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Post-festival thoughts...

Wow what an experience.  I can honestly say that I am totally knackered after such an intensive schedule over the last few weeks, but it has been completely brilliant.

The highlights for me were definitely Barry and Stuart: Part-time Warlocks, Funk it Up About Nothin’, Tim Minchin – Ready for this and Rhod Gilbert and the Award-winning Mince Pie.  Although I didn’t give the show itself 5 stars, one of the most powerful experiences was hearing Joan Rivers talk about her life.  I feel very lucky indeed to have been in that audience.  

So how do you sum up 23 days of Fringe Festival in a few sentences?  I’ve no idea, but I expect “rain” would come into it somewhere along the way, as would Tracker bars and the Piemaker which provided much of my sustenance.  I should mention the Veggie Diner and Mosque Kitchen too whilst we’re on food.  There have been spectacular shows like State of Matter, funny shows like Rebus McTaggart, confusing shows like Victims of Duty and shows that brought me close to tears like The Mozart Question.  There were the offensive shows like Jerry Sadowitz, the downright weird with Liz Bentley-on-Sea and the incomprehensible like Requiem for Mugabe.  Late nights, late mornings, VIP bars and burgers from vans.  New friends, old friends, mad dashes and leisurely strolls.  Hidden gems, rib-ticklers, and major disappointments.  I’ve been in attics, basements, a caravan, a hotel swimming pool (well, not technically in that one) and an enormous upside purple cow to see a range of comedy, children’s shows, music, musicals, dance, physical theatre and standard stage shows.  There have been bubbles, blasphemies, bananas, bikinis and a bridge and much much more.

Over the last 23 days I’ve seen 98 shows (99 if you include the Alex Horne preview), and written almost as many reviews.  I’ve learnt a lot. 

When I first started the project I didn’t feel qualified to give shows a star rating.  I didn’t feel as though I could tell the difference between good and bad, but I quickly realised that I had just been amazingly lucky with the first things I picked.  It rapidly became clear that there is huge variability in the quality of shows here.  I’m not saying I’m any more qualified to pass judgements now, but I have seen enough shows to be able to tell the difference between things that are totally fantastic and will appeal to anyone and those that are fundamentally ill-conceived.  I’d like to think that I’ve just given an average-person’s reaction to the things I’ve seen.  I’ve tried to steer clear of too much of the over-flowery pretentious language that you see in many reviews.  It is hard…