Friday to Saturday 15-16 August 2025
Our time in Dollar is
running out. Only four days left. It’s and interesting town, quite up market
and home to one of Scotland’s premier boarding schools and of course Castle
Campbell. Dollar derives its name from Celtic origins, not from the currency. It
likely comes from the Gaelic words "dol" (meaning field or valley)
and "ar" (meaning arable or high), or "doler/ar" which
could mean "hidden place" or "gloomy place." Not that it is
now gloomy or indeed, hidden.
Anyway, off to the
Festival again for the last time, which means an easy 40 minute drive on the
motorway to Edinburgh Airport Park and Ride; 25 minutes on the clean and fast
tram to Princess Street and a short walk to “The Underbelly.” This is the
precinct around the university and the Royal Mile that is home to the Night Owl
Productions, among others.
Lady P has booked “Wanted,”
a three women comedy. As we wind our way down the steps, past six or more bars
and walls covered in posters, Flashy notices two things. All the shows feature
women. And, there are a lot of women about with shaved heads, tats and
piercings. Yes, she has taken him to the lesbian theatre precinct!
One of the highlights
of the Fringe, is that the shows are all one hour long. They are delivered
without breaks, with enormous energy and power. This makes it possible and most
enjoyable, to have a snack and a beverage between performances and do three or
four productions in a day. 'Wanted' was well performed and quite funny. It
deserves it’s five-star reviews.
After Wanted, we had a snack and a drink in the gardens and wandered back to another Underbelly venue for the “Black Blues Brothers.” This gymnastic performance by five Kenyan lads, set to Blues Brothers music was surprising but energetic and skillful. By now, with two performances under the belt, Flashy was a bit cultured-out but as you know, he soldiered on.
A very good light Japanese meal at Umi Restaurant was just the ticket and very well priced, so we headed on to our final performance of “The Billy Joel Story.” This musical was set in a lecture theatre and was sold out. The place was full of senior citizens and taking the kindly advice of the young usher, we headed to the back row of a very steep but small theatre. From here, Lady P could count the number of bald heads arrayed in the rows below us.
The show was explosive and non stop, with all the favourite hits
delivered by a very talented band and lead singer. The hall was a’rockin at the
end. Then it was time to reverse the travel to the car park and head home by
10.00 pm.
A couple of observations
on the Festival. Clearly, it brings tens of millions of pounds into the economy
and it appears to be a well oiled machine in the set up and use of spaces (we
only did the Fringe, so cute and funkily created venues). Despite the plethora
of booze outlets, there were no drunks. Anywhere. Flashy wondered if he was in
Scotland. There were also no police. We saw two connies at one stage but it was
amazing to see no security at all. Apart from walking on the wrong side of the
footpath, the thronging crowds were very well behaved. Hospitality staff were
under the pump but still friendly and helpful. I’d have to say that it was a
great experience and all of the six shows we saw – well, we’d see them again.
They were all different but enjoyable.
Not surprised the OZ Bar doesn’t sell Fosters. UK made Fosters tastes like the proverbial CP……Just like the Aussie made stuff.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct John. I was offered one in Cortachy and got excited. Hadn't had one since the 70's. It was not good. Let me say though, the beers I've had in Scotland, purely for research of course, have been pretty good.
DeleteI reckon some of the fringe festival shows would have seemed to go a lot longer than their allotted hour.
ReplyDelete