What Oktoberfest is to Munich, the Festival Fringe is to Edinburgh: that time of year when all the tourists show up. Edinburgh more than doubles in population during August as visitors and performers from around the world flood in. The Old Town is packed with street acts and revelers. Hundreds of buildings around the city turn into venues for performances. Theater, dance, music, spoken word and comedy are the main types of entertainment you’ll find at the Fringe, with comedy dominating in recent years. But the Fringe hardly has a lock on your entertainment options in this city – also during August you’ll find the Edinburgh International Festival, the Edinburgh Art Festival, the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, and probably a dozen or so other festival-type things. Everything is a festival in this city.
Although I had heard a lot about the Fringe over the years, I still wasn’t exactly sure what to expect from our first August in Edinburgh. Would I love the atmosphere, or hate the crowds? Would we be able to find some quality shows, or get lost in the sheer quantity? (There are literally hundreds of shows on each day.) A month ago I picked up a copy of the Fringe catalog and was promptly overwhelmed. How does one begin to choose what to see? It’s hard to judge how funny a comedian will be just from a publicity photo of him jumping out of a cake or striking a silly pose.
After asking locals for recommendations, reading some preview reviews, and thumbing through the catalog, we started to form a plan of attack. There were a handful of (mostly American) names on the schedule we knew (mostly from NPR) and liked already – David Sedaris, Tig Notaro, Jon Ronson, Avenue Q – so we happily snapped up tickets to some of those shows. Then there were a couple names (Ed Byrne, Henning Wehn, Bridget Christie, Rich Hall) we were just starting to recognize from the endless TV panel shows (Mock the Week, QI, Have I Got News for You, 8 Out of 10 Cats, usw) that serve as the lifeblood of British comedians, so we chose a couple of them to see as well.
Next we added a few well-reviewed shows. The Boy with Tape on His Face was a big hit in 2012, and is back in 2013 with the same show. Blam! was getting a lot of early buzz. Scotsman Best of the Fest was an opportunity to see a handful of well-reviewed comedians all in the same show. The farther into the Fringe we get, the more there is we want to see. We get recommendations from chatting with other festival-goers, reading reviews, and occasionally even from a flyer-hander-outer (you cannot swing a dead cat in this city without 50 people offering said cat a flyer for a show). So many shows sound good, how will we ever get around to them all? Lucky for us, we still have half of the festival to go.
Blimey, you’ve packed a lot in! We get lazy and complacent with the Fringe these days, but recommend a trip to Summerhall Arts Centre, has a nice courtyard with tasty Indian street food stall, some interesting little art huts and it’s not too rammed!
George St is looking good this year with all the pavement cafes and art panels etc, but shame that George Sq Gardens has a queuing system now.
For comedy, I agree there is too much choice really, but shows at the Stand (our only resident comedy club) are usually a good bet. Also we usually go to Best of the Fest at the Assembly Rooms. Decent value as you get to see 4 or 5 comics. Nicer venue than most too.
Oh and I suppose I have to plug the show I’m helping promote too – Boy and the Bunnet at the Acoustic Music Centre 2.30pm until 18th August. 🙂
Have a good one anyway, you’re seeing more than us!
We haven’t made it to Summerhall yet, but it’s on the list.
I didn’t realize there were so many best of fest shows out there – I’ll look into the Assembly Rooms one. Thanks for the tip.
I hope the Boy and the Bunnet is having a good run. No doubt it is, thanks in part to its excellent choice of publicist.
Glad to hear you are enjoying yourself!!
Not sure if your German “usw” was on purpose or simply an old habit, but, either way, I smiled upon seeing it in there 😀 Re: “Mock the Week, QI, Have I Got News for You, 8 Out of 10 Cats, usw”
All the best!
USW just has a better ring to it than ETC, I think. Some things are just better said in German. 🙂