<p><span style="font-size: small;">Stamina is a necessity for the Festival and Fringe goer.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">Since I last posted, I've been to a fringe Clowning event called <strong>Pas Perdus</strong>. It was performed by four multi-talented young men from Belgium. Catch them if you're in Edinburgh, at Southside, 2.20 pm for the rest of this week.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;I was introduced to clowning by an actor friend who took me to a show several years ago. She'd not been able to 'get it' during her training but loved to watch. So do I. Good quality clowning is an art form and fascinating for those of us whose business relies on the spoken word. How do they do it? I watch and try to learn how silence might enhance my own work.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">Then out to the Royal Lyceum Theatre, one of my favourite places in the world, for the Wooster Group's &nbsp;<strong>Vieux Carre</strong> by Tennessee Williams. It featured many of his usual themes: the cloying slightly mad nature of mothering, the homosexual author discovering himself, untreatable diseases in the 1930s like TB, poverty, the American South. Updated for a modern world of multi-media, the actors moved through a dream-like&nbsp;set of apparent clutter with some appearing only in film on the screens at the back of the stage. Two hours passed. Brilliant.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">Greek tragedy featured in the major production of&nbsp;<strong>Gospel at Colonnus</strong>. Wonderful blues and soul singing from the company including The Blind Boys of Alabama. They moved around a stage of differing levels with confidence, unobtrusively assisted by other cast members. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">Not listening to much music of this kind, I had a slight sense of being 'not good enough' as an audience member as much of the cast was known and loved by sizeable portions of the audience.&nbsp;I experienced this once before at a flamenco concert in Madrid where the audience 'owned' the singer. The female vocalist supporting the headline act must have felt the waves of hostility from the female audience members who quite simply couldn't wait for their hero to re-appear. This grumpy Edinburgher sees it happening on shows like Britain's Got Talent where the audience are so keen to applaud she often can't hear the act. Only last night, the audience at the Usher hall spent a long time settling down while they pointed out their friend in the Festival chorus or the Scottish Opera orchestra. Ah well, it was probably a lot more interactive in Puccini's time.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">Today's a Fringe day only. Off out quite soon to GRV and the Roxy Art House. Sometimes the venues are as interesting as the events. GRV was the canteen when I was a student at Edinburgh Uni. It's also great to get into places that are closed for the rest of the year or available only to members.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size: small;">'Are we doing anything at the Fringe, then?' the husband wanted to know. It was vaguely combative which might be ascribed to my let's see what draws us in attitude. Husband has a diary and the croquet has been a bit neglected while all this arts stuff, visiting relatives and school hols goes on. Tickets, however, can be controlled.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">I have a diary too. Maybe. There was a little grey book in my handbag...</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">The Roxy Art House is a converted church. GRV is a converted uni canteen. The Assembly Hall still has its day job. The Vault is just that and&nbsp;maybe the smallest venue I've been to, it's a bit like sitting in one garage under George iv Bridge watching a performance in the next door garage. Claustrophics' note: doors on either side. Suffering very mildly myself, I like to know. It's also perhaps the smelliest as there are several cafes and a restaurant in the immediate vicinity so delicious aromas swirl around the queue.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">For many years, I scoured the 1300 or so entries in the Fringe brochure in order to advise friends, make a selection for the Addictions' unit where I worked and choose goodies for myself. I had a halcyon period where my friend was able to make suggestions and I discovered clowning and physical theatre but generally it's been down to me. Hence, I suspect, the hesiitation this year. Husband just cut out 4 and 5 * reviews and got on the booking site.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">There are worse ways to do it. See my entry about going to friends' plays!</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">The shows were good. Bette/Cavett was a dramatisation, with 1970s adverts breaking up the narrative, of an interview between Bette Davis and Dick Cavett. The drama included an unplanned invasion through the emergency exit of two youngsters who descended through the auditorium, down four flights of wooden stairs and left into the corridor. Our actors carried on without missing a word or even allowing their eyes to wander sideways. Deserve an extra * just for that.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">Tony Tanner at the Assembly hall delivered an astonishing tour de force: a one man play about the relationship between Diaghalev and Nijinsky. We sat entranced for an hour listening to one voice.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">The stand up sketch show had its moments and the student production also. Husband awarded four * for his selection.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></p>