Arrived in Edinburgh after a very busy but uneventful journey yesterday.
Tea and toast for breakfast and then booked up some Fringe events for the week. Caught the 23 bus to town, got iff right outside EFI and went to Soderberg for coffee and a cardamom bun. Over to the book festival to see Harriet Walers talking about women in Shakespeare and her book in which she has written speeches for many of them . Interesting hour and an engaging speaker. Saw PS, KS and L Mc as we left. Nice to see exOU colleagues. From there we walked over to see Lost Lear at Traverse. We were hoping to get lunch in the bar there but they weren’t serving hot food so we ended up with a bag of crisps each! Lost Lear was excellent. Based in a care home with an ex actor with dementia, exploring her relationship with her son, and her illness, through the famous speeches in Lear, acted by the woman, her carer and her son.
We then walked up to the Makers Market at the Portrait Gallery ( some nice things but neither of us were tempted) and then to Chez Jules for a late lunch. The next show (Ten Thousand Hours) was in the School of Divinity on the mound. A team of acrobats from Australia threw each other around the stage , often standing on each other’s shoulders. They were very skilled, and very entertaining.
Walked up Newington ( very nostalgic) , and called into Kilimanjaro for coffee and cake. Just as we left we realised that Arthurs Seat was on fire so walked over for a quick look. Could only see smoke but lots of it!
Got into Old College to see Dance People - an outdoor performance with no seating. Some powerful parts and skilled dancers , but some parts didn’t really work and felt a little self indulgent and hard to understand what was happening. I was pleased I went, but my least favourite of the day.
Got in a packed bus after a short wait and were home just after 11. Really good first day