Edinburgh Fringe Festival | This International Life

The streets are walkable again! Edinburgh festival round-up

2 September 2017

The festivals are over, and Edinburgh is starting to shake off its hangover and get back to work. There are still plenty of tourists in town, but nowhere near the numbers of the past three weeks. It’s nice to be able to stroll around without being constantly stuck in a crowd.

That said, I was surprised to find myself really enjoying the festivals this year. It’s hard to predict if I’ll be able to enjoy things without Scott, since everything brings up memories and feels different without him, especially everything about life in Edinburgh. And sometimes, a wave of grief will hit, and I’ll find myself crying as I wander around George Square trying to decide what I want for dinner and wishing I could tell Scott about the covfefe stand. But the wave will pass, and later I’ll be clapping along to 9 to 5 at Margaret Thatcher Queen of Game Shows.

The book festival held its place as my favorite again this year.

Edinburgh Fringe: Making the Most of the Half Price Hut

22 August 2014

Spending a day or two at the Fringe can get pretty expensive, but there are several ways to make your ticket budget go farther. One of our favorites is the Half Price Hut, which is open daily from the first Wednesday of the Fringe, 10am to 9pm.

Comedy at the Fringe: A cheat sheet for Americans

13 August 201413 August 2014

Lots and lots of Americans visit Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival. Hopefully, many of you are here to enjoy some of the delightful British and international comedy acts performing here this month. To help you get the maximum amount of enjoyment out of these shows, we’ve put together a little cheat sheet of cultural references which are popular in Britain this year, which may not be familiar to those of you who live on the other side of the pond.

Edinburgh Fringe: Opening Weekend and 2-for-1 days

4 August 20144 August 2014

Wheeeee, this is fun! The Edinburgh Fringe officially started on Friday (although previews had been running since Wednesday), and the crowds showed up right on time. It takes significantly longer to walk across town these days, with all the tourists and flyerers in your way (I need to stop walking like a New Yorker – it only leads to frustration). It’s relatively quiet over in our corner of New Town, but the Old Town is packed to the gills.

Preview Days at the Edinburgh Fringe

3 August 2014

Excuse us if we seem a little distracted these days. The world’s largest arts festival just rolled into town, you see, and we have been caught up in a whirlwind of entertainment.

Edinburgh: getting ready for the Fringe

14 July 20144 July 2014

I was so looking forward to the arrival of the Fringe programs this year, I even marked it in my calendar. Yes, all of the shows (over 3,000 of them) are listed on the website, too, but for browsing purposes the paper catalog is much more fun.

Edinburgh Festival Fringe reviews 2013, part 3

30 July 201422 August 2013

So much to see, so little time. The Fringe is exhausting us with its entertainment possibilities. What will life be like when there aren’t hundreds of live shows to choose from each day? Here’s what we’ve seen in the past week:

Tig Notaro ***** Tig was probably the performer we were looking forward to the most, and she did not disappoint. Tears of laughter.

Janeane Garofalo **** Somehow I managed to not even notice her on the Fringe schedule until last week, but luckily tickets were still available. Well worth it.

Rich Hall **** Until recently, the name Rich Hall reminded me only of Sniglets.

Edinburgh Festival Fringe reviews 2013, part 2

30 July 201418 August 2013

Have we mentioned how much we’re enjoying our first Fringe? I already predict some serious festival withdrawal at the beginning of September. Here’s what we’ve seen in the past week:

Zoe Lyons **** An entertaining, well-polished show about nothing in particular. She had the audience laughing in the first minute and kept the pace up for the entire show. (Scott gives her a full five stars.)

Bridget Christie – A Bic for Her **** Made me laugh and despair at the evils of the world all at the same time.

Edinburgh Festival Fringe reviews 2013, part 1

30 July 201414 August 2013

Since we’ve been happily soaking up other people’s reviews and recommendations for Fringe shows, we thought it’d be nice to offer up our opinions as well (plus blogging about things is a great way to not forget them right after they happen). Here’s what we’ve seen so far, ordered (roughly) from favorite to least favorite.

Pajama Men **** I loved this show. It starts out with a series of seemingly random sketches that gradually reveal themselves to be part of one big story arc. Don’t have too many whiskies before going into this one or you’ll find it hard to follow.

Scotsman Best of the Fringe **** Loved this afternoon opportunity to see a handful of funny comedians (not as redundant as it should be) all in one show. I think the line-up might be different each week, but we saw these guys:

Edinburgh in August: diving into the Fringe

30 July 201413 August 2013

What Oktoberfest is to Munich, the Festival Fringe is to Edinburgh: that time of year when all the tourists show up. Edinburgh more than doubles in population during August as visitors and performers from around the world flood in. The Old Town is packed with street acts and revelers. Hundreds of buildings around the city turn into venues for performances. Theater, dance, music, spoken word and comedy are the main types of entertainment you’ll find at the Fringe, with comedy dominating in recent years. But the Fringe hardly has a lock on your entertainment options in this city