We knew it wasn’t on, we knew no shows were happening, we even knew that most of the venues wouldn’t even exist right now… and yet it’s still a shock to wander around Edinburgh in August without the Fringe.
For the last 20 years we’ve been making our annual pilgrimage to Auld Reekie in search of laughter, new experiences and an atmosphere that is unlike anywhere else in the world. This year wouldn’t be the same but we still went in search of the spirit of the Fringe… And no, I don’t mean gin.
On our first day we managed drinks in the garden at the Gilded Balloon, a visit to the Monkey Barrel to watch four acts banter on livestream, before walking back with chips from the City Restaurant. As traditional Fringe days go it’s pretty tame but we’ll take what we can get right now.
We’d had a taste, but it wasn’t even close to the fix we needed. So when we got back we downloaded the opening show of ‘Fringe on Fridays’ – the livestream comedy show offering a taste of the Fringe – A smorgasbord of 9 variety acts for just £9 hosted by Suzi Ruffell.
I have nothing against this idea of a Fringe tasting menu, back in the day we used to frequent the late night 12 act line ups in the Queen Dome – to be honest we saw some crap… But we also laughed a lot and uncovered some absolute gems that we have been thoroughly enjoying eversince.
And this was exactly how we treated this show. We hoped these short snapshots would give some new acts to add to the team sheet for next year and we were not disappointed.
Starting with the obvious, Suzi Ruffell is a charming clown who we had already hoped to catch at either the Soho Theatre or the Fringe this year, this performance only confirmed just how much we need to see her full show and hear more tales of the Ruffell family.
Of the other performers on the bill we got to see everything from character comics and heavily pierced (1,100 plus!!) sword swallowers to straight stand-up and hip hop magicians.
Clowns like Gareth Waugh quietly made a lasting impression whilst veterans like Lost Voice Guy and David O’Doherty kept the standard high.
Outside of comedy it was the Magical Bones that intrigued me the most. His trick of clearing the deck to rap lyrics (expertly mixed by DJ Yoda) gave me something I’d never seen before with a delivery style that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Rounding out the show we had contributions from Diane Chorley, Marcel LuCont, Elaine Davidson, Laura Sharples, Erika Ehler & Tiff Stevenson. Essentially a little bit of something for everyone.
This is an interesting attempt to bring the Fringe experience to livestream, it doesn’t come close to delivering the atmosphere but in terms of a chaotic collection of talent it really ticks the box.
Technical issues aside at just £9 this is incredible value for money and at the very least you will definitely discover someone whose full show you’ll want to catch live post-lockdown, give it a try.
Clown Stars: (-unrated-)
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