Here's some more of the Fringe weekend story. Our first "show" on Friday was the Ale Tasting at Leslie's Bar. It was a little confusing at first - we thought we were early and bought ourselves some beer before we noticed a small group sitting in the corner with some jars of hops etc in front of them. Never mind, we sat down and joined in and tasted three half pint samples. At the end of the talk, we were astonished when we were told we could have another two pints free plus a commemorative glass - all for just £10!
Then it was on to see the Paul Robeson story - small, intimate surroundings and a Nigerian singer (Tayo Aluko - wonder if he's a relative of Aberdeen footballer, Sone?) with a deep rich voice. The story itself had Jo in tears and the occasional song was very good. The one by which he'll always be known - Old Man River from Showboat - has been uploaded to You Tube - watch it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IUc1yCh6Hs
From there it was off to the Royal Mile where we grabbed a bite to eat at a nice little bistro - Lazy Lohan's and saw the most awful show:
There has to be one at every Fringe - and this was it. The cast numbered 10 and the audience just out-numbered them at the start - by one! - but, by the finish the cast were definitely greater than the remaining audience. Frankly, we expected a play going by this title to contain at least some music, but, apart from the odd snippet of miming, there was nothing.
The late night show was Alan Cumming's opening night. I wasn't sure what he'd do, but it was mostly musical with a few tales in between. He developed a pretty nice rapport with the audience, many of whom were obviously big fans, but perhaps on reflection he slightly over-did the gay thing and there were one or two, not quite awkward moments, but you could sense some uneasiness in certain sections of the audience.
So to bed - 2:30 am and another 2 days to go!
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