You can prove anything with statistics, they say. An apt example is the Edinburgh Festival’s crowing this week about the highest ticket sales in the event’s history, an astounding 1.95m tickets this summer.
(Unfortunately, this year none of those tickets were mine, as I didn’t have time to get up there, but I’ll be going again next year. I’ve had such a blast over the last couple of years that I’m disappointed not to have had the time this August to have even just a few days in Edinburgh. It’s a crazy place, and just buzzing 24/7.)
Anyways, what the press release and subsequent media coverage failed to point out, is that whilst ticket sales were up by 5%, the average number of tickets sold per performance had dropped off quite dramatically:
In 2009, ticket sales were 1.85m for 32,000ish performances. That works out as 57.8 tickets sold per performance.
In 2010, ticket sales were 1.95m for 40,000ish performances. That works out as 48.8 tickets sold per performance.
That looks like a fall of just over 15% in average attendance per show, which doesn’t exactly strike me as a blinding success.
The sheer growth in terms of the number of performers and shows is what accounts for the growth in ticket sales as a whole, but each individual performance is actually seeing a reduction in ticket sales, which in turn is making it harder for productions to break even.
Of course, the Edinburgh festival organising committee wants to put a positive spin on things, and it’s just a shame that none of the journalists writing about the festival’s ticket sales have done any simple maths to show that all might not be quite as rosy as is claimed…
There’s a whole load of cabaret shows in Edinburgh during the festival, usually different every night and showcasing some of the lesser-known performers across a whole range of fields. They’re boozy, raucous, and a lot of fun.
We hit one on the Friday night called Bongo Club, in the eponymous venue, and I had a really good time. Yes, I’d already had a few beers in me, but I thoroughly enjoyed it after being a little apprehensive at first.
The compère was simply magnificent, from whipping the crowd into a frenzy for each act to his off the cuff jokes here and there. And his own masterpiece, an improvised 12 Days of Christmas reworked into a 12 Days of the Fringe, was really funny to boot. The other acts were:
The Evangenitals, a spoof folk/rock band from the US, played a couple of really energetic numbers that got the crowd going straight from the off. They have a couple of Bez-esque dancers, one of whom I swear is an actor that I’ve seen do a few things on American TV before, and the sound they create really is a wall of noise. Operatic wailing over pounding basslines, banjo-speed guitar riffs, everything. And a funny name to boot.
The next two acts were a bit iffy. A young femme fatale lounge singer in the style of Marlene Dietrich didn’t really do all that much, although she had a good voice. And then there was a little burlesque routine, which again didn’t really hit the spot, even though I saw my first (and last) nipple tassles of the weekend.
That was followed by a contortionist, a young Geordie guy, who did a few excerpts from his main show. The girlfriend wasn’t thrilled with this, but I was hooked. It’s all a bit gruesome to watch, but that’s the main attraction. He dislocated his own shoulder, and then flopped it around in all directions before eventually popping it back in. Fucking awesome stuff.
But the best act of the night was Frisky And Mannish, a guy-girl musical twosome who rip apart the pop songs that you know and love, before putting them back together in a smorgasbord of fun, creativity and musical genius. Their centrepiece was starting off with the Destiny’s Child track Independent Women, but then using the “Question!” lyric to launch off into other questions from other songs, such as “D’ya know what I mean?” from Oasis, and so on. Somehow, it worked beautifully, and was funny as hell because certain questions were juxtaposed against each other in sequence. It was genuinely amazing, and I’m really disappointed that we couldn’t make it to their own hour-long show later that weekend.
This was my first real cabaret show, and I’ll definitely be going back for more next year. The sheer variety of performances on stage was incredible, and with it being late-night the crowd is usually vocal and well-oiled. Brilliant stuff.
One of the better shows I saw up in Edinburgh the other weekend was The Rap Guide To Evolution by a guy called Baba Brinkman. I’d seen one of his shows last year, The Rebel Cell, which was a play entirely in rap form about various forms of civil disobedience and the surveillance culture. Better than it sounds, honest.
I’ve been on and off his website all year, and was delighted to see that he had a new show for this year’s Fringe, as well as doing The Rebel Cell again. The new show was a solo effort, mainly talking about evolutionary theories but also tying it into rap subculture.
Each “chapter” of the show was on a slightly different theme, and ended with a reworking of a rap song with lyrics about evolution and society. It took me until the second or third chapter to realise that the main parts of each chapter were also being rhymed, although it was more free-flow poetry than outright rap.
Brinkman said that he had consulted with an evolutionary scientist constantly throughout his preparation for this performance, and it showed in the way he was able to deal methodically with the material, moving seamlessly from one theory to the next, and introducing some relatively high-level biological and sociological ideas.
It’s still a little odd to see a Canadian white-boy rhyme so well, especially when covering some of the more hardcore gangster rap, but Brinkman carries it off. He’s got a great command of language, and his freestyle section in particular was really excellent.
Yes, it’s a slightly odd concept for a show, but it’s definitely worth seeing if you can. And if you can’t, Brinkman has posted recordings of his tracks online.
Definitely in my top three of the whole weekend was One Man Lord Of The Rings, which is exactly what it says in the title: all three films, acted out by one man in less than an hour.
Bear with me.
From the moment the actor strides on stage, pauses, and sings/hums the title of the film, you’re hooked. He does pretty much every voice pitch-perfect (save for Aragorn), and his Gandalf in particular is utterly fantastic. Likewise, he is able to capture Gollum’s movements as well as his voice.
