The Fringe

Over the past week, MACCT has been bussing it through to Edinburgh to experience the madness that is the Fringe. The Fringe, and the International Festival, Book Festival and Art Festival, mean that the usually quiet and reserved Edinburgh doubles in population, gives over every possible space into being a theatre venue, and generally turns into a 24 hour performance carnival for the month of August. 

Our part of the Fringe madness kicked off at the hub of new writing, the Traverse, at a Q&A with writers David Greig, Lynda Radley and Zinnie Harris. This fascinating discussion started us off appropriately on a week of exciting and varied theatre, racing around Edinburgh, in the characteristically grey downpour of rain, to make it to different venues dotted around both old and new town. So far, we’ve dodged tomato juice at Junction 25’s fantastic take on love as a teenager; seen war through the ages with National Theatre of Scotland’s epic examining of conflict and innocence, The Wheel; visited a gorgeous freakshow with the visually lush Futureproof; been lead through the University of Edinburgh’s anatomy department by Grid Iron’s terrifying mad musical maestro; cried over paper cranes with Catherine Wheels and been marveled by The TEAM’s incredible play/cabaret/story of American Frontierism, Mission Drift.

We’ve also had the pleasure of popping in to see the RSAMD/RCS’ Musical Theatre MAs performing in their own fringe shows, taking a tour of the Scottish Parliament as research for ‘liberty, equality, fraternity’ and taking part in a workshop with Master Oh of the Korean Mokhwa Repertory Company as part of the International Festival.

For some of us, it’s our first experience of the Fringe whilst others have been many times before – regardless, it’s been brilliant so far, and we can’t wait to return next week for the Playwright Studio talks, David Greig’s Monster in the Hall and Poorboy’s Blood and Roses, before we start our tech week.  You can read a little bit more about a couple of the shows on one of actors, Charlotte Purser's, personal blog.

The Scavengers cast and crew left today for Beijing, we look forward to hearing from them soon, but back to rehearsals for now!