We’re down to our last three days in Edinburgh now, and the city is at its busiest. The last weekend of the Fringe sees companies pull out all the stops to try and pack out their audiences, impress the awards judges, and generally go out with a bang. The free-for-all flyering posts on the Royal Mile are burgeoning and have at least doubled in thickness with layers upon layers of posters stuck over whatever was pasted on just minutes before. The crowds have also got bigger, as locals drag themselves out to enjoy a last night or two of fun, and students from all over the country make the trip up, safe in the knowledge that the expense of this soon-to-be lost weekend can be covered by their quickly-approaching loans. Tourists too, throng the streets more than ever, and can be easily spotted by the oversize maps they carry, never quite folding perfectly over the bulge of their oversize cameras slung loosely around their expectant necks. They are also the only group regularly willing not only to watch, but also to pay good money to see a kilted anachronism squeaking out tunes of independence on the criminally-annoying bagpipes. Everyone here makes up their own part of this great yet temporary melting-pot, rubbing shoulders with others they’d never come across, and contributing in their own way, whatsoever it be. Until Monday at least, the grey stone streets will still resound with the many-accented crowd’s seething hubbub, and the shows will go on.

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I haven’t been able to update for the last few days for a couple of reasons – the difficulty of finding reliable wireless hotspots in town, and a tenacious virus that has kept me in bed for most of the time when I’d be able to search for them. You really miss out on so much when you’re laid up ill here, due to the copious amount of shows, and the limited time in which to see them. The repeated late nights haven’t helped, and the fact that many pubs open for business at 6 AM, just after the clubs close, means that it’s easy to turn a quick nightcap into the next day’s drinking session. If only the prices were cheaper…

I am now re-approaching my pre-Festival levels of energy and enthusiasm as this bug shifts, so am back in the swing of things. I’m off to see Russell Howard tonight, and Escaping Hamlet and Fuerzabruta tomorrow, so I’ve got a great couple of days to look forward to. Here’s a round-up of the more interesting shows I’ve seen recently.

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Edinburgh, as a comedy destination, can mean many things for performers. It can be a homecoming of sorts, with artists returning to live stand-up, as TV personalities Frank Skinner and Sean Hughes are doing this year; it can be a fun holiday or more trying testing-ground for the swathes of student comics every year; it can simply be another gig for the wearied career journeyman. For many, however, it is the ultimate chance to be noticed, picked up by top promoters, and a springboard to a successful job, bypassing the long slog up to fame through pubs and clubs. Young talent is always on offer, and will be seen by reviewers, as well as punters, who would not normally venture near these unproven hopefuls. Part of the joy of returning to the Fringe year after year is seeing acts develop, become popular, and make it to the big time – I saw Russell Howard four or five years ago, and now he’s a regular on Mock the Week, and remains one of the funniest shows in town.

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My first couple of days have been a bit of a blur in some ways (see previous post for the inadequacies of the old streets here and production stories) but to not sample the range of things going on - assuming the Festival has a quasi-religious status - is a little bit of a sin. Here’s a round-up of the comedians and shows I’ve seen so far:

Steve Williams -
Underbelly
This hotly-tipped Welsh comic is apparently one to watch, if you believe the promoters. He has secured a spot on the coveted “Beyond the Fringe” one-off show towards the end of the month, which has launched many well-known names in the past. His performance, however, left me wishing that I knew the guy as a friend rather than having seen him on stage. A moderately-responsive audience rightly laughed along heartily with his set-pieces, and it was evident that he could write good material, but whenever he went off-topic, he struggled to engage. The exception to this was when, unprompted, and with a sense of comic timing to rival the Fringe’s best, a cymbal was dislodged from its backstage mooring and swung onstage, much to everyone’s surprise. Here, Williams showed his adaptability, and improvised perhaps the most rewarding few minute of his show. Overall, his genial demeanour forces you to forgive his lapses and wish him well, but his jokes need slicker transitions to push him into the front rank of comedians here.

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Hello there again. I have now been in Scotland’s fair capital for two days, and have seen my first few shows. Fringe regulars frequently talk about the beginning of the second week being a traditional lull in proceedings, and that’s definitely been the case since Sunday. A lot of shows take a night off on the Monday or Tuesday of week two, and the heavy party-goers can be seen retiring early after a tough weekend, to rest up for the late nights ahead.

Monday was also our opening night, and was always going to be a busy day for our production. I had to drive the set and props across town from our East End flat to the venue, Sweet ECA, tucked in amongst roadworks and one-way streets. It’s definitely not advisable to take a car to get to anywhere in the Old Town at any time unless you have a secured parking space, but the fact that this was rush hour served to make the trip one of epic proportions.

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The Mission:
To spend two weeks working undecover at the largest arts festival in the world, bringing back the news, reviews, and behind-the-scenes gossip from all things fringe. Simultaneously, to mount and produce a show of his own for the first time in the harsh Edinburgh environment. All of this whilst being hounded by government agents from a corrupt South American regime, for crimes too sensitive to be specified.

The Man:
Stuart Denison, 21 - Student, journalist, general layabout.
By day, he’s just another up-and-coming young dramaturg, but at night (and during the rest of the day once the performance is over…) he morphs into a guerrilla reporter, roving amongst the shadowy streets and the equally shadowy back rows of theatres - wherever it takes to hunt down the story. At other times he can usually be found philosophizing over cups of black coffee (am) or chai (pm).

The Blog:
This is what you are reading. Here, Stuart’s experiences, stories, rants and maybe even reviews will be recorded, to give you a taste of a true Fringeburghian odyssey. An Edinburgh veteran of two years now, he encourages anyone and everyone to get involved, and to journey up to Scotland this August. Any comments, tips, letters, haikus or simply meaningless combinations of keystrokes typed at random should be addressed to stuart@whatsonstage.com, where they will be dealt with accordingly.

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