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The swan song of the fringe. The last day... reality sure to hit at any moment. Still, while there was moonlight and music and love and romance...
I had intended to go and see The Wicker Woman again. However, I got distracted on my way by some guys on the Royal Mile. They were singing and making a general spectacle of themselves. I'd met their group before and had wanted to see their show - Slaughterhouse Live, with the fantastic leaflet quotes of "Now even more wrong" and "'It made me wish I was not dead' Queen Mother". I decided to give them a go... they seemed like they may end up as the new League of Gentlemen or something. I whiled some time away outside the box office for the Gilded Balloon caves, with the cast of the Oxford Revue who were packing up from their show and looking depressed. They left the venue eventually, and I went to get my ticket. I had a few minutes to kill before the show started and ended up in a most bizarre conversation with a gaily dressed American actress who was talking more shit than even I could manage.
Zooming over to the pleasance after Slaughterhouse, I found that I could fit in Brendon Burns. I'd seen him before - at the Hyena - and he is a good act. He acts as though he's shocking and may well have offended many audiences, in fact, he was not too offensive and seemed justified in the way he tackled many taboo subjects. His was the only show that I arrived late for, I had been delayed by getting a quick bite to eat and by getting embroiled in a conversation with one of the Pleasance staff members - we'd chatted a few times and it's now my opinion that she's the sort of person who may accidentally chat a bit too much. However, I only missed the first minute or so of Brendon's show, so no problem there then. I also bought his CD afterwards, so I have the chance of hearing more of him than I did on the day.
After Brendon Burns, it was time to choose the next show. "Die" had been recommended by Dave Gorman during his show and I saw a leaflet for it. In fact, I'd seen its stars parading around the place, and had been impressed by their bizarre dress. I thought I'd give it a go. Indeed, I shared my taste with a couple of comedians whom I found in the audience - both of whom I'd met and neither of which I'll mention.
After Die, it was time for Late 'n' Live. I had time for a quick drink at the Pleasance Dome upstairs bar, where I found some 5065 lift folk. We had a chat for a while and headed over to the venue together. Late 'n' Live was probably one of the last billed shows on the Fringe 2003. It sold out. I was lucky to buy a ticket... I bought it when I bought my Slaughterhouse Live ticket and it was a good decision... a very good decision.
After Late 'n' Live there was nothing left to do but go home. In the street I found myself being hailed. It was the cast of the Oxford Revue... well, some of them... they asked me what was open. Nothing. One of them suggested climbing Arthur's Seat. We then chatted in the street about their options. I explained that they had three options available to them:
Go home
Try to find somewhere open and succeed - huge amount of luck required at 4am on a Tuesday
Wander round the streets aimlessly and eventually go home or do something stupid
It was indeed this latter option I suggested that they would probably end up going for despite the benefits of the common sense decision to go for number 1. As an alternative to climbing Arthur's Seat, I suggested that we do some butt surfing. This is not a sexual thing. It involves someone lying face down while someone else stands on their buttons and pretends to surf. We did this. I was the face down man. I used my advance butt surfing technique of adopting a sky diving pose while being surfed. This was photographed. I believe we even did the double and had a tandem surf on me.
So, though I left my Oxonian chums to do other things, I know that they included climbing my own seat as part of their end of festival festivities. I'm bizarrely pleased with that!
Show: Slaughterhouse Live
Performed by: Slaughterhouse Live
When: 19:00
Where: Gilded Balloon Caves 1
Cost: £3.75
A handful of good sketches and a handful of things that seemed funnier outside of the theatre. They had excellent timing and execution, but the only shocking humour involved offal, which is a bit much! Still it was fun and I might have enjoyed it more later on in the evening and with an audience who were a bit more game.
Show: Not For Everyone
Performed by: Brendon Burns
When: 20:30
Where: Pleasance Cavern
Cost: £9.50
Excellent thinking, excellent speaking and quite a lot of fun. It's hard to dissect the show and so I won't.
Show: Die
Performed by: Brand X
When: 22:50
Where: Pleasance Dome 3
Cost: £8.50
With costumes fusing Nazi, Disney and bondage imagery, a weak storyline about hell being taken over by a corporation and even weaker musical interludes, this show should have been not altogether very good. However, it was pretty amazing fun! They used silly costumes and puppetry to maximum effect. Their hell's minions were fusion characters like The Elephant Man/Elvis (Ellieivs), Liberarnie (Liberace/The Terminator) and Frankenstein Sinatra.
The show was silly, entertaining and inventive. Maybe a third could have been cut, but what the hell - this is what the fringe is all about.
Show: Late 'n' Live
Performed by: Various
When: 01:00
Where: Gilded Balloon Teviot Debating Hall
Cost: £15
When you have a show full of Perrier Nominees and winners you can't go wrong. M.C. Daniel Kitson, Adam Hills, Dimitri Martin (this year's winner) and The Flight of the Conchords. Excellent stuff. The show seemed to go on forever without losing momentum it was anarchic, silly, spontaneous and basically a superb way to end the festival. The most expensive ticket I bought at the festival but the most entertaining and long-running show I saw. What an ending!
Spent £36.75, saw 4 shows. At the day's end:
Total shows seen: 69
Total shows performed: 10
Total spent: £506.50
27 August 2003
Ashley Frieze