How do I fringe
July 31, 2024 8:06 PM Subscribe
We are going to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival! Woo! (Sorry Edinburgh locals).. How do I figure out what to see?
Do you have suggested strategy from past experience re: how to pick shows at the Fringe? There is... so much!
Goals:
Seeing a wide range of stuff! Different performance genres, different styles, ambitious to low-key
I am often most excited by art that is in some way formally inventive
Seeing a lot of stuff but not running myself ragged to exhaustion
Is there a go-to reviewer or resource where I can see folks culled lists? I am definitely open to just letting some kismet happen and being spontaneous but if there are especially moving, unusual, hilarious, provocative, subtle, whatever shows, I would love to try to make it to them!
(I have already checked out the schedules for the book festival, the international film festival, the art festival - and have a little familiarity with getting around Edinburgh, so super narrow questions is: How should I pick what shows to go to??)
Do you have suggested strategy from past experience re: how to pick shows at the Fringe? There is... so much!
Goals:
Seeing a wide range of stuff! Different performance genres, different styles, ambitious to low-key
I am often most excited by art that is in some way formally inventive
Seeing a lot of stuff but not running myself ragged to exhaustion
Is there a go-to reviewer or resource where I can see folks culled lists? I am definitely open to just letting some kismet happen and being spontaneous but if there are especially moving, unusual, hilarious, provocative, subtle, whatever shows, I would love to try to make it to them!
(I have already checked out the schedules for the book festival, the international film festival, the art festival - and have a little familiarity with getting around Edinburgh, so super narrow questions is: How should I pick what shows to go to??)
As fluffy battle kitten illustrates - the best guides to the Edinburgh Festival are insiders: people who are close enough to a particular strand the arts to have studied who is appearing and have their own agenda of who they are going to see - or who they would want to see: so musicians, reviewers, arts marketing people and super-fans of any genre. You might know some of those people or find some here - but you can also find them in Edinburgh - event bars or waiting lines for any event you enjoy are a good hunting ground. Without this kind of informed guidance - the amount of stuff is (for my at least) overwhelming.
For my part, I always try to get to the Edinburgh Festival Photography exhibition - the committee get sent photos from all over the world and choose from a massive number to show the best ones. It's been a successful formula since 1861 apparently - and maybe always in the same New Town house.
posted by rongorongo at 11:14 PM on July 31
For my part, I always try to get to the Edinburgh Festival Photography exhibition - the committee get sent photos from all over the world and choose from a massive number to show the best ones. It's been a successful formula since 1861 apparently - and maybe always in the same New Town house.
posted by rongorongo at 11:14 PM on July 31
My pal who works at Assembly gives me a rundown of her personal recs and these are all from her "something a bit different" section: In Pour Taste, Lewis Major: Lien, My Greatest Period Ever, Laser Kiwi's Sketch Game, Mythos: Ragnarok. All Assembly shows of course. Sadly I don't have a smart friend working at each of the major venues!
I have another friend who comes up every year and sees a bunch of shows, he usually sends me his "fringe matrix" of what he's seeing when and then I just join for anything I fancy. He's not coming up until later in the month though so I don't have that yet. If you're around for the whole month PM me and I might be able to send you some recs from that later on.
You could do worse than looking through the Guardian's coverage, they usually do a few listicles ("20 comedy shows to see" etc) which are a good jumping off point.
The Summerhall programme is likely to be good and definitely weird/inventive. They are a bit more curated than some of the larger venues that take 100s of shows.
My other other friend works at Soho Theatre so I usually check out the listing of what they're bringing up, tends to be excellent. Special shout out for These Are the Contents of My Head which yet another friend is producing and bringing over from New York, it looks fab.
So as you can see my advice is to have theatrical friends, apparently, but you can get a lot of mileage out of just asking people what they've seen that's good when you're out and about. Good luck!
posted by cpatterson at 11:58 PM on July 31 [1 favorite]
I have another friend who comes up every year and sees a bunch of shows, he usually sends me his "fringe matrix" of what he's seeing when and then I just join for anything I fancy. He's not coming up until later in the month though so I don't have that yet. If you're around for the whole month PM me and I might be able to send you some recs from that later on.
