Lyn Gardner 

Edinburgh festival 2013: how many shows is too many?

Lyn Gardner: From David Greig's The Events to a new Lars von Trier comedy adaptation, this year's fringe is all about quality, not quantity
  
  

Neve Macintosh and Rudi Dharmalingham in The Events. written by David Greig Written by David Greig
Remarkable … David Greig's The Events is at the Traverse until 25 August. Photograph: Murdo Macleod for the Guardian Photograph: Murdo Macleod/Guardian

Keeping count

Stand in the queues and the talk is sometimes less about what people have seen, and more about the quantity of shows they have seen. The Edinburgh fringe can be the culture vulture's equivalent of the pub crawl, as we run from one venue to another, downing one show after another. It can be addictive. How much art can you pack into 24 hours?

This might be good for ticket sales, but I'm not sure it's good for the art. You can't see shows such as David Greig's remarkable The Events, at the Traverse, or the devastating Nirbhaya without allowing time to process them. I don't want to watch a woman telling me in graphic detail what it was like to be raped, and then rush off to see a cute little comedy 10 minutes later.

It's exacerbated by the yearly fringe statistics that promote the idea that bigger is always better, and the fact that it is now so expensive to stay in the city that people want to pack in as many shows as possible into a short time. But, if I'm honest, I've probably misjudged more shows in Edinburgh than anywhere else, and I'm sure it's because I don't allow enough time between performances to really think about what I've seen. You often respond at a gut level to the shows you love or hate, but it is the quieter, sleepier shows that often get shorter shrift than they deserve in Edinburgh.

As a critic, the urge to be out and about and be the first to spot a talented new ensemble, or break the news about a brilliant new play, is strong. But this year, I've vowed to try and take things more slowly. I'm here for three weeks, so I've got plenty of time to see shows and reflect, and still be around to find that fringe gem, even if it isn't until 25 August. What I certainly won't be doing is keeping a tally of how many shows I've seen.

The burdens of being an artist

The very first show I saw when I got off the train was Lucy Hopkins's The Veil at Pleasance Dome. It's a clever, if over-obvious, little clowning show – more a slightly over-extended skit – which entertainingly sends up the pretentions of an artist who so reveres her own art that she believes she may be able to solve world hunger and end global warming. Hopkins is fantastic and the show is good fun, particularly in her repeated pious assertion, "I'm an artist". Her satirical swipes makes me wonder how much the word "artist" is now bandied about in British theatre. There is no shame in it, but as Hopkins demonstrates, it can be a term that alienates audiences, making people feel artists are above the rest of us. In the current climate, I'm not sure it's helpful.

Take a peck on this one

There are plenty of stage versions of movies on offer in Edinburgh this year, most notably Lucy Pitman-Wallace directing The Shawshank Redemption with comic Omid Djalili leading the cast. I've got my eye on The Boss of It All, New Perspective's adaptation of Lars von Trier's comedy. But if you love Hitchcock's The Birds, you won't go far wrong with Jammy Voo's delightful and surreal Birdhouse at Assembly. Focusing on four minor characters from the original movie, it finds them locked in the Coronet Cinema in Bodega Bay. It's a show that is charming and funny by turns, and deceptively sophisticated in the way it uses silhouette and shadows for theatrical effect. It has the lightest of comic touches (there are some wonderful moments involving eggs), but it also pecks its way into your unconscious and plays neatly on your anxieties about the world, whether it's bird flu or floods. Afterwards, you won't look at the Edinburgh seagulls in quite the same way, and I removed the Toilet Duck from the bathroom, just in case.

What should I see?

Reading on mobile? Click here to watch video

So many shows, so much choice. It can be hard to make a selection. Increasingly, companies are making video trailers. If you've got one, do post it on the Guardian Witness site, which is also looking for your photos. I've been taking a look at some of them, and this one for The Principle of Uncertainty, a show about quantum mechanics and personal secrets, at Summerhall, made me want to see it.

 

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