Edinburgh Fringe 2024
An American Love Letter to Edinburgh
Rick Conte
Genre: Historical, Storytelling
Venue: Scottish Storytelling Centre
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Review
An unassuming- looking man comes out on the stage with a book and a glass of water – and we begin an hour of historic and humorous entertainment from a master storyteller. By charming us with his personal anecdotes, Rick slowly leads us into another entry into Edinburgh almost two hundred and fifty years earlier. With an easy gift of gab, he shares stories about his personal haphazard life in Edinburgh as a young musician from the US; and before long we realize that he has also led us into the life of Benjamin Franklin and HIS voyage of discovery to Edinburgh (“the happiest 5 months of his life”).
As the two stories are woven together, the sense of discovery and wonder experienced by young Rick, leads us to see Benjamin Franklin as well from a very personal perspective. Suddenly Benjamin Franklin is a young dude in a bar, excited to meet like-minded people, excited to share new ideas, and charmed beauty of the city itself. And this is Rick Conte’s gift, and the reason his “The Man Who Planted Trees” was such a long-running audience success with both children and adults- he charms us with his sincerity and willingness to make fun of himself. And he charms us with his willingness to be delighted- somehow that very easily makes us want to be delighted too.
There were giggles of anticipation in the audience around me 3 minutes into the performance, so clearly there are others waiting for his next story. The fact that this Love Letter tells of events in Benjamin Franklin’s life that happened right down the High Street, gives us an additional sense of identity with the story. This is a new piece, and will improve with age- I await more material! This is a lovely way to spend an hour that is both educational and entertaining in the hands of an expert- and there was not a puppet in sight. I will also mention there was not a child in sight either- this is definitely storytelling for interested adults. Given the location and the material it is not standard Fringe fare, and although appreciative the audience was small- this is a HIDDEN GEM and worth going out of your way to see.
