Edinburgh: week 4

So this was the final week in Edinburgh. The week were you run around like crazy trying to see everything you possibly can and buy as many gifts for people as you can still afford.  Train trips to Sterling Castle one day , Blackness Castle/ Linlithgow Palace and finally out to North Berwick to go swimming in the North Sea. It was also the week to see the last couple of performances that you could catch before the festival is over (there are over 1,000 different performances over the month!!!).  So I went to see the Aska Japanese drum troupe, The Soweto Gospel Choir from South Africa, a Brazilian dance company and finally an incredible sound installation by Ray Lee [UK] called Siren. This week was a time to be happy to return to our loved ones, even if only for one day, and a time to be sad as we said goodbye to some truly amazing people.
Week 4 was also the week to do all the things that had become a part of our everyday lives..... one last trip to The Mussel Inn, another pint of Belhavens Best and one last all nighter with our international group of cronies.
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival was truly one of the most amazing trips of my life and I only hope I will get to return some day.
Now off to Seattle.

Edinburgh: week 3

So week three is the one were you feel like you are in a real groove but also start becoming aware of the fact that the stay is slowly wrapping up. So Ron, Jose and I took a bus out to Cramdon Village to see some coast line and cast a view out to the North Sea, I also decided to try a local dish called chicken highlander: chicken breast stuffed with haggis and wraped in bacon (what was I thinking?). On our day off this week some of the Aurora Nova staff organized a pot luck at the theater. It was so great to hang out and talk to performers from all over the world, at one point I think I counted six different languages being spoken at one time. The night was full of fun, food, and drink and ended in a long musical jam session. I went to see Alan Cummings in a new reworking of Bacchae as part of the International Theatre Festival. It was really fun to watch, great special effects and fun R&B chorus. Jason, Jose and I hiked Arthur's Seat to get the most amazing view of the surrounding area. We also saw the Palace of Holyroodhouse, where the Queen stays when she is in Scotland, and the new Parliament building which I think is quite nice looking, but is evidently very controversial with locals. 

Edinburgh: week 2

So after a week of some tech problems and small houses we are up and running!
Our German crew is great and are putting in some insane hours to keep our venue going. I have already seen some really amazing work here, a beautiful puppet show form Georgia, some cabaret about death from France and an amazing table instrument from Poland (4 compositions, 4 players, 1 incredible table).
I must say that it is very strange to be in a city this size that is completely over run by theater and art people. This truly in the biggest arts festival I have ever seen!
Shawn, Jason and I went to Edinbrugh Castle. Uber tourist, but great history and wide view of the area. I think I found a family name in the historical records that are kept there.
We recieved a great local review and The London Times is doing a piece on the show this week, still waiting to here from the BBC...
So far everyone has been really great to us, and it looks like James Kelman old friend of the Rude Mechs and world renowned author is going to come to the show next week.

Edinburgh: week 1

We arrived in Scotland on Sunday evening and made our way to our respective flats (boys and girls). The women are about a block from the theater/church we are performing in, St. Stevens. Monday was a brutal day, we started it by walking all over downtown Edinburgh looking for a military drill hall were our Irish friends had sent our luggage so that we would not have to pay $1500 to bring our other equipment on the plane, than onto an 8 hour tech rehersal (our only one until opening) with an Isreali light board whos logic was so cryptic that felt like I might as well have been using Aramaic to program it. Anyway our german tech crew of Peter, Robert and Rico were awsome. Tuesday was fun Ron, Jose and I went to eat lunch at the Muscle Inn off of Rose Street..... Oh my God the food was out of this world a 1/2 kilo of shallot muscles later and I could have died a happy man. Next was food shopping and than a few chill hours at home. That evening Ron and I joined the ladies (Shawn, Lana, and Elizabeth) for the Haunted City tour, where they walk you around a graveyard were they buried some 200,000 people over the years in graves that were not always legal, and tel you stories off witch trials and plauges. Than we went and had a drink @ Whistle Inkies which was like an Edinbrugh version of Room 710 or Emos were we met our first bonifed ass hole of the trip.