You could do worse than looking through the Guardian's coverage, they usually do a few listicles ("20 comedy shows to see" etc) which are a good jumping off point.
The Summerhall programme is likely to be good and definitely weird/inventive. They are a bit more curated than some of the larger venues that take 100s of shows.
My other other friend works at Soho Theatre so I usually check out the listing of what they're bringing up, tends to be excellent. Special shout out for These Are the Contents of My Head which yet another friend is producing and bringing over from New York, it looks fab.
So as you can see my advice is to have theatrical friends, apparently, but you can get a lot of mileage out of just asking people what they've seen that's good when you're out and about. Good luck!
posted by cpatterson at 11:58 PM on July 31 [1 favorite]
If you're hanging around Bristo Square or Summerhall, do one of the Darkfield immersive audio shows in pitch-black shipping containers.
posted by Klipspringer at 3:31 AM on August 1
posted by Klipspringer at 3:31 AM on August 1
There are only 129 things in the Dance, Physical Theatre and Circus category, so you can browse it pretty easily for things that seem offbeat and interesting. I'm a philistine about dance, but I do try and see at least one dance troupe from abroad (to me) each Fringe I go to. I've never regretted it. Circus also includes some astonishing conceptual shows.
(Each show chooses two keywords for itself in the brochure, and "experimental" or "contemporary" could be decent pointers for you, at least within the theatre, spoken word and dance categories. Choose your category, and then under filters, there's an option for "Category and genre" where you can use the "Genre" tab to narrow down by the keywords.)
posted by Shark Hat at 1:17 PM on August 1
(Each show chooses two keywords for itself in the brochure, and "experimental" or "contemporary" could be decent pointers for you, at least within the theatre, spoken word and dance categories. Choose your category, and then under filters, there's an option for "Category and genre" where you can use the "Genre" tab to narrow down by the keywords.)
posted by Shark Hat at 1:17 PM on August 1
Oh- and as someone above said, there are venues that are known as "good for" specific things. If I was dithering between two comedy shows where I didn't know the performers, I might well pick the one who was at Monkey Barrel because they tend to be a bit more interesting than bog-standard observational standups; comedy at the Pleasance will tend to be very good but probably in a more "polished" way.
Comedy is what I know most about! There, I'll look at what's on at the bigger hitters- Gilded Balloon, Pleasance, Underbelly, Stand, Assembly; and for lower budget but possibly more to my taste, at Monkey Barrel, Laughing Horse, Just the Tonic- especially at the Caves- and PBH's Free Fringe- especially at Banshee Labyrinth.
(Specific recommendation for ACMS, the Alternative Comedy Memorial Society, who tend to be ridiculous in the best way. They're at Monkey Barrel. They have a list of "people who have performed at ACMS and who are at the Fringe in 2024", too.)
You can probably find reviews that mention "house styles" at various venues for things other than comedy.
For reviews once the fringe has started, Broadway Baby punches way above its weight. The Scotsman and The Guardian also do good Fringe coverage.
posted by Shark Hat at 1:55 PM on August 1 [1 favorite]
Comedy is what I know most about! There, I'll look at what's on at the bigger hitters- Gilded Balloon, Pleasance, Underbelly, Stand, Assembly; and for lower budget but possibly more to my taste, at Monkey Barrel, Laughing Horse, Just the Tonic- especially at the Caves- and PBH's Free Fringe- especially at Banshee Labyrinth.
(Specific recommendation for ACMS, the Alternative Comedy Memorial Society, who tend to be ridiculous in the best way. They're at Monkey Barrel. They have a list of "people who have performed at ACMS and who are at the Fringe in 2024", too.)
You can probably find reviews that mention "house styles" at various venues for things other than comedy.
For reviews once the fringe has started, Broadway Baby punches way above its weight. The Scotsman and The Guardian also do good Fringe coverage.
posted by Shark Hat at 1:55 PM on August 1 [1 favorite]
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If you attend a show that you like it is really easy to ask other attendees for recommendations. I know that might sound weird but it's just a situation where like-minded people end up at the same shows and people are generally keen to give recs.
Wear comfortable shoes and hydrate.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 9:53 PM on July 31 [1 favorite]