The time in Edinburgh is quickly coming to a close and we'll soon be flying back to Albuquerque. While I am eager to return to our Land of Enchantment, there is no doubt that Scotland has a magic all its own. It really is the perfect setting for something like the Potterverse.
Since taking in La Clique, I have seen:
I Am Mark - A 50 minute one-man telling of Mark's Gospel, abridged. Quite an excellent job of conveying the dynamic nature of this gospel in a dramatic way that holds the viewers attention.
Oxford Alternotives - A mixed gender a cappella group performing familiar pop hits. Not sure everyone needed a mic, but some of the lead vocals would have benefitted from more amplification against their peers. All-in-all, okay. Not great.
Don't Say Macbeth! Very funny show about the premiere of an alternative version of the Scottish play (don't say the name, it's bad luck) from the perspective of the three witches. A couple of days later, I had the good fortune of running into one of the young actresses at the bus stop. A student at the Royal Academy of Music studying musical theater. A bit of Fringe serendipity.
Baby Wants Candy Recommended by my friend Nate's wife, Ashley, this improv troupe is a Fringe staple, improvising a musical from the audience's suggestion. I took Miranda to this one with me. The night's chosen title was "A Ship Called Virginity" and it was pretty heavy on sex and genital talk. I thought it was hilarious, but I think it was a bit too much for her. I'll offer a thought on the improvisation a little further down.
Austentacious was another improv show, this time crafting one of the "lost novels" of Jane Austen from audience suggestion. I called out the suggestion that Grace and I came up with and they took it! Vice and vexation. Such fun. Only here's the thing, neither improv company rose to the level of the Improvised Shakespeare group that the Mountaineers saw in Chicago. Perhaps that is a high bar to measure against, I don't know. But with more improv on offer, I think I've had my fill.
Prometheus Bound (Io's Version) This is the one that all five of us went to see. Another story told from the perspective of a female, rather than a male point of view. The fate of the fallen titan Prometheus is secondary to that of the mortal Io who is transformed into a cow to hide from the wrath of Hera. As creative as the piece was, and despite the afternoon sleepies that caught up with me halfway through the show, I may have been the one who liked it best. Grace, Miranda and Marie Elena all observed that shouting shouldn't be confused with good acting. That goes for David Harbour's performance in Mad House as well as the lead actress of this piece. Still, I am fascinated by the way these archetypal myths continue to address the questions and struggles that humans deal with so many centuries after they were first created.
The Royal Edinburgh Military Tatoo While not technically a Fringe offering, the Tattoo coincides with the Festival (both the original international festival and the fringe festival that has grown up alongside it). On the one hand you could say that this pageant is made for the tourism of August. But on the other hand, it IS spectacular. Our whole family thoroughly enjoyed the pipes, drums, dancing, rifle handling, all of it. There was even a number devoted to Mexico (of all countries) complete with Mariachis. The evening ended with fireworks, which felt fitting after hearing one of the characters in the Prometheus show remark how much humans really love fire (the gift for which Prometheus is punished for giving to humanity.)
Everyman The truth is that I mistakenly bought a ticket to this show thinking it was Everyone, the play I bought and read at the suggestion of a couple of playwrights when I told them about my desire to create post-modern mystery plays. This production was its own adaptation of the structure of the old medieval play and it was done to great effect. I couldn't have guessed that the players themselves were graduating high school students, they were SO GOOD. It was an excellent example of taking something quite old and finding its continued relevance today.
She Had it Coming This was another a cappella offering, although one that offered something of a story to hang its pop music numbers on, similar to the concept of a jukebox musical like &Juliet. Six historical women caught in purgatory must make the case for why they deserve heaven rather than hell. What the story lacked in originality was more than made up for in the excellent harmonies and arrangements of the songs. This group made use of only two microphones: one for the lead vocalist and one for the beatboxer. It worked MUCH better than the Alternatones. I loved that they threw in the Schueler sisters from Hamilton.
Avenue Q This is one of those shows that I knew of, but didn't really know what it was about. I knew it had Sesame Street-style muppets, and I knew it was considered a little bit racey thanks to HBO's Big Little Lies. But seeing it for myself, I was utterly charmed even though the venue at the top of the building was quite warm. I misunderstood the Q to mean "queer" and expected way more gay themes. Only one of the show's storylines dealt with that. The rest of it was fairly conventional story-wise, addressing the struggles of college graduates in their 20s living in New York City. Sweet, funny, and a little perverse. Right up my alley. I'll be checking out the soundtrack on Spotify.
Love Them to Death A two-woman showdown between an overly protective mother and a school special education director. The scenes between the two women were juxtaposed by soliloquies of sorts that advanced the characters and the conflict between them. The question at the heart of the story is "how sick is this woman's son, and is she making him sick?" The writing injects just enough doubt into that question to make what unfolds truly compelling. I really liked it, but also found myself invested in the struggle with a generation of parenting that is overly involved in its children's lives and health. I guess I related to the exasperation of the specialist who just wanted a child to have the opportunity to be a child without excessive concern for health and safety hanging over them at all times.
Four more shows to go. Experiencing Fringe here makes Avignon feel like a missed opportunity. Seeing that horrible Sherlock Holmes piece promoted here, though, was something of a cautionary tale that not everything on offer at a festival this large is going to be a winner. So far, I'm feeling good about what I've chosen to see.
