Fringe

I had an afternoon out without BabyCyclops to go and take in the atmosphere of the start of the Fringe. I wandered about the main Fringe areas, and picked up free tickets to two of the three shows that I saw.

Big love for the venue Summerhall – the old vet school. I’ve never been before but it is a lovely venue. Great bars and an outside area, art exhibitions, and I saw a show in the old anatomy lecture theatre which felt like stepping back in time.

Fringe show 1: #myway (3*)
A young Frank Sinatra fan has given up on social media after a nasty breakup, but explores it all again in a quest to track down a mystery girl. It was enjoyable enough and the visual representations of the social media platforms as acted by the large cast were in some places quite clever. But to me it felt a bit self indulgent and the story lacked depth. Or maybe I’m just getting old.

Fringe show 2: Jestia and Raedon (4*)
A man and a woman meet in unusual circumstances on a reality TV show, and fall in love. Or do they? Can they really trust one another? A lovely, warm, convincing, understated performance with a compelling storyline and amusing cut-ins from TV show viewers.

Fringe show 3: Little on the inside (4.5*)
A play from Clean Break – a charity that works with women who are ex offenders – about the relationship between two female prisoners. Exceptionally charismatic performances from the two actresses – some places loud and passionate and in others subtle and beautiful. The structure and fast pace of the writing really showed off the wonderful chemistry between them. If anything though, the performance somewhat overshadowed the story and occasionally I found myself struggling to follow the plot as I was overwhelmed by the performance.