Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2017 – Round-Up of What’s Hot

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society also launched the inaugural World Fringe Day in July, bringing together over 100 festivals across the world to celebrate a movement of fringe that started in Edinburgh in 1947, when eight companies turned up uninvited to perform at the inaugural Edinburgh International Festival – the festival still runs to this day alongside the much larger and well-known fringe alternative.

With so many shows to choose from, it can be confusing to know what to see, what’s hot and what’s not. I personally saw 112 shows throughout the month as a freelance reviewer; while more than most people (averaging 4 - 5 a day across the festival) it’s still only 3.3% of the total offering of theatre, musicals, dance, circus, comedy, music, cabaret and more.

So, here are my highlights from this iconic year, the shows that I would love to see transferring down to London or touring the UK (or even globally) for audiences all over to experience:

Most likely to end up on West End

There are a few shows you see in Edinburgh that seem destined to end up on the West End in the years to come. Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour was the latest example of a show that moved consistently upwards from the fringe, to the National Theatre, to the West End as an Olivier Award-winning production. Here are a couple that I predict may easily have a similar route to such dizzying heights:

Following on from Our Ladies theme around schoolgirl friendships, Education, Education, Education by The Wardrobe Ensemble was a witty parody of a day in the life of a secondary school at the point in which educational reform was in the air. But none of that mattered because the teachers couldn’t control their classes or stop bickering with each other. This was a show with no weak links, one where the ensemble was so in sync with each other that every movement and line flowed naturally. A slick production with relatable material that could easily expand to fill the Duke of York’s Theatre like its schoolgirl predecessor.

Speaking of shows that pick up the baton of their contemporaries, Waiting for the Call’s Notflix felt like a show that could naturally take on the improvised mantle from older siblings, Showstopper!. An all-female troupe that make musicals our of film ideas, they were unafraid to be bold and daring with their efforts in a completely improvised on-the-spot show that combined the hilarious, the surreal and the talented.

All We Ever Wanted Was Everything - Marc Graham

Not quite as talented as Middle Child though, who fused the bold geniuses of Luke Barnes and James Frewer to create a gig theatre piece with real grit. All We Ever Wanted Was Everything, headed up by the incredible Marc Graham, looked at a story across three decades – 1997’s Cool Britannia morphed into 2007’s Broken Britain before finishing in 2017’s Brexit Britain. With a Northern emotional impact and narration not dissimilar to Blood Brothers, this production could catapult its writers and actors onto a West End stage – show that felt as emotionally connected as Once and encouraged its audience to join in the party.

One-Person Shows

In the current economic climate, there are two primary ways that theatre companies are pinching pennies so that the piggy bank has enough to cover the exorbitant cost of performing in Edinburgh – one person covering multiple creative roles (such as writer/ actor, or director/ producer), or one-person shows. Both of these cut down the headcount, which is the biggest expense for putting on theatre at any fringe festival.

One-person shows, with a single performer on a barely furnished stage relying on just their acting and storytelling ability, were a staple of this year’s fringe. But don’t be fooled – fewer people does not necessarily mean less talent,far from it.I saw 47 one-person shows this year that spanned comedy, cabaret, spoken word and theatre. Those that worked best had exceptional performers capable of holding audience attention with the power of their voice and imagination alone. And a lot of stories were hard-hitting, impactful and relatable:

Self-identity was a big theme from female performersin this sub-category. Sarah Milton’s Tumble Tuck was a layered exploration of female identity from the perspective of a young athlete, trying to balance the pressure from both her teammates and her mum with a self-destructive image that society requires her to be. Yolanda Mercy’s Quarter Life Crisis was a spoken-word rant about the pressures of millennial life. She compared her seeming lack of achievements with her ancestors at the same age, worrying that if we haven’t reached a life goal by now, will we ever.

Trashed - David William Bryan

From the women to the men, who were equally powerful in their solo performances, two shows stand out in the mind here – David William Bryan’s Trashed and Joe Sellman-Leava’s Monster showed an uglier side to the human psyche. Bryan’s Trashed refused to be emotional about a personal loss, instead preferring to drink and rage and spiral downwards. Sellman-Leava’s Monster by contrast was overly aware of the demons that stir up such anger in a pacifist, during his rehearsals for a particularly violent character in a play.

