Gutted you’re missing out on this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe fun? Don’t worry, our Senior Theatre Producer Kevin Jamison is on hand to report back from all the best bits from this year’s event. Oh, the things he’s seen…
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is one of the largest arts festival on the planet, this year it hosts over 3000 productions with over 2 million people attending. It showcases the world’s most diverse artists in venues all across the city with any spare space being turned into a performance venue to a greater or lesser success but all with a large amount of heat within them.
There’s every type of performance from stand-up to burlesque, comedy to drama, spoken word to physical theatre, circus, poetry, immersive and promenade pieces. The city is alive with people and culture and performance, we are all spectators and all performers; a swarming sea of creativity and innovation, joy and frustration, hope and tired faces – the beautiful city of Edinburgh is transformed into a different bustling beast, underscored by a permanent layer of crunched up show leaflets underfoot.
As the Senior Producer for Theatre at HOME, there is no better place to be in August than Edinburgh; the world’s creative hub makes the Scottish capital their home for a month. Everyone you speak too, work with, collaborate with throughout the year are here, whether performing or watching. This annual pilgrimage to Edinburgh acts as a way of widening my perspective on the performing arts scene as well as recharging the creative batteries as I go in search of companies, writers, performers and theatre makers who could be a good fit to either bring to HOME’s stages or collaborate with on future projects.
As I write this it’s my 6th day and I have so far seen 33 shows, across 26 venues covering drama, comedy, childrens’ work, circus and acrobatics all performed by companies from the UK, Australia, New Zealand, America, Russia, Spain and Italy.
My current top 5 shows that I have seen (in no particular order) are:
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
Manchester
Amongst all of the thousands of shows it’s great to see so many Manchester-based companies and artists supported by Manchester venues doing so well with their shows. Kill the Beast’s Don’t Wake the Damp at Pleasance Dome and Truant Theatre’s Care Takers at C Venues have both won Stage Awards whilst the following are all getting great reviews and great audience reactions.
Afreena Islam’s Daughter of the Curry Revolution at Forest Fringe.
Faslane by Jenna Watt at Summerhall
Josh Coates Get Yourself Together and Art with Heart’s Declaration enjoyed limited runs at Paines Plough Roundabout at Summerhall
The Trail by People Zoo Productions at Summerhall
Sophie Willan’s On The Record at Pleasance Courtyard
And not forgetting HOME supported artists Mighty Heart with When I Feel Like Crap I Google Kim Kardashian Fat at Silks and Atresbandes’ ALL IN at Summerhall. If you are coming up to Edinburgh why not support some of these shows if you can.
Total Theatre Awards
One of other reasons for being in Edinburgh is to help judge the Total Theatre Awards. The Awards celebrate exceptional artist-led and independent work. The artists who make the shortlist demonstrate the power of theatre and live performance to communicate, entertain and inspire audiences. I did it last year for the first time and it was an amazing experience seeing some extraordinary work. The shortlist is announced on Thursday (18 Aug) so keep an eye peeled to see who has made the shortlist.
Biggest Surprise
The biggest surprise I have found this year is the sun. The weather is usually awful with rain never far away but so far this year we have been bathed in sunshine. (Damn, now I have mentioned this it will probably turn – better pack the rain coat tomorrow.)
Edinburgh Festival Fringe runs until Mon 29 August. And you can follow @HOME_mcr on Twitter between 19:00 – 20:00 daily for our #EdFringe updates.
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