Excuse us if we seem a little distracted these days. The world’s largest arts festival just rolled into town, you see, and we have been caught up in a whirlwind of entertainment.
The Fringe officially started on Friday, August 1st, but many shows were already in previews starting from Wednesday. We missed the Fringe preview days last year, so to make up for it, we ran at them full steam ahead this time around.
Late Wednesday morning we set out for the general area of Old Town between Pleasance and George Square, where many Fringe venues are concentrated. We had a few tickets in our pockets, but also plenty of unscheduled time. We were excited to see what the day would bring. Seven(!) shows later, we hailed a cab and headed home, exhausted and happy.
It’s possible to see so many shows in one day at the Fringe because the vast majority of them are only an hour long. The mornings are quieter, but the schedule picks up in the early afternoon, roars through the evening hours, and trickles out sometime well after midnight. Seven in one day is a bit extreme (and leaves little time for proper meals), but it was fun to start the Fringe with a bang.
There are a couple reasons why I think the preview days are going to end up being my perennial favorite part of the Fringe. First of all, the crowds are a little less intense during previews. (If you’ve read my posts about Oktoberfest and the like, you’ll already know I’m not a huge fan of heaving throngs of humanity.) Secondly, free tickets! Hang about the Pleasance Courtyard, the Royal Mile, or the stretch between George Square and Bristo Square, and it will only be a matter of time before the comp tickets start coming your way, offered up by cheerful young flyerers eager to fill seats. At first you might be wary that these tickets are for shows that are not very good, but our experience suggests otherwise. On average, we liked the shows we received random tickets for EVEN MORE than we liked the ones we had carefully selected for our first couple of days at the Fringe.
Our goal is to write up every single show we see at the Fringe this year. We’re already behind (it’s hard to find time for writing between all these shows!), but we’re catching up. Check out our first comedy, theater, and musical reviews. More coming soon! You can also catch our on-the-fly recommendations by following us on Twitter.
Awesome!! This is the first time that I’ve even heard of The Fringe, but it sounds like a blast. Being in the art world yourself, had you heard about the festival before moving to Edinburgh?
I had vaguely heard about the Fringe before – I knew it was big and involved a lot of comedy and theater. In Munich we met a few people who had been here to perform, even. We didn’t know exactly what to expect, but we knew we were looking forward to it!