an unabashed celebration of the work and the creativity of the sector. For all the information on this year’s awards head here.
Favourite Shows (in no particular order)
- Celebration, Florida by Greg Wohead at Forest Fringe
- Panti Bliss at Traverse Theatre
- Water on Mars by Gandini Juggling at Assembly Roxy
- Ada/Ava by Manual Cinema at Underbelly Topside
- Tank by Breach at Pleasance Dome
- Letters from Windsor House by Sh!t Theatre at Summerhall
- We are Ian by In Bed with My Brother at Pleasance Dome
- 30 Cecil Street by Dan Canham at Forest Fringe
- Bourgeois and Maurice at Underbelly, Cowgate
- Often Onstage by Figs in Wigs at Pleasance Dome
- How to Win Against History by Seiriol Davies at Assembly George Square
- Hot Brown Honey at Assembly, Roxy
Learn more about what we got up to at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe in our previous blogs from Kevin and Jodie. And if this has got your taste buds racing why not check out Orbit Festival – where we showcase the best of Edinburgh and beyond.
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