Posted By: Richard White, 10 September 2010
Laura Stimson, Creative Writing Coordinator (Artist & Artform), blogs about her visit to this year's Edinburgh Fringe, featuring five shows performed by Escalator East to Edinburgh participants (Molly Naylor, Hannah Walker, Ross Sutherland, Dean Parkin and Tim Clare). Four of these talented performers were winners of our Escalator Literature Competition in 2008/09. We like to think it helped them on their road to Edinburgh. Have a quick read of the below, and then find out about the 2010/11 competition open to poets across England.
Up in the sunny (yes, sunny!) climes of Edinburgh, I stumbled across a piece of Edinburgh graffiti scribbled on the back of a toilet door, it read; ‘Read Ginsberg’. It seemed rather apt, given that Edinburgh was in the midst of hosting over 700 literature events via the Book Festival alone - not to mention hundreds of other literature based events, shows and happenings as part of the city's assorted festivals.
I was there to join the throng of festival goers and after this first sighting, was determined to build up a library of Edinburgh’s hidden scribblings. But when you’re in a city so crammed with crowds and flyers and words, it’s difficult to view anything in micro.
Edinburgh is, however, full of hidden gems. I went up to the Fringe expecting that the five literature shows I was due to see would be great examples of this. But I soon found that these shows were not lights hiding under a bushel but great, glowing performances which illuminate how proud we should be of our East of England artists.
Audiences and reviews for Molly Naylor’s Whenever I Get Blown Up I Think of You have been consistently plentiful and full of praise. Her show is a poignant, funny and provoking piece, a story told through poetry, which recounts Molly’s experience of the 7/7 bombings. And despite being in seemingly niche territory, Molly’s ‘hidden gem’ of a show was showcased on Channel 4 News and received glowing reviews throughout the festival.
Similarly, Hannah Walker’s This is Just to Say enjoyed a near sold out run at Forest Fringe. Her intimate poetry-focussed piece collages apology and confession, poems and games. The audience play a participatory role and are encouraged to think about their own set of confessions, both made and received. Total Theatre reviewer Robert Jude Daniels admits that although this is a ‘seemingly secret little gem’ it has a fruitful future ahead of it and will hopefully enjoy a national outing post-Edinburgh.
Deep in the stone heart of the Underbelly’s maze-like corridors was the venue for Ross Sutherland’s The Three Stigmata of Pacman. And I expected an audience to match this nestled away venue; a small but pensive audience. However, what I met was a room at capacity; an excitable and responsive audience. Ross’ show unintentionally follows this year’s trend for real-life or confessional performance. An eccentrically vivid storyteller and explosive performer, Ross’ comedy take on the post-coming of age story incorporates rap, film and poetry. And again, despite the intimacy of Ross’ show, in both venue and content, it has earned him sell out audiences and accolades from Time Out and Broadway Baby, to name but a few.
Dean Parkin’s Dean’s Dad’s Ducks takes the true story to the next level, telling the intimate tale of his dad’s double life. Told through poetry and ‘sonic tinkerings’, Dean unravels the strange but true story of his dad’s departure from the family home and the 30,000 ducks that are oddly representational of the family relationship. The Zoo Cabaret played apt host to the show, with cozy cabaret seating and twinkling lights and yet another large crowd to cram the room.
Also in a Zoo venue was Tim Clare’s Death Drive, a high-energy, meticulously crafted story about Tim’s plunge into misery and how he finally re-emerged. Having published a book about his journey toward publication (can you guess how it ends?), Tim is no stranger to baring all and comfortably re-lives uncomfortable situations; open mic disasters, faux-suicidal midnight drives and feelings of doom litter this deftly packaged tale.
These were all intimate shows but with national touring on the horizon, they will no doubt shake off the ‘hidden gem’ tag.
And the graffiti? I didn’t unearth very many scribblings. I did find a defiant remark (too sweary to include here) scribbled on the architrave of what was once a medieval taxi rank during a Robert Louis Stevenson tour.
On my last day, I walked up to Arthur’s Seat and discovered the huge words people write in rocks just below. One read ‘Songs for a New World’, which could have been some mysterious, romantic citation but was in fact the name of a Fringe show. It seems even the Edinburgh mountains aren’t safe from a bit of Fringe promotion.
