Mrs Fringereview Blogs day 5: All Change

Mrs Fringereview Blogs day 5: All Change 

I have only been here in edinburgh for four days and already I am feeling the tiredness hit me – and I’m not even putting on a show. You know when you have seen a lot of the Fringe when you wake up writing a review in your head of three shows….SIMULTANEOUSLY.

I had to drink two very strong coffees this morning. 

The beauty of being up here though, is the connections and insights you make in unexpected moments. 

I had a real energy drop moment last night and I lay back pinned to the comfy armchair at Novotel venue space – just a little emotionally exhausted after seeing three shows back to back, all three of which were heavy in grief in some form.

Humans can’t snap in and out of emotions so easily, and when the door is closed on a theatre space we become part of those performers worlds for a short time. As we emerge, blinking into the bright lights of a busy city it is hard to find those quiet spaces to breathe and reflect. It can sometimes feel as shocking as those moments when you are deep in sleep on a train and the conductor shouts ALL CHANGE! And you scramble quickly heart racing, to gather your things and dash to get the other train.

I was flyered in one of those moments of head and heart overwhelm and ended up having a really genuinely lovely conversation with a performer, who seeing my flagging state gave me a piece of her rescue pick me up – Scottish Tablet fudge. Yum. It was so effective at giving me a little boost, I decided to review her show there and then and I am glad I did. 

What is so brilliant about the Fringe, is that yes you can see big productions with big (ish) budgets and spaces for a large audience. But you also get to discover curious quirky spaces in unexpected places and it is those small scale productions, which can make you really feel you are at the fringe.

Often I am more inspired by these shows who are here on a shoestring who still manage to deliver a professional and impressive piece of work. I have huge respect for them.

I urge you to go to places you have never been to up here, go to the Free shows, go to the weird small venues and support the artists who have arrived here with a small suitcase, a big heart and even bigger hopes and dreams.