Ed blog #5 7th Aug

Still no rain.

Today was lovely, managed to get out of the flat at half one today and met a couple of friends. We sat in the Pleasance Courtyard for a couple of hours and had a good chat and a giggle then went our separate ways to see shows. More people I know are arriving so hoping to be bumping into a lot more people from now on.

I saw Fergus Craig's show today which I've been very excited about for a while. I've seen him a few times but only ever short sets and he's always left the stage with me wanting more. Well, today I got a while hour of him and really enjoyed it. His show (his first solo hour) is called Fergus Craig Still Watches Neighbours. The show is about his affection for the soap and how it has given him comfort at different stages in his life. He points out that very few people have never seen any Neighbours and most people around his age or younger have been through at least a phase of watching Neighbours regularly. A lot of people can relate to his affection for it. It's strange to realise how much of a big part the show plays in our lives. Throughout his show he plays us clips from Neighbours and adds his own slant to it, he also plays us home videos of himself at different stages in his life. His show is full of silly quips, voices and faces which have the audience laughing the whole way through. It's also, strangely, quite touching. I was very impressed with his show, it's unlike any other at the fringe. I'm predicting good things for Craig, he's a brilliant performer.

The other show I saw today was Jason Byrne. When I used to tell people that I'd never seen him live before, they would gasp. Everyone gave the same response: "You HAVE to see him." I was expecting great things and was not wrong to. I'm very familiar with him so knew what to expect. He has brilliant energy on stage. He enjoys himself and the audience definately do too. He's great with the audience and there is a lot of audience participation. At one point he sawed an audience member in half as another stoof on stage in a wig and a feather boa singing some magical style music to accompany the madness. He switches from sillyness like that and chatting with the audience to telling us stories from his life. Mostly about his inadequacies as a child and a husband/parent. He is hilarious, non-stop. He doesn't allow the audience time to breathe or calm down and he definitely doesn't do either himself. A great showman.

I start scouting tomorrow which means I'll be alot busier and won't be able to write about what I've seen as much. Also, my brother leaves and takes with him the computer which is going to make blogging hard but I'm determined to continue. If anyone out there thinks they know how to fix a netbook that can find the interent and says it's connected but just won't let me access any sites and is in Edinburgh at the moment, let me know. I will love you forever.