For the first time in 70 years, it will be possible to walk down the Pleasance and not be bombarded by flyers and performers alike. The arrival of the pandemic, and subsequent cancellation of both the Fringe and the International Festival, have left a gaping hole in August, none more so than for Zinnie Harris.
For Harris, the Fringe is like coming home. Breaking onto the scene some 20 years ago, with her play Further than the Furthest Thing winning every theatre prize possible, and then some, she has referred to a summer without a festival like a winter without Christmas. Harris sees the festival as a “complete blast of ideas” that never cease to inspire her.
She is not alone. In an attempt to prove that the spirit of the festival has not been killed off entirely by the pandemic, it is possible to attend some Fringe shows from afar. Yet, according to The Times: “In the city centre most manifestations of the 2020 season serve only as reminders of the shows we have lost.”
With the Fringe Society declining the opportunity to take out a performance licence on the Royal Mile, the sword swallowers will have to practice at home instead. The Gilded Balloon has organised a Fringe Treasure Hunt, but the numbers and capped and masks encouraged.
Music will be turned inside out, with Princes Street Gardens transformed into a “sound installation” with classical music broadcast each lunchtime from today.
This is not the August we are used to, but present circumstances render us grateful nonetheless.
