Brian Ferguson’s diary

Amid countless shows tackling toxic masculinity, Square Go has been one of the biggest hits of the Fringe. The tale of two boys hiding out in the school toilets as one of them prepares for a playground scrap with the resident bully has been packing powerful punches at Summerhall, and won a Scotsman Fringe First last week.

Scott Fletcher and Gavin Jon Wright have been winning rave reviews for their performances to date – but took their seats in the audience on Saturday. Writers Gary Mcnair and Kieran Hurley decided to go toe-to-toe and step into the shoes of Max and Stevie for an extra “script in hand” performance in aid of the Scottish Association for Mental Health.

By all accounts Mcnair, who posted the initial Square Go challenge on Twitter, recovered from his dubious preparation of eating copious quantities of “the best macaroni cheese I’ve ever tasted” which left him in a “cheese-carb coma” before the show.

Meanwhile, Hurley told his Twitter followers his own preparations involved: “Launching my new Edinburgh Fringe act right now, working title: Walking About The Town With A 3-Week Old Sleeping Baby Strapped To My Chest.”

He added: “So far it’s gaining a lot of interest, gathering a bit of buzz, and seems to be a real crowd pleaser.”

Scott Fletcher and Gavin Jon Wright won plaudits in Square Go

Much like the Traverse, Summerhall offers something of an antidote to the plethora of a pop-up bars that seem to be spreading across the city every August.

A particular enclave of enlightenment is the Royal Dick bar at Summerhall –once a small animal hospital in the building’s previous incarnation as the Royal Dick School of Veterinary Studies.

Eagle-eyed drinkers will however have spotted it has undergone something of a rebrand this month into The Royal Pussy. It is the handiwork of artist Tamsyn

Challenger, whose “Free The Pussy” exhibition of work is inspired by the imprisonment in Russia of Pussy Riot, another of Summerhall’s hottest tickets this month.

I felt like crying into my beer when I realised I may have had yet another celebrity near-miss at the Fringe – in a bar I’ve spent far too many hours in for my own good.

Less that 24 hours after Talking Heads’ Road To Nowhere was featured in Karine Polwart’s Scottish Songbook show, was the band’s Dumbarton-born frontman David Byrne, pictured left, really taking part in a session at the Captain’s Bar?

Or could the resident musicians there and at the bar’s near neighbour The Royal Oak be starting to see things after more than a fortnight of virtually round-the-clock singing and carousing?