It’s a whistle-stop tour through the three films, rather than the book, with the main plot points used but loads more discarded. In fact, the opening lines are a little tongue-in-cheek, refusing to go over the back story for anyone who doesn’t already know, and instead launching into Bilbo’s birthday party.
And there are these constant references/in-jokes which make the show a lot more entertaining than a mere run-through of the films. Every time Legolas says anything, reference is made to his looks: “You have my bow … and my hair!” There are jokes about Frodo and Sam’s relationship, which pretty much every LOTR fan has made at some point.
Yes, it’s self-indulgent for the audience, which was made up almost entirely of people who had seen the films and/or read the books. In the slight pause between films, the actor asked for a show of hands for who had not done either, and one solitary person raised their hand. They must’ve been utterly fucking confused.
The show never felt like it dragged, and the hour flew by. It was a miracle and masterpiece how he was able to condense it into this ultra-quick performance, but he made it work. I was utterly amazed and impressed, and I highly recommend it to anyone who can do so to check it out.
After reading a couple of positive reviews in the week before going up to Edinburgh, Matt Green was next on my list, as an early comedy appetiser on Friday evening. This was in a tiny little venue at the Pleasance that swiftly became a sweatbox, and everyone was already damp from the rain pissing down outside. Not the ideal way for a gig to take place.
Matt has acknowledged on his Twitter that Friday’s gig was a tough one, and I couldn’t agree more. It was a really bad crowd, with a couple of drunks and loads of latecomers, but he did his best to battle through it.
He’s got some good material, although a couple of the jokes are a little long-winded with underwhelming punchlines. And that’s when the punchlines themselves aren’t given away during the build-up, as in the “carrot and stick” routine.
Having said that, there were some good jokes in there, and his sheer enthusiasm shined through despite the almost complete lack of audience participation. Maybe the structure needs a little bit of work: he had a poster up of themes, which I initially thought was a leftover from a previous gig and that each night was random, but it turned out to be his subjects each night, just in a slightly different order.
The close was a real joy, because there is something genuinely funny about seeing a white guy rap, and his lyrics were really inventive.
I hate to be overly critical, and the guy does have some genuine talent, but Friday was evidently not him at his best. This was mostly down to the really, really bad crowd, but as I said I think some of his material is a touch weak overall.
The girlfriend and I started this year’s Edinburgh Festival on a bit of a sombre note, seeing the play Beachy Head just before tea-time on Friday.
The story follows one man’s suicide by leaping off the famed cliffs in the south of England, and the effects that it has on his wife, the pathologist and two documentary-makers. It’s a powerful tale, with good use of flashbacks, dream sequences, and visual clues as to the characters’ feelings.
The performance is fantastic, particularly the stagecraft. Despite limited use of props and scenery, there is a real feeling of being in 101 different places. Equally impressive is the combination of video footage (including some inventive live performances) with the actors on stage, which gives hints as to how the documentary is being put together.
It’s a very dark play, don’t get me wrong, what with suicide being the major plot point, and there are numerous statistics quoted which give it a very macabre feel, but I couldn’t help but feel very uplifted as I walked out. The wife’s love for her now deceased husband is very telling, and it’s the positivity that stems from this which put a smile on my face.
The acting is very good, and in combination with the above-mentioned stagecraft, it’s a very slick and professional production. Definitely worth seeing.
I’m on my second day off work in a row, although I feel a lot better this afternoon than I did this morning and yesterday, and probably could’ve just about handled a day in the office, if not the train journey each way.
I reckon I must’ve picked up a bug over the course of the weekend in Edinburgh, seeing as every venue was tiny, hot, sweaty and really badly ventilated. The train on the way home was equally stuffy, and the perfect incubation chamber for any cold or flu type virus.
It seems to have been a 48-hour thing, thankfully, and I’ll be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed come tomorrow morning. Which means going back to work, sigh.
Speaking of Edinburgh, I’m planning to write a series of reviews of the various shows I saw over the course of this weekend. I realise that this is going to be really self-indulgent and probably fairly meaningless to anyone who isn’t going or doesn’t like comedy/theatre, but so be it…
Oh, and I’ll probably be linking to these reviews on Twitter as well, so sorry for anyone who follows me on there too and will be getting it in stereo!
GPOYW - The Edinburgh Fringe Festival edition
Despite it being my first day back in the office after a long weekend up in Edinburgh, I find myself at home on my sofa, feeling sick as a dog. I managed to get into work for a couple of hours, but felt like absolute shit and that I was going to throw up at any moment.
It’s not a hangover, as I didn’t drink anything yesterday (to be honest, I couldn’t, because of the sheer volume consumed on Sunday), so it might be something I ate. My stomach’s doing loop-the-loops, and I’m exhausted too.
Maybe it’s the flu, maybe it’s something less than that. We’ll see by tonight, I guess.
Incidentally, I think that this is my first ever day off sick since I became a proper working man after uni. I generally don’t get ill, and even if I do I still make it in and am able to function. Today, though, I just can’t face up to anything more than a big long sleep.
Which I’m going to do …….. now.
Edinburgh Festival Pro-Tip: Don’t go out drinking until 5.30 in the morning when you’ve got to be up for breakfast at 8.30am and be checked out of the hotel by 10.
It does not make for a pleasant day…