These shows by talented writer-actor double threats are guaranteed to be touring in the months to come, but the stand-out performance in this category for me was China Plate’s The Shape of the Pain, an exquisite multi-sensory look at a woman who suffers from constant, unexplainable, unidentifiable pain. In my opinion, Summerhall’s overall programme at this year’s fringe was the most diverse, intriguing and satisfying body of work out of any venue – this production is the perfect example of why. Every aspect of The Shape Of The Pain was geared towards the audience experience,making feel as uncomfortable as the writer must feel every moment of every day. It’s something that all audiences should be a part of.

Dark Horse Shows

A lot of the time, you go to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with no idea of what to expect and walk away exhilarated, excited and inspired by the performances that you see. Some of these might be companies with proven track records, or shows that have been hyped up in previews. But others you stumble across,making you realise how many dark horse productions so often stay hidden in the jumble of talent at this fringe. Here are a few shows that I did not expect to be so powerful:

Productions based on little-known historical tales come with readymade material that can captivate an audience. Futures Theatre’s Offside told of two historical characters in women’s football, a struggle for today’s players to be the best and do justice to the women before who have changed the game for the better. Caroline Bryant’s script cleverly jumped between past and present with energy and intrigue. On the other end of the scale, Bletherbox’s Part Of The Picture remembered those who lost their lives in the Piper Alpha oil rig explosion, the worst oil disaster in history. Here Tom Cooper’s script was equally emotional, charting the lives of those forced to work in unsafe conditions in the name of money-grabbing corporate greed.

Part Of The Picture - Bletherbox

My love of theatre is closely followed by my love of music, so when I find productions that combine the two, I am a very happy bunny. Two such women in particular effortlessly fused storytelling and theatrical performance with original composition and song this year. In Elsa, Isobel Rogers combined observational flair with inspired music in the witty day-in-the-life of a Covent Garden coffee shop girl. Rogers became the fly on the wall, eavesdropping on the conversations between people that passed through the doors – the millennials with their privileged, middle class, first world problems. On the other side of the spectrum was Cat Loud, a superb jazz vocalist who decided to leave London after a surreal tale down the rabbit hole that danced with the devil. Both women were quick-witted and sharp-tongued, taking no prisoners in their cutting portrayals of the difficulties that young people may face today.

Best returning performance

If dark horse shows surprised and delighted this year, there were an equal number of returning performances to celebrate both the 70th anniversary of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and to mark a British Council Showcase biennial year. Two performers in particular, I managed to finally catch this year after hearing so much hype about them and never being able to grab a ticket. They did not disappoint:

My top pick of the British Council Showcase was undoubtedly RashDash’s production of Two Man Show. It swept the board at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2016 with awards and nominations left, right and centre. It’s not hard to see why – the group brought swift retribution to the patriarchy in one breath and fought back for the male gender with another. An age-old battle between the sexes, Two Man Show was a performance in all sense of the word – music, dance and theatre fused in a powerful display where actor and character viciously collided.

Two Man Show - RashDash

Outside of the showcase there were also incredible returning companies, invited back by the venues to perform after the success of previous years. Another show that rightfully was recognised in 2016 was Milk Presents show JOAN, written by Lucy J Skilbeck and performed by champion drag king Lucy Jane Parkinson. Another show that challenged the defined barriers of gender, JOAN paid homage to a historical heroine, always afraid but brave enough to die for her beliefs in a world where women weren’t taken seriously by men. Sound familiar? Both shows won for their unabashed deliveries, for daring us to re-evaluate our opinions of the status quo.

Another Edinburgh done, another serious of successes. Fingers crossed that these shows continue to perform with such success as their fringe outings – if you spot one of them in the near future, book a ticket! Keep checking the London Box Office website for details of when they do come to the capital – we’ll make sure we’re the first to know!