Out On The Fringe

Once in a lifetime everyone should have the opportunity to do something that very, very few other people can claim to have done.  It’s my turn.

I’m in Edinburgh, and to quote a writer friend of mine – “Scotland is not for the squeamish.”  After a long bit of travel from Minneapolis the first thing one should do when you hit the Isles is to have the local breakfast, whether that’s Irish, English, or Scottish.  For the record I’ve had Haggis before, and I actually quite like it.  Of course being a male of the species I can compartmentalize very easily, so when eating it I do not dwell on what it’s made of.

While enjoying my haggis I opened up the info pack about the Edinburgh Festival and, lo and behold!, the first thing in it is none other than our production of Porgy & Bess.  So come this Saturday I will be able to claim that I conducted the opening show of the Edinburgh Festival!!!  Not bad for a kid from Buffalo, N.Y.  On my excursion into town today I dropped by our venue, the Edinburgh Festival Hall, to check it out.  It’s a good spot larger than the opera house in Lyon and definitely from a different era.  The hall here is in the old classic style from the early part of the 20th Century, where the hall in Lyon was decorated and designed by Darth Vader in his Black period.  None-the-less I think the acoustics here will be just fine.  One thing I noticed immediately though – the stage is narrower here.  That will take a little getting used to by our cast.

But the surprise today is that somehow I had forgotten that the Edinburgh Fringe Festival is going on simultaneously to our festival.  The Fringe is tremendously cool, with well over 200 venues dotted around the city (including, to my great amusement, the local mosque up the street!).  There are tons of street performers everywhere along High Street (the main road between Edinburgh Castle and the Parliament building) and a really fun atmosphere abounds.  I shall try my best to take in a couple Fringe shows, just to say that I did.

The schedule for P&B is very compact.  We start Wednesday and we open Saturday night.  In between we have the Piano Filage, staging rehearsals, a pre-dress, and our dress rehearsal.  It’s going to be every man for himself for a couple of days but fortunately we don’t start rehearsals until the afternoon.  With mornings free there is blessed little excuse to miss some of the late night Fringe-ing.  And since I’ve mentioned it, it’s time to go get some food and get out on the Fringe!

1 thought on “Out On The Fringe”

  1. Hope the boys are with you because the castle is incredible. Fun places to run and hide and pretend you’re living in the Middle Ages!
    Temps back home are drearily hot and humidity would be more appropriate for the other end of the Mississippi. Have a great show.

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