Friday, August 12, 2011

and her walkman started to melt...

Festival time! YAY!

So far it's a medium/light festival for me as you'd expect. Had a very full day on Tuesday though. Derek very kindly took me to see Allotment around lunchtime. We lucked out on it being a sunny afternoon (the play is set in and performed on an allotment). Brilliant performance, original, funny and very moving. Plus they gave us tea and scones! What's not to love?

I did some work in the afternoon and then met my friend Alyn for beers and people watching on the Royal Mile before we saw the Laramie Project together. As already mentioned I've been wanting to see that for almost a decade and the production didn't disappoint. I was a little unsettled by how very very young the company were though. I doubt any of them can have been older than 5 when Matthew Shepard was murdered which made me feel old, but also kept breaking the spell of the show a teeny bit... That's an unfair complaint of Ophiuchus Rising as a company: my problem not theirs. They did a fantastic job of producing a complex and challenging piece, striking the right balance of impartial detachment and powerfully charged emotional performances, we both left feeling deeply moved.

Breaking for more beer in Bristo square Alyn and I caught up with Derek and for a total change of pace the three of us went to see Briefs. Unsurprisingly (given we're talking about Australian acrobats) I immediately developed a huge crush on one of the performers, but eye candy aside it was a stunning show... way camper than I'd normally go for, but lots of fun, with some genuinely impressive feats of fitness. Oh and a meat tray raffle.

This weekend Mum & Dad are coming up (for their first Festival visit in all the time I've lived here) we're doing music stuff which i'm really looking forward to. Tonight though I plan on dodging the crowds and staying home for a quiet evening in... fireworks and low-flying jets notwithstanding.

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