Rest Stops

The pace of any visit to the Edinburgh Fringe is so frantic that you have to find small halcyon spots where you can chill out with no one hassling you to order lots of food or leave so they can use the table.  The best peaceful escape has always been Fringe Central for me.  No matter what event is happening or how filled it is with frantic performers, producers and promoters, I can always find a quiet spot to sit and stare at the ceiling and listen to my hair grow. One of the  best things about the place  is the variety of performers you meet and bond with as you sit and try to unwind before or after your own performance. 

The atmosphere here is so unreal .  Suddenly the most important thing you can think of is how to fit 25 shows into the three hours you have before your own show  begins.  Nothing else matters.  You are living a life where the  business of living is minimal.  No real laundry, housekeeping, cooking or running errands.  No children begging for attention and no mates wanting your time.  You gallop from your own performance to another you simply must see  because that girl you met yesterday was immensely charming and you know your own life will probably be totally soured if you don’t catch her performance even though it is on the other side of town from your own venue.

I think everyone should allow themselves a month where all the pressures of what we call normal life are lifted and we can live in this fantasy world where the arts are our life blood, our reason for moving thought the day and the source of aesthetic pleasure.  It makes the real world feel so much  better when we return to it in September.