Phil Mulryne of The Fitzrovia Radio Hour is Running Out of Time

Festival tiredness hit me for the first time yesterday. I thought I was
surviving pretty well, thank you very much. I was eating relatively
healthily, getting a good workout when cycling up Edinburgh’s not
inconsiderable hills, and really enjoying performing in The Fitzrovia Radio Hour every day.

But then yesterday – bang! I suddenly found myself nodding off
mid-conversation with fellow cast members and between mouthfuls of
dinner. I’ve never (yet) run a marathon, but I’m sure that this is
something very much akin (probably even more tough) to the so-called
‘wall’ I’ve heard long-distance runners talk of.

I guess the tiredness alone isn’t too bad – the end is in sight after
all. But that brings problems in itself. There are so many shows I
desperately want to catch and haven’t managed to yet.

For the first few weeks your thinking is, “I must catch that but, well,
I’ve got ages”. Then suddenly the time is ticking away. You can almost
see a giant Countdown clock suspended above Edinburgh Castle. The diary
comes out, and a frantic scheduling game begins – trying to book in
shows at similar times on different days, working out if you can really
run from the Pleasance Courtyard to the Gilded Balloon in that space of
time, asking yourself how many shows you can realistically absorb in the
space of one evening.

All in all – and this is my third Fringe in a row – I think I’ve been
better this year at getting to the things I really want to see, and
catching friends’ shows. I even used our day off to see two shows that
clash with our time slot (which is in the Gilded Balloon at 4:00pm, in
case you were worried I’d forgotten to plug). The problem is that the
Festival is so big, with so many shows, that you can never see
everything you want to. And at any moment a friend can highly recommend
something you’d never even heard of before the show’s title came out of
their mouths!

I think an attitude of stoic resignation is called for. The Festival is
too big for any one man or woman. You can never see everything you want
to, or everything that’s worth seeing. Money, time and the laws of
physics prohibit it. But maybe that’s OK! I’ll still see more that
surprises, delights and inspires during the month of August than I
probably will in the rest of the year combined.

The Fitzrovia Radio Hour

Gilded Balloon Dining Room

3-29 August (not 17)

16:00 (60 mins)