The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the biggest arts festival in the world, with nearly 3,500 shows. This year, Playbill is in Edinburgh for the entire month in August for the festival and we’re taking you with us. Follow along as we cover every single aspect of the Fringe, aka our real-life Brigadoon!
As part of our Edinburgh Fringe coverage, Playbill is seeing a whole lotta shows—and we're sharing which ones you absolutely must see if you're only at the Fringe for a short amount of time. Consider these Playbill Picks a friendly, opinionated guide as you try to choose a show at the festival.
Tucked away near the Potterrow Port underpass, not too far from some of Fringe’s larger venue complexes, is BlundaGardens. Twinkly lights and brightly colored balls hang from the trees. A smattering of picnic benches sit between the Gardens’ two performance spaces: the BlundaBus and the Magical SpiegelYurt. The Good Kitchen serves a Thai chicken dish and a vegan chili. The box office is on the BlundaBus, which also holds a piano and a bit of cushioned seating. The vibe here is markedly different than say, Underbelly’s courtyard garden at Bristo Square. It’s earthier, more chill. It’s kind of giving Ren Faire/Phish concert. Only 40-60 theatregoers wander about the space, awaiting the midnight show in the Magical SpiegelYurt.
The pop-up venue travels around the U.K. and Fringe programming for both spaces is mostly clowns, comedy, storytellers. (Check the full schedule here.) But the final show in the tent changes each day, offering this community a different place to land every night. And pay-what-you-can ticket pricing ensures that everyone has a chance to see the show.
Seats are guaranteed with a £5, £7, or £9 payment, but once ticket holders are in place, the rest of the yurt fills up and attendees are encouraged to make a donation post-performance.
The night Playbill attended, the act was listed as The Flop. Upon inquiring what it was, we were told, “Three idiots. You’re going to love it.” SOLD.
With the SpiegelYurt filled to capacity, the excited audience sat in a semi-circle facing a small performance area set up with a rudimentary drum kit and two microphones. We began to “Woo-hoo” the moment a head popped out a door from backstage. Being an “idiot,” the player immediately retreated, shutting the door behind him, which only encouraged louder “woos” when he reappeared. He teased the audience for several moments this way before making his official entrance. The relationship between audience and performer had been set. There would be play.
The Flop is a band of three—one part silent clown, one part jam band—consisting of a lead electric guitar (Dan Lees), a violinist/upright bass (Tom Curzon), and a percussionist (Cammy Sinclair)—who uses everything from a snare drum to dog squeaky toys to a set of chattering teeth to keep the beat.
The Flop played for an hour to an adoring audience. It is fair to say, that audience was prepared to have a good time—no crossed arms or cynical stances were noted ahead of time—and a good time we had indeed. We doubled in laughter the first time the lead guitarist grabbed the mic and greeted the crowd with the unintelligible mumbles of a rock god. We enthusiastically sang along to tune that only included the lyrics “one o’clock, two o’clock, three o’clock…11 o’clock, 12 o’clock” over and over again. (“This side. Now this side. Now just this guy.”)
We clapped and cheered “More! More!” when the violinist with goofiest grin improv-ed his way through a seemingly unending song that included the lyric, “They’ll tell me when to stop.”
According to the schedule, The Flop’s performance at the Magical Spiegelyurt was a one-off. But it looks like guitarist Dan Lees has his own solo show at Fringe. (Find him here).
However, if this evening was any indication of the entertainment programmed at BlundaGardens and of the community it creates, we highly recommend a visit.
If you want to hear what musical stylings via squeaky toys sound like, click on the video below.
