4. The Spice of Life

Variety, so the saying goes, is the spice of life. At the very least, if you’re among the media trying to cover as much of the Edinburgh Festivals as possible, seeing a variety of shows helps you avoid any sense of monotony.

Believe me, that can happen. Seven or eight years ago, I decided (on a whim) to only review theatre. While the vast majority of the productions I saw ranged from “fine” to “excellent”, I quickly learned one thing—that I was getting bored by about half-way through Week Two. (The fact that I also knew my entire schedule from the start didn’t help.) The following year not only was I once again mixing up performance genres like there was no tomorrow (theatre, stand-up, children’s shows, spoken work, physical theatre and anything else that struck me as “interesting”), but also building in some “flexibility” to my schedule so I could fit in a few last-minute choices—usually shows I’d heard about from people I’d chatted with in the previous queues.

I mean, if nothing else, seeing a diverse range of shows across the day helps you keep them a little more distinct from each other in your mind, when it comes to writing your reviews.

Yesterday, that variety was concentrated into just three “launch” shows, curtesy of venue operators Greenside, Just the Tonic and Assembly: today, it’ll be the chance of Zoo and Gilded Balloon—or, in the case of the latter, alternatively The Stand Comedy Club. (I’m still not decided!)

But there’s also on the streets, especially the officially sanctioned performance areas in the city centre. While I’m not big on crowds at the best of times?– especially when rushing from one venue to the next – I might just “mingle” and see what unheralded delights I run into…