It is quite easy to be a member of a Fringe audience. Buy a ticket and turn up.
Even if the show is not your cup of tea it is only an hour long after all. But what about the performers who spend months rehearsing, raising funds and getting here with their props and production staff? And then add on a transatlantic flight from the US and living in Edinburgh for the month of August. What is their experience? What do they think of us?
Here are the thoughts from some of the American performers you may still have time to see in Edinburgh this week.
Kate Siahaan-Rigg is an actor in Plotters. She told us her thoughts on Edinburgh: “I am an artist who lives in New York, a city of 10 million that can feel like a small town once you know her soft spots.
“I am now in love with Edinburgh which is a small city of a half million that feels like the biggest place in the world with the fullest, most kaleidoscopic, tender, soulful beating heart – welcoming all these poets and dreamers every summer.
“I stand writing this in front of Assembly Rooms, looking over hundred-year-old statues and steeples toward the water. Edinburgh is an old city that makes you feel new. PS. The best Coronation Chicken was at the Canny Man’s pub which I ate under a taxidermied owl.”
Kate will be here until 25 August. https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/plotters
Olivia Raine Atwood is a comedian, actor and writer. Her show is Faking It.
She said: “This city is wild in every which way, mostly in that I’ve been dodging death every thirty seconds when I cross the street. I’ve no idea which direction the cars are coming from, and those buses seem to be appearing out of nowhere on streets I thought were sidewalks!! I love this place and I wanna come back every single year (provided I survive).”
Olivia will be in town until 24 August. https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/olivia-raine-atwood-faking-it
Reagan Allen is a comedian, actor, and writer who lives in New York, and her show is Intelligent Bisexual Woman
She said: “The more time I spend in Edinburgh in August, the more it starts to feel like New York. They’re the same city, really— between the crowds, the grey skies, and the droves of people begging you to come see their comedy show… I feel right at home.
“How much sausage is too much sausage? As a queer woman, I have to ask this question. I think I’ve had at least one sausage roll every day this month.
“When the bus runs late, I take a cab. Every driver I’ve had talks at length about how much they prefer Edinburgh to London. So, hats off to you, Edinburgh, for being the superior city— could be the haggis, could be the free calf workout that you get from walking literally anywhere. I feel that everywhere I go, in every direction, I’m walking uphill— how is that possible?”
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/intelligent-bisexual-woman
Tracey Yarad is a pianist and singer-songwriter with a show called All These Pretty Things. She will be here until 25 August.
“I brought my one-woman show over from New York to share with Edinburgh folk and the diverse audience that the Fringe attracts worldwide. It was my first trip to Edinburgh and won’t be my last. I fall in love with cities, and I’m smitten! I’ve been leading a repetitive life here, traipsing from the New Town, uphill to the Old Town every day, nudging my way through thick crowds of spectators and spruikers, doing the New York (ninja walk) to get myself to the theatre on time every day. The experience from a performer’s view is gruelling but worthwhile.
“Every morning, I don my raincoat and the warmest summer clothes (not warm enough for an Edinburgh summer) and discover the hidden gems on the New Town side of the city where the Fringe is just something people have heard of. Everyone is going about their business as usual. Local food markets, riverside walks, waterfalls, and botanical gardens beckon me. Sitting in cafés sharing scrambled eggs with locals. There’s not been a day without a serendipitous and warm conversation in Edinburgh.”
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/all-these-pretty-things
Brian Dykstra is a Playwright/Actor and has brought Polishing Shakespeare to the Fringe until 25 August.
Now playing in a play housed in a place that was not designed as a playhouse, he said: “There are more plays in places that were never meant to have plays produced in them than there are plays produced in places that were built to house plays. This is the opposite of a complaint, however. It is a refreshing reminder of how little we actually need to make a play.”
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/polishing-shakespeare
Emily Markoe is a comedian, actor, and writer who has flown in from Los Angeles. Her show My Little Phobia is running until 24 August.
She said: “I’d been told to expect quieter, more reserved audiences than I’m used to in America. Yet I was still concerned when a family of three – two parents and a teenager – stared blankly at me for a full hour from the front row of my very small theatre. I later told my friend “That teenager wasn’t just bored…she wanted me dead.”
“Flash forward to the next morning: I’m staring at my phone trying to figure out where South College Street is, and a cheerful voice says “Well done, Emily!” It’s the Front Row family – they loved the show, are seeing some great stuff at Fringe, and the teenager left smiling ear to ear. A great reminder to get out of my head and connect with audiences!”
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/my-little-phobia
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
