Time out for a family at the fringe

I’ve got it wrong again. One of my nine year olds has pointed out to me that there are over 300, not over 200 venues at the Fringe. She’s right. Every corner shop, every hotel lobby, every backstreet bar has been occupied by a theatre troupe. This is, of course, part of the Fringe’s remarkable energy. But it’s also exhausting when you’re traipsing around with kids. There’s not quiet space to retreat to and calm down. And although the Smart City Hostel where we’re staying is fab, it’s not exactly relaxing to go back to our room and bend over double on the bunk bed, attempting to chill out. Anyway, the hostel is also a venue from late morning til well past midnight and heaving with wannabe actors and performers. So we are bombarded with innovation and experimentation wherever we go.

To escape it, you have to flee from the town centre. You don’t have to go far. We only took a short bus ride out to the Dean Gallery (part of National Galleries of Scotland) and sat in the wonderfully sedate café, supping on homemade vegetable and barley soup. We then wandered into their surrealism exhibition – Another World – wandering among the whacky paintings and objects, supping on the near silence in the galleries. The kids were certainly quieter and calmer. Refuelled and refreshed, we took the bus back up to the Royal Mile and a show.

I’ve mentioned the power of the poster before, plastered all over town. Now the nine-year-old twins have succumbed to the force of the flyer given out on every street. They collect them like Trump cards; we’ve got piles back in our room. I suppose I should be grateful as they’re free souvenirs and I don’t have to buy the twins some dreadful tartan knickknack to take home. But then they insist they go to shows in their flyer collection. Which is how we ended up standing in a queue for Prince of Cringe. I’ll let you know if the promise of the flyer proves true.

http://www.nationalgalleries.org/
http://www.smartcityhostels.com/
http://www.edfringe.com/