Tesco the opera, free lasagne, a one-year-old comic and Spiderman’s dad ... welcome to the Fringe at 70
AN opera about Tesco, a show with toddlers and animals on stage, an audience invited to a real-life wedding, and even free lasagne – it could only be the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The world’s biggest arts event is back and is upping the ante for its 70th anniversary with a record-breaking 53,232 performances over 25 days.
More than 300 venues will play host to the festival’s weird and wonderful productions, from the gothic alcoves of St Giles’ Cathedral to the watery depths of a hotel swimming pool.
Talent will range in age from a one-year-old boy – Phineas Wakenshaw appearing with his comedian dad – to 93-year-old radio and television veteran Nicholas Parsons.
Among the big names is Scots comedian and US chat king Craig Ferguson, who will be interviewing a raft of celebrities during a daily festival show broadcast live on American radio.
Alongside other comedy regulars such as Frankie Boyle, Jimeoin and Stephen K Amos there will also be some more unexpected theatrical
‘There will be a few food surprises’
turns, including tennis mum Judy Murray, who will swap centre court for centre stage as part of a series of In Conversation With… pieces.
Former First Minister Alex Salmond’s run of shows will spill the beans on his time in office, while Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn aims to top his recent appearance at Glastonbury in a one-off show discussing his career in politics.
On a lighter note, legendary songwriter Bill Martin – whose hits include Congratulations and Puppet On A String – will share the story of his encounters with Billy Connolly, Tommy Cooper and the Bay City Rollers.
Sci-fi and superhero aficionados can see their heroes in a whole new light when former Doctor Who Sylvester McCoy and Robert Picardo from Star Trek: Voyager team up for a crowd-funded ‘existential comedy’ called A Joke, while comedian Dominic Holland discusses being eclipsed in fame by his son Tom, the star of Marvel blockbuster Spider-Man: Homecoming.
If traipsing from one venue to another leaves you hungry, there are several shows offering free food. Steve Hili will be giving away lasagne after his interactive show Burning Love to the Ground, which aims to prove that love exists – using science and pasta.
He said: ‘People coming to the show will not only be offered free lasagne, but they will also get the answer to the eternal question “what is love”, once and for all.’
Meanwhile, the Great Comedy Cooking Challenge will see comedian Jay Sodagar whip up meals on stage as he is quizzed about his year-long quest to create threecourse banquets from scratch. Costar Andrew Roper said: ‘There’ll be a few food surprises, but there are limitations as we don’t want to set fire to the venue. Expect pizza and ice cream, and quite a bit of “here’s what we prepared earlier”.’
Animals will share the stage in two shows, with pet pup Homer joining comedian Juliet Meyers in her set This Flipping Rescue Dog Has Ruined My Life, while Border collie Pip will star with diabetic owner Katie in a play about how the specially-trained canine saves the 15-year-old’s life by detecting changes in her blood sugar levels.
Harry Potter will add some magic as the Fringe celebrates the 20th anniversary of the boy wizard – with four men absurdly reenacting scenes from the first film in Pottervision, while The Potter Trail will guide visitors on a mile-and-ahalf trek around the Edinburgh cafés and graveyards that inspired author JK Rowling.
Fringe firsts this year will include an actual wedding as festival fanatics G and Ste stage a one-off performance in which they exchange vows in front of a live audience, as well as comedian Mark Row’s debut after spending 12 months – and 80 practice gigs – learning how
to be a stand-up comic. Meanwhile a supermarket spectacle called Tesco: The Opera! will see Steve Clarke singing about unexpected items in the bagging area.
Far from such retail delights, a show called Frogman – set in Australia – will transport audiences to the Great Barrier Reef using virtual reality headsets.
Performances with unusual locations range from spoken-word comedy delivered from the top of Arthur’s Seat to opera belted out at full volume at Musselburgh Racecourse.
One of the strangest spots, however, is the pitch-black interior of a shipping container, which will host a paranormal production called Séance with an audience of 20 people locked inside.
Co-creator David Rosenberg says: ‘It’s not going to be for everyone, certainly not those who have a phobia about the dark. But it’s exhilarating, like getting off a rollercoaster ride.’
Brodsky Station takes place in an actual swimming pool, with the audience on the seats and actors in the water, and tells the story of a Russian poet’s search for freedom.
Director Konstantin Kamenski says: ‘I realised that I couldn’t get the water to the stage, so I decided to get the stage to the water.’
More than 150 cabaret and variety shows will showcase all things outrageous and risqué, from a naughty burlesque and acrobatics performance featuring ‘professional bubble artists’ Kurt Murray and Iulia Benze, to a theatrical striptease act called Illicit Thrill.
Fringe veterans the Lady Boys of Bangkok will also be back – having first performed at the festival nearly 20 years ago – and will let their hair down as they sing numbers from Beyoncé, Gloria Gaynor and Tom Jones.
Of course, no Edinburgh Fringe would be complete without some nudity and This Is Not Culturally Significant is one of this year’s offerings. Actor Adam Scott-Rowley will strip down in the one-man show, which promises to be an ‘uncomfortable to watch’ tale of ten different personas. And as the comics get ever younger, one-yearold Phineas Wakenshaw will try to upstage his celebrated mime-artist dad in Trygve vs a Baby.
Meanwhile, 82-year-old dancer and actor Valda Setterfield, who has worked with the likes of Mikhail Baryshnikov, is not looking to slow down anytime soon as she plays King Lear in a gender-blind version of Shakespeare’s classic.
Just as she proves that age is but a number, it seems the 70-year-old Fringe has lost none of its power to shock, delight and surprise.
‘It’s like getting off a rollercoaster ride’