Julian Hall's Edinburgh Festival diary
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The first involvement with the Fringe for Pavel Douglas, a star of EastEnders, Lovejoy and Doctors, was in 1968, whitewashing a venue at Cowgate, working on productions with Lindsay Kemp and John Lennon and Yoko Ono. That venue is now The Underbelly, in which Douglas is this year performing I Shot Dirty Den – a show that refers to his role as Gregory Mantel, the gangster who shoots Leslie Grantham's character. Douglas has admitted Dirty Den's reincarnation on the soap strained one's belief, but he now knows unlikely escapes do happen: "The first thing I had to do at the Fringe this year was take a call from my son, who was touring Nicaragua, [and phoned] to say he had been kidnapped at gunpoint." No ransom demand was made and Douglas's son escaped – in time to make the first week of his father's show.
This year's opening Fringe party, at the Corn Exchange outside central Edinburgh, was not an unqualified success. Though regarded as the best in years, the one fly in the ointment was the buses that were laid on to ferry festival-goers to the venue. Comedian Andrew J Lederer explains: "You'd think that since they recognised the need to bus people to the place, they might have glancingly considered the need to bus people back."
Australian musician Adam Page, winner of the Adelaide Fringe Award, came to Edinburgh without his didgeridoo. Bagpipes were no substitute, so Page improvised an instrument from an old vacuum cleaner found at his digs. There's only one potential drawback that the performer can foresee: "It'll be a bit of a blow if I lose my deposit over this."
Life imitates art? The play Lough/Rain had to skip one performance when the venue flooded – after a downpour.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments