It’s taken me a few days to go through this year’s Edinburgh Fringe guide, which came out on Wednesday, but I still haven’t made a dent in it yet. Firstly, my initial zeal was extinguished when I picked up a faulty copy (I got pages 193 to 216 twice instead of 169 to 192) and general busy-ness means I haven’t yet procured a new one, but luckily their online version is really easy to use. There are so many things I want to see but here’s a (very) small selection.
One of my highlights of last year was Stefan Golaszewski Speaks About a Girl He Once Loved, so it’s great to see his new show – Stefan Golaszewski is a Widower – is on at the Traverse in August. Also at the Traverse will be The Doubtful Guest from Hoipolloi, who were behind Hugh Hughes in Floating (2006) and Story of a Rabbit (2007); he’s back this year too, in 360 at the Pleasance. Then there’s Ella Hickson’s Precious Little Talent, which promises to be a great follow-up to last year’s Fringe First award-winning Eight (I interviewed Ella a couple of weeks ago for a feature that’s going to be in Fest’s preview guide and it sounds very charming).
One thing I am really looking forward to is Grid Iron’s new work Barflies, an adaptation of Charles Bukoswki’s stories, that will be presented in the Barony Bar on Broughton Street, just around the corner from my house – it’ll be great to see one of my local pubs being turned into a full-on Fringe venue. Lynn Ruth Miller – the oldest performer at the Fringe last year at 74 – is back too with more life stories at a very popular free Fringe event and the Penny Dreadfuls, whose comedy spoof-thriller Aeneas Faversham Forever was hilarious in 2008, are back as well with something supposedly more modern: The Never Man. If you’ve never seen them before, here’s a taste:
Local musical heroes Broken Records are back too; I’ve seen them play in Edinburgh a few times over the last couple of years but I bet they’ll sound great in the Queen’s Hall. And David Byrne? The Playhouse is really near my house so I might try and get a glimpse of him after the gig (although that was my plan when Bob Dylan played there a few months ago – and Tom Waits last summer – and I failed both times).
It’s an absurdly small selection of acts from a vast programme (over 2000 shows) but I’ll update gradually as the weeks go on – promise.
Stefan Golaszewski Is A Widower is by far the best show that I saw at Edinburgh this year!! I found it absolutely fascinating!! Check out my review at blubbalips.wordpress.com!!
Great, glad you enjoyed it. I’m going to see it later this week, so hopefully I will agree…