August 12th Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Haggis,blood pudding and kippers on the buffet breakfast....yikes, nearly lost my apetite. There are over 2,000 people staying in the Edinburgh University residences where I am staying for 9 nights, and everyone goes for breakfast buffet, mob scene...eggs and bacon and awful saussages abound. Luckily there is a fruit and yogart bar.
The first show I saw Monday 10th was a weird "too close to naked people covered in food" fringe experience, the performers were tallented, full of energy and passion but the material was a nightmare..."brother and sister food fight show" I will call it...he ended up naked and covered in ketchup and mayo and uncooked rice....easy to lose your appetite in Scotland.
Second day Tuesday 11th, I saw three very good shows. Beginning with "Girls of Slender Means",Assembly on George St., a very professional production of a Muriel Spark book, with excellent performances. The woman who sat beside me in the front row Judy, said she has come to the fringe every year for 15 years, and loves it.

Second show "Everything Must go" or "the Voluntary Attempt to Overcome Unnecessary Obstacles" pg 114 program, (was my cup of tea).... by Kristin Fredricksson, Beady Eye productions BDI. Kristin is a skilled physical performer, lit from within, her eyes sparkle with the love she has for her Dad. A brilliant show, moving and funny.
The play is about her Dad, who was making the show with her when he passed away June 2 2009 from Pancriatic Cancer. A colorful man who liked to dress up and try on different characters and wigs. The actress is very fit, beginning the show begining the show bouncing on a small trampoline in her royal blue school gym uniform. She made good use of her props, a small 7 inch puppet of her Dad, a tiny green house, cardboard cut outs of her Dad, two hurdles that she jumps over (he was a hurdler), and a life size puppet of her Dad....so he is there in every way, on film and mostly in the actresses performance of him..she looks just like him as a young man.
He was fruggle,(reminding me of my own Dad and Brother), saving water anyway he could, collecting it from the local school, saving his daughters bath water to flush the toilets...taking home all the flowers the florist was discarding to decorate the back yard...she unrolls a carpet of photographs from this floral display and then real film footage of her father dancing with her on this set comes on...it's gorgeous and they dance off together.
I predict great things for this show and the performer!(British Arts Council was in attendance.)
Have three more show planned for today....Sururrus, Orphans and The Hotel....

Third show of the day, I saw "Tom Addams: Dropped as a Child", at the Royal Mile Tavern...and as he promised in his flyer, he doesn't let you down! Singing his original songs in a tiny venue at the back of the pub. He is an extremely likeable fellow, with a great voice and relaxed stage presence and makes you feel like you know him already...turns out we did meet on the 2006 fringe circuit in Canada, (he remembers my Stripes poster on the front of my journal. He sings a song of appology to his mother for being such a big baby....16 lbs..The Song of Incontinence! Then comes a Speed Dating song, A bit of a "too gay straight experience", a Lament for Phone Boxes, closing with a "Vomit and Wee" song in which everyone sings along with the chorus. All the while engaging the audience with his friendly banter and deftly dealing with a 2 year old child at the performance.