By: James Greenacre, Director of External Affairs
Sep 2024
I’d decided that as I was going to do the Fringe, I was going to try and do it properly.
The Fringe had been mentioned, on and off, since my first week at TRP – almost a whole year ago. With my only experience of Edinburgh being for the Tour of Britain in 2021 (which sounds a lot better than ‘for a stag do’), I had little idea of what to expect from the city or from the event itself.
Before I arrived, I had no sense of scale – of just how a city could host so many events for so many people whilst still maintaining a sense of ‘business as usual’. With thousands of performances taking place within hundreds of venues, there’s genuinely something for everyone – comedy, theatre, dance, music, spoken word and full-frontal nudity. You name it, it looked like the Fringe had it.
Edinburgh is also a city that gives a lot back if you lift your head up and look around – yet with the cobbled streets crawling with street performers, artists handing out flyers, and voices belonging to people from all corners of the world this was a lot harder to do than I’d hoped!
Countless colleagues had told me that I’d love the Fringe, and that I should make sure to visit Venue X, see Show Y or try and catch-up with person Z. With that in mind, I thought it best to try and plan my trip well in advance – so I spent my time in the airport departure lounge assessing what was on (and crucially, when, and where) and lining up show after show in my planner on the EdFringe app – an absolute necessity for the trip.
The sheer variety of the Fringe was both exciting and, I’m not afraid to say, slightly overwhelming! Bearing in mind that I’d seen maybe four shows in the two decades before joining TRP, the thought of watching eight in a day did make me gulp and reflected both on my eagerness to make the most of my trip whilst giving more than a subtle nod to the fact that I still don’t really know what really makes me tick in the world of performing arts.
Somehow, I managed to whittle down my list of 37 shows that I wanted to see into a more manageable number, planning each day with military precision – albeit without factoring in breaks to catch up on emails, check in on my team or for more trivial matters such as ‘eating’.
My first Fringe included shows performed in pitch black shipping containers (a first), shows in the round (another first), and shows where I was in an audience that was only seven strong (again, another first). I was fortunate to experience work that made me laugh and work that made me question if there was anyone in the room who was cutting onions – and did so in the company of colleagues, industry peers and occasionally absolute strangers who I couldn’t help but start chatting with whilst queueing for shows – all whom added to the experience in their own unique way.
Some particular highlights for me were Nation – a show performed in Paines Plough’s Roundabout at Summerhall, Really Good Exposure, featuring Skins actress Megan Prescott in the Belly Button at Underbelly, and Jobsworth – another single-hander performed by Libby Rodliffe which felt particularly relevant considering the challenges that so many of us are experiencing in 2024.
Another personal highlight features one of my colleagues, who on the Friday evening steamed past me at a pace that Keely Hodgkinson would have been proud of – desperately trying to make it from Summerhall to Pleasance Courtyard for a 9 o’clock show. I managed to catch up with them and we maintained that pace as we navigated our way through streets packed with revellers, before I turned left and they turned right, accelerating, if that was possible, to make their deadline.
They did not see their 9 o’clock show, but for the sake of my colleague’s pride, I’ll keep their identity secret and will refrain from sharing the detail regarding the why…! *
The Fringe didn’t slow down after dark – in fact the opposite was true, as the bars got even busier (no, I wasn’t sure that was possible, either) and the sky was lit up by the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, providing me with a stunning backdrop as I navigated my way from venue to venue, and from doorway to doorway when the inevitable happened and the weather turned for the worst.
12 months ago, before I joined TRP, I don’t think the Fringe had ever really registered as an event that I’d see myself going to. I’m certain that I wouldn’t have got ‘it’ and that if I was planning a few days away in August then they’d coincide with football fixtures, rather than performing arts.
I’d told myself I was going to do the Fringe justice, and I think I did so – with 17 shows seen during my 66 hours in the city (and in between my 54,434 steps trodden). Not bad for someone who for the previous 12 months had stuck their head into our Production Team’s office on an almost daily basis asking what certain technical terms meant, or who that individual we were talking about actually was!
Having now experienced it, I’ve realised that the Fringe isn’t really an event – it’s a citywide takeover which provides space for anyone and everyone to have their voice. It’s more than just a festival, it’s a pilgrimage – one that I’m already excited to take next year. Roll on 2025!
*Although you should absolutely, most definitely, 100% ask Liz about this if given the opportunity.