OLD DOGS... NEW TRICKS
It’s almost time again, and this year the performers range in age from 92 to just 7 months
NAKED stand-up, sock puppets performing Shakespeare, gunge tanks and Game of Thrones the Musical – it could only be Edinburgh’s famous Fringe Festival.
The world’s largest arts event descends on the Scottish capital next month for its 69th year, with more than 50,000 performances set to take place in almost 300 venues, from the grand Assembly Rooms to a small hairdressing salon.
This year sees the return of some golden oldies but the two million festivalgoers can also seek out new – and very fresh – talent.
Performers range in age from just seven months (accompanied on stage by Granny) to 92-year-old television and radio veteran Nicholas Parsons – the youngest and oldest acts ever to appear at the Fringe.
For those looking for big-name comics, Paul Merton, Lucy Porter, Al Murray, Katy Brand, Daniel Sloss and Stewart Lee are all back for another year.
And the exotic Lady Boys of Bangkok are also returning for their 14th Edinburgh show.
More than 50 theatrical performances will celebrate William Shakespeare’s legacy to mark the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death.
Earlybirds can enjoy a free croissant at one of the 10am Shakespeare for Breakfast shows at C on Chambers Street. The more discerning theatregoer might enjoy Troilus and Cressida at theSpace on Niddry Street or the Hunan Kunga Opera Troupe’s Romeo and Juliet at the New Town Theatre.
The wackiest interpretation of the playwright’s famous works comes from the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre. The act, which has been touring since 2007 and has a large YouTube following, will ‘Do Shakespeare’ at Gilded Balloon Teviot on Bristo Square this year, with a comedic mix of songs, sketches, parodies and puns inspired by the Bard of Avon.
A former private school teacher who turned her back on education to star in her own onewoman comedy show will take to the stage at theSpace @ Surgeons Hall, Nicolson Street, wearing nothing but the smile on her face.
Burlesque artist Miss Glory Pearl – who used to teach English at Sutton Valence School in Maidstone, Kent – is bringing her popular set, Under Cover With The Naked Stand Up, back to the Fringe for a third year. Her dry-humoured script pokes fun at the laws surrounding nudity and she encourages people to worry less about their bodies. For a hilarious insight into the life of a woman who once sold her body, former sex worker turned comic Miranda Kane has a show called The Coin-Operated Girl at The Liquid Rooms in Victoria Street. For those keen to keep a toe dipped in current affairs, the Media Series at the University of Edinburgh Business School will feature former political heavyweights John Prescott, David Steel and Vince Cable. Richard Wilson’s most famous role epitomised the archetypal grumpy old man on our television screens for almost a decade – now, 16 years after Victor Meldrew was killed off, he is bringing the cantankerous character back to life for an Edinburgh first. In I Don’t Believe It at the Assembly Roxy on Roxburgh Place, the 80-year-old Scots actor will recreate a legendary episode of One Foot in the Grave. TV sitcom history was made when Wilson was the only person to appear in the episode called The Trial – with no supporting actors.
Festival-goers are also getting the chance to step back in TV time and experience the shambolic customer service of Fawlty Towers first-hand. At B’est Restaurant on Drummond Street, Fawlty Towers – The Dining Experience starts as the audience waits to be seated and over the next two hours Basil, Sybil and Manuel serve up a three-course meal in madcap style.
A ‘hilarious parody’ of Game of Thrones, updated with deaths and ‘sexcapades’ from the sixth series of the HBO TV series, will be on offer at Assembly George Square Studios. Expect nudity, dashing men battling White Walkers and ravishing women riding fire-breathing dragons in Thrones! The Musical.
Lady Colin Campbell won legions of fans for her straight-talking and name dropping on I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here – and now the aristocrat and royal author will regale Fringe-goers with tales of her extraordinary life, from high society to the depths of the Australian jungle. The tiara-clad 66-year-old, who has never been on stage before, will appear at Gilded Balloon Teviot.
Dave Benson Phillips will be gungeing fellow Fringe performers in his slapstick game show Get Your Own Back Live, based on the longrunning classic children’s TV series. But instead of children against parents, as it was in the Nineties, the contestants are performers from other shows and the losers will face the dreaded gunge tank.
While the Fringe is most famous for its comedy, it also features a wide range of musical performances. Colin Hay, former lead singer of Men at Work, will bring a group of international musicians together for his show Get Rid of the Minstrel, while Fringe favourite Camille O’Sullivan will debut a new show featuring the music of Radiohead, Nick Cave and David Bowie.
Meanwhile the Queen’s Hall will host concerts from big names in folk and traditional music, including Capercaillie, The Peatbog Faeries and King Creosote.