A performing duck, a stuffed badger, two Hollywood stars, genital origami and a lift in which a circus performer ties himself in knots for an audience of one. It can only mean the start of the Edinburgh Festival.
August 4 saw the launch of what has become the world’s largest and weirdest arts festival. But as the Edinburgh festival swells in size —this year sees a record 20 342 performances on the fringe alone — there are worries it is becoming unsustainable. While a growing number of less-established companies financially cripple themselves in the quest to be talent-spotted by more than 500 scouts and 2 000 journalists, critics have suggested that the event, comprising international, fringe, book and film festivals, has become ”too bloated, unwieldy and long”.
What began as an attempt to reunite post-war Europe is now in its 56th year, with last year drawing the best reviews in a decade and attracting more than a million punters and record sales. But at the large venues, the start dates for shows are creeping forward, stretching the festival to its limits.
Launching an Edinburgh show before mid-August was once considered madness. This year more than 30 shows had opened by the end of July.
The early start is worrying those who already face working long hours for a pittance. Stage managers and lighting and stage technicians from the Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union have just resolved a dispute over pay and conditions, complaining that overtime at the festival was spiralling out of control and managers were attempting to pay weekend workers weekday rates.
But the festival, described by former Perrier winner Jenny Eclair as ”a trade fair and busman’s holiday rolled into one”, will attract a staggering 15 000 performers this year.
Paul Gudgin, director of the fringe, said: ”Size is not an issue as long as the quality of shows stays very high. A quarter of our shows this year are United Kingdom, European or world premieres, which is very rare indeed. We are on track to sell at least 900 000 tickets.”
Hollywood couple Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins are responsible for the quickest rush on seats. Giving only three performances of a September 11-inspired play, they are the first Hollywood stars to grace the fringe.
Performances based on September 11 include the University of California performing Japanese ritual dance over live news footage and a troupe of Finnish actors sailing a ship with a Blair-cum-Bush captain.
But controversy surrounds the offering of spoof country drag star Tina C. She will perform songs from her new album, 9/11: 24/7, including Kleenex to the World and Stranger on the Stairwell. A poster of Tina C as a giant bimbo striding through the Manhattan skyline, fending off a hijacked plane, has been deemed tasteless.
Elsewhere in a United States-heavy programme, Snatches is the premiere of a theatrical reading of the taped conversations between Monica Lewinsky and Linda Tripp. In Pretzel Logic, comedians Rich Hall and Mike Wilmot attempt to prove ”Dubya [George Bush] is the greatest president ever”.
Meanwhile, three ”newly discovered” Monty Python sketches left behind by Graham Chapman were pulled from the festival after it emerged they had been performed in Los Angeles. Ironically, a festival highlight is The Complete Lost Works of Samuel Beckett as Found in an Envelope (Partially Burned) in a Dustbin in Paris Labelled ”Never to be Performed. Never. Ever. EVER. Or I’ll Sue! I’LL SUE FROM THE GRAVE”.
Finally, the fringe’s only performing duck appears in The Mute Who Was Dreamed — the first Iranian drama in Edinburgh since the cultural revolution. But the fringe office is still desperately scrabbling to find enough crickets to be eaten in Scott Baker’s Geek Circus. One Fringe officer said: ”He keeps saying they’re everywhere in the US. That’s all very well, but they’re not exactly a common delicacy in chip shops over here.” — Â