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SURVIVING THE FRINGE
by Dorothy Cortvriend
Fancy the Fringe?
A short and incomprehensive guide
‘Much Ado about Nothing’ will be just one of three plays put on by the Lancaster University theatre group this term. This production will also be taken up to Edinburgh'’s Fringe festival in the summer, meaning that if you'’re lucky enough to get a part in this fantastic production, you'll also be lucky enough to get the chance to perform in the largest arts festival in the world. However, many people have expressed reservations about taking part in this, perhaps because of money worries, time issues (what if it clashes with a summer job?) or just the fact that there’'s been not too much information around about it! So what’'s it like? And what on earth is the Fringe anyway? I present to you a short and incomprehensive guide to surviving (and even enjoying) the Fringe...
General Info:The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the largest arts festival in the world, with over 2000 shows being performed over three weeks in August. It was started in 1947 as an alternative to the Edinburgh Festival, and as there is no selection committee to approve the entries, any show or event can be possible, which means the shows can range from top quality, well known stand ups, university theatre societies (such as ourselves!) to experimental physical theatre, to downright AWFUL shows involving one man eating rats' cheese in a scuba suit. However, it gives all sorts of companies a chance to perform their work, and is a great opportunity to watch them. The average show audience last year was 5 people, so don'’t get too upset if 3 people and a drunken person turn up to the opening night.
Accommodation: We stayed in a Backpackers' accommodation, which was a typical hostel, but thankfully it had a bar on the first floor! It was £300 for the two weeks, which, considering it was summer, AND it was in the middle of the Edinburgh festivals, is pretty cheap. Bunk beds, single sex showers (get up early if you want to avoid the girls queuing), self catered, it even had an internet room. Be prepared to get bonded and cosy with your room mates...
Money: Eeek. It is hard to live on the cheap in Edinburgh, but possible. I would recommend about £70-90 spending money a week, or more if you want to see lots of shows. Come on, it’s probably not that much more than you'’d spend in a week at university. However, if you are poor (as I was at the Fringe, I’'m not some sort of money splashing freak) there are ways to get around this. Once the accommodation cost and train tickets are out of the way, what does your money go towards? Basically...
•Food
•Shows
•Good times (drink and touristy bits...)
The number one rule of living cheap is to COOK YOUR OWN MEALS. You may not feel like cooking at odd times of the day, with weird utensils and ten minutes to spare, but it will save you so much money. Live off pasta and apples for now: cook gourmet meals and order takeout when you get home. There is a Lidi in central Edinburgh: get a little map, find it, and cheap food aplenty will be available to you. I recall 15p cans of beans and 3 pound bottles of wine... however, if you are tired, can'’t be bothered, and feel like having a little splash out, I will recommend the cafe Monster Mash on 4a Forrest Road. Naff to the max, but with high quality food, it serves sausage and mash and other 1950s (ish) school dinner food, huge portions, cheapish, with coke floats, deep fried ice-cream, and drumstick lollies with your bill. Priceless.
If you are worried about spending lots of money buying tickets for shows (the well known can cost upwards of 20 pounds) remember that as a cast member you will be eligible to certain discounts, even free tickets, to certain performances and venues. For example, last year, as we were performing for a venue belonging to Sweet ECA, any show we went to see there or in any of their other venues was a pound. We even got a discount in their bars! Hazza! Look out for ‘previews’ of shows, the tickets for those nights are usually much cheaper. You can also try around the free Fringe, a part of the festival where all the shows are FREE. It is mostly stand-ups and unknowns, but you never know, there might be some gems in there somewhere...
With good times, just be sensible. Go out, try dinky pubs or swish bars, hell, go clubbing! Just be sensible. You will probably be getting up at 8am most mornings, so clubbin’ it til 4am isn’t the best of ideas. Spending 30 quid on crap bottled beer and a club isn'’t the most exciting way to spend your money in Edinburgh.
Work: It’s a lot of work. A LOT. If you have ever been to a music festival and simply not gone to sleep the whole weekend, or worked double jobs, or have done five essays in three days, that is how you will feel. A week of intensive rehearsals (nine in the morning until six in the evening, for seven days) followed by travelling, flyering in all weathers, tramping around the whole of Edinburgh all day, performing every night for two weeks, plus trying to fit in watching other shows when you can get the chance, is incredibly exhausting, but well worth it. What you put in you'’ll get out! If it all gets too much, have a cup of tea and remember you are involved in the largest arts festival in the world, in a beautiful Scottish city, with a million and one things to do every day and night, BANGIN’!
Finally, bring warm AND cool weather clothes (the weather is very bizarre), see as many shows as you can, and comfy shoes are a must. ENJOY YOURSELVES.
This year LUTG sent the show Much Ado About Nothingto the Edinburgh Fringe festival and it got really favourably reviewed. Dorothy Cortvriend has written a short guide to surviving the Fringe!
The official Edinburgh Fringe Festival Website:
www.edfringe.com
