Back to Leith to retrace Saturday's footsteps and take a whole lot of other photos in different light. 

Then coffee with ArcLight and AlfThomas - it was a treat to meet them both - before my next insane dive into the festival.

Daughterhood was back on the theme of the tensions that long-term caring for an ill parent adds to being young-adult siblings. I was especially interested in the way the play showed how the current sibling relationship is based on the layering of years of their relationship(s) with their younger selves. Different interpretations of the past, assumptions, dashed hopes, resentments all feeding into the present day of different priorities and different values. It was thoughtful, deft and engaging but, with no set and no props, the actor who had to play multiple roles had difficulties differentiating them for us. Years ago I saw an outstanding production of Stones in His Pockets, which calls for a cast of two actors to play 15 characters. That was when I really learnt to appreciate the skill of acting: accent, yes; a different hat, yes; but also the gait, the line of the shoulders, the shape of the mouth, the way the eyes look and the hand moves... This play showed me an actor in training for that.

I met WhiskyFoxtrot to see the comedian Sarah Keyworth - low-key and laconic. Just as I was thinking that some of her observations on feminism, sexuality and relationships were a bit old and derivative, she neatly turned them to shed a little light on trans issues. OK, that's something that needs doing.

We went on to the unstoppable Desiree Burch. Wow! About two hours of dense material packed into 65 minutes: she uses shameless irreverence, a wealth of cultural references (of which I probably got about 20%, but that didn't matter, or I don't think it did) and sharp intelligence to make acute points about power and injustice, fact and fiction, in a hugely entertaining way. She stood at the door afterwards to meet her audience, when she must surely have wanted to shower and slump, and was as gracious and generous as could be.

Then the recommended comic, Alfie Brown. I laughed, a bit.

Graffiti wall extra.

Comments
Sign in or get an account to comment.