I am Ashley Elsdon

someone who's doing some things

Tag: Edinburgh

A great city with a great festival

Edinburgh Fringe 2015: Shakespeare for Breakfast

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Ed Fringe 2015: Shakespeare for Breakfast
Ed Fringe 2015: Shakespeare for Breakfast

I’ve been to see Shakespeare for Breakfast almost every year I’ve been to the Fringe. It’s always amazing. It’s always great fun. This year was no different at all. It was brilliant. It was Hamlet.

Shakespeare for Breakfast is a difficult thing to explain if you’ve never seen it before. It’s Shakespeare, sure, but it isn’t like any kind of Shakespeare you’ve seen before. It’s fun, it’s current, it’s witty and it’s over in an hour. Added to that you get a coffee and a croissant in the bargain. Not bad for the Fringe, not bad at all.

So if you ever go the Fringe you should try out Shakespeare for Breakfast and see if you like it.

So that was the Edinburgh Fringe

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This year’s Edinburgh Fringe felt bigger than before. In fact, it felt a lot bigger in many ways. The crowds seemed denser and much more difficult to navigate through, and even the cab drivers said it was a bigger event than in previous years. I’m not sure if that’s true or not, but it felt like it.

I did enjoy this year’s fringe. As always there were highs and lows. Amazing shows, and things that are better left unremembered. But that’s the way it has always been, and I’ve been going for quite a while now.

Going to the Fringe is always a gamble. Just because a show has a 5 star rating doesn’t mean it’ll actually be good or indeed that you’ll like it. Added to that, the weather is an even bigger gamble, although you could argue that it’s always going to rain if you’re in Edinburgh for the fringe, and I’d say that’s a pretty safe bet.

But it was good this year, and it was fun on the whole. It’s a tiring holiday though. It’s the kind of holiday that you come back from more tired than when you left, and that’s getting increasingly difficult.

I’ll be posting thoughts on my favourite shows over the coming days, but as for those that didn’t appeal to me, I’ll leave them alone and won’t bother boring you with them.

Edinburgh Fringe: The Canterbury Tales

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This was a great production of the Canterbury Tales. Only a part of it of course as the show was only an hour and a half I think. But it was very well done by a large group of teenagers who I’m pretty sure I saw last year doing The Agamemnon, which was incredible.

They’re certainly a group who I’d see again.

Edinburgh Fringe: Anthem for a Doomed Youth

Posted by on in Edinburgh Fringe, Events, Festivals, Poetry, Theatre

I’m a big fan of Guy Masterson’s work. His “Under Milk Wood” was incredible, so when I’m in Edinburgh I always make an effort to see whatever it is that he’s in. This year the only thing that he was doing that coincided with my time at the fringe was “Anthem for a Doomed Youth”. His readings of World War 1 poetry. It was very good. Very powerful, and as always with Guy Masterson, full of emotion and meaning and at times, even humor.

At some point I’d love to see his “Under Milk Wood” again. I really hope he performs it somewhere I can get to at some point.

Edinburgh Fringe: The Hive

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Another really good show this year at the fringe was “The Hive”. This was a sort of post-apocalyptic piece about a society where everyone was separated from each other. A set of interesting and somewhat compelling ideas, but most of all I enjoyed how it was presented. The music, set and physical nature of the show were excellent, and whilst I think it suffered from a lull towards the end, it was, on the whole, really well put together.

The performances were also very well executed and I think that the company producing it have a lot to offer.

Edinburgh Fringe: Beowulf The Blockbuster

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This was a truly wonderful one man show. Executed beautifully with incredible craftsmanship. I loved every minute of the show and I can’t think of anything even remotely negative to say about it at all. Perhaps if you were expecting a performance of Beowulf that was very close to the text you might be disappointed, but if you’d been to the fringe before you probably wouldn’t have those kind of expectations of anything.

I loved it, and I’ll certainly be looking out for something by the same company next year.

Edinburgh Fringe: The Bunker Trilogy – Agamemnon

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This was one of if not the best show I saw in Edinburgh this year. The Agamemnon is one of my favourite plays, as is the Orestia as a whole, but this version, set in a World War One bunker was incredible. The audience was actually placed inside the bunker with the cast and the proximity and intensity of the production made this a completely one off experience.

The performances were excellent. The set was brilliant. Yes, it probably was the best thing I saw all week.

Just back from Edinburgh

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Just back from Edinburgh after a week at the festival. It was brilliant as always and I loved it. More on that soon, but I thought I’d post a nice shot of the city for now.

Turing Fest programme

Posted by on in Festivals, Tech

A really good event. Well worth the visit. I think that if I manage to go to Edinburgh for next year’s festival I’ll have to try to get along to more stuff.