This year has been unusual for me in that I’ve managed to see very few shows at any of the festivals. I reported earlier after a flurry of activity during the first weekend then all went quiet. Mostly this was due to flu then just not being in Edinburgh.
This weekend I made up for the lack a little bit:
Fascinating Aida
Go! Just get a ticket to wherever they are on and laugh yourself daft. These three women are the funniest act I’ve seen at the Fringe for several years. Although they sail rather close to the non-PC line I am prepared to suspend my hyper-critical sensibilities as they are WymminOfaCertainAge and that’s pretty much ok then. Why they are not on TV (they used to be on ages ago) when they are so much more talented than the dross that currently passes for stand-up, is unfathomable.
http://www.fascinatingaida.co.uk/
Paul Sinha
Sig Other knows him, so we went to support this “Asian gay doctor comic
“ – his own description. I giggled at bits of his set, but otherwise, same old, same old.
I had not seen any exhibitions this year, so determined to have art-gluttony yesterday by fitting in four over the afternoon interspersed with friends and food.
Rough Cut Nation
Marvellous idea for an art show! The Scottish National Portrait Gallery is closed for renovation, but it was opened for a group of young artists to create an installation using one of the ground floor galleries to do with as they would. While it was not my taste in art, I just love that people who may never otherwise have their art displayed in a national gallery were given this opportunity. It was absolutely mobbed when I went there, so it must have proved popular.
http://www.nationalgalleries.org/whatson/exhibition/5:368/7989/
The Travels of an Urban Hermit
Artist Becky Fawcett has produced a small exhibition of drawings from around the UK with witty commentary explaining what she has produced. This was on show in the Assembly Rooms. I think it could have been better displayed, but it was worth seeing.
Zimbabwe Sculpture
Also on display in the Assembly Rooms. Beautiful stone sculpture from Zimbabwean artists. Sadly not at a price I could afford.
The Signspotting Project
I kept passing these on the bus and never getting off and taking a proper look - until the last half hour of this very funny exhibition of signs positioned above and inside the Prices Mall at the east end of Princes Street. 100 highly entertaining signs from all around the world, showing how idiotic the English language can be, especially when in translation. Other signs were perfectly grammatical but amusing and absurd. I’d seen one earlier in the month when up north: “BEWARE Freerange Children SLOW.”
http://www.signspotting.com/index.php?do=rate&gender=0&new=7
Some exhibitions go on for another week yet, so I might fit in more.
The International Book Festival outing for my book group this year was to listen to Elaine Showalter. Excellent! I could have listened to her wisdom for many more hours than the one allocated.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/may/09/female-novelists-usa
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/may/16/elaine-showalter-jury-of-her-peers
Not festivally, but I also saw Harry Potter draws his pension er, the Half Blood Prince. It was ok, but really Ms Rowling, do you have to portray teenage girls as such weedy characters swooning over boys?
Almost into September and fewer opportunities for kulture, but there may be some films I’d be interested in coming to the Edinburgh Filmhouse soon.
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