Best of This Week’s Edinburgh Blogs – 21 Aug 2009
Every week our theatregoer reporter Corinne Furness trawls the web to find some of the best gems from the myriad theatre-related blogs and condense them into one easy-to-read “Best of the Blogs” round-up each Friday. Between now and the end of August, guess what her focus will be?…
For the Whatsonstage.com bloggers the Edinburgh adventure continued with more shows performed, even more late nights and, in case anyone thought it had been forgotten, lots and lots of flyering. Colin Hoult reflected on performing at the Festival – as well as on a review that seemed a little bit puzzled by his stature. For Hannah Spens-Black, however, there was a rather more tricky question – is it ever okay to walk out of a show?
Elsewhere, there were days off for a number of Bloggers performing at the Fringe. Luke Wright used his free time to reflect on the differences between the audiences of 2009 and 2008. Hoipolloi took a different approach, put on their walking boots and left the Fringe behind as they climbed Arthur’s Seat (not missing the chance to do a little bit of promo along the way).
There was no such rest for theatregoers, however. Natasha Tripney took up the subject of one of the major features of the festival – the queues that snake their way around the streets of Edinburgh. Confessions of a Theatre Snob meanwhile took on the task of ‘doing’ the festival in a day – and then recorded her advice for anyone else brave enough to take on the challenge.
Height
“There are still two weeks to go and this could be considered a daunting prospect to someone as sorely cream crackered as myself but no, on I struggle. I’d like to say that performing every day here is like being in a war zone but its not really is it?”
To Walk Or Not To Walk
“I left feeling elated that I’d gotten up the courage to walk out; defiant that I’d reclaimed a potentially lost 40 minutes of my life. And then I got outside the door and saw the front of house team looking at me knowing what I’d done.”
Day Off!
“For last year’s show we had a number of gigs where we got an awful audience response. That hasn’t happened yet this year. I had one show when they were quite quiet but I still got laughs in all the right places, it was just about half the volume.”
360s on Arthur’s Seat
“The journey up Arthur’s Seat was windswept and wild but it blew away the cobwebs and all my Fringe fatigue. We didn’t really know how to get to the top and took a rather indirect route, involving less path and more rock climbing than we’d expected.”
The Art of Queuing
“Edinburgh queues are unlike queues elsewhere. This is not the silent, impatient shuffle one experiences at the post office or on a Monday morning at the bank. People talk. This especially true in the evening when people have had a drink or two to see off any residual inhibitions“.
Theatre Snob’s Guide to a Day at the Fringe
“6. Absorb the atmosphere. Pleasance Courtyard/Pleasance Dome are great places to people watch. The Dome also has a good range of snacks, and has the added benefit of being indoors if wet. The wine can get watered down by the rain in the Courtyard!”
log on to Whatsonstage.com/Edinburgh2009!
