Traverse Fringe

The Traverse during August. An institution in its prime.

Dark and underground, with its mellow, modern climate. Tucked underneath all the commotion like an emergency shelter. Like some patient sentinel, offering cool sanctuary to the martyrs of this frantic month. A dark place to close your eyes and open your brain.

From their fringe program this month, it is remains a steeple of contemporary theatre in Scotland. But much more so during August. Subterranean refuge for many, second home to some (myself included). It acts an unlikely Oasis where artists and audiences from every tier come to draw water. It is the final destination for many after a full day of shows, a place with its own gravity, where sanity always remains. A place you will probably find me seeing out the next few weeks.

Here are some of the performances from this month's program

Bravo, Figaro - Mark Thomas

Beats - Kieran Hurley

Angels - Iain Robertson

Mess - Caroline Horton

All That is Wrong - Koba Ryckewaert

Morning - Simon Stephens

Born to Run - Shauna MacDonald

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Uptown, driver!

Here we are again

The unavoidable throng. The snails pace circuit. The pockets full of flyers. The familiar sights that for every year-round resident of Edinburgh, sends a shiver of dread. Your own backyard colonised and overrun!

But overrun with absolute revelry. I find it hard to grumble when there are 10,000 people either side of me in full festival abandon. The city is ablaze again. Doors that remain locked all year long are thrown open to performances. Any empty space is transformed into a pop-up stage. You find yourself carousing in an ancient cellar, a university lecture theater, a ballroom or in an impromptu garden within an hour of each other. I have been in the thick of it for a full week and I have still barely scratched the scale of this long giddy month. I have had lots of fun from the front row of some amazing theatrical productions this year and am looking forward to sharing them as the month unfolds.

The last few weeks have seen weather a plenty to drown every square inch of the city, and it is no surprise that the one thing to escape the dampening is that brazen festival spirit. So for those still reluctant to wet a toe, put your reservations behind and get yourself into town.