My visit to the Edinburgh Fringe - exciting but daunting!

I'm lucky enough to be spending a week at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival next month, thanks to being part of the wonderful Network of Independent Critics, which set up a crowdfunding scheme to discount accommodation expenses in the city.

I've never been to the Fringe before, although I have visited Edinburgh and loved it. So I'm looking forward to returning, albeit in quite different circumstances - this time the city will be a centre of chaos, and I'm not the best when it comes to huge crowds of people!

I remember when I went to Manchester's Gay Pride a few years ago and the streets were literally rammed with people. It was like being in a Where's Wally jigsaw, and whichever way you turned or looked, there was a solid wall of people in your way. In the end Gareth had to take me by the hand and literally pull me through the thronging crowds, so we didn't lose one another! I've never been to a Pride since.

But I'm sure this will be different. This is a city given over to the celebration of performance art, music, dance, comedy, theatre, musicals, cabaret, burlesque and opera for more than three weeks solid, and will be the cultural hub of the UK for that time. And I'll be at the heart of it, for a week at least!

When I got the Fringe brochure through the post last month - all 430+ pages of it! - I was staggered by the sheer number of shows on offer - more than 3,000, I believe. I knew it was big, but had no idea this many shows would fit in the one city! The brochure is like a Kay's Catalogue of culture! Beautiful!

It took some time to go through it genre by genre, page by page, show by show, picking out the ones I'd love to see, and others which tickle my fancy. You could never see everything that's on at the Fringe, it'd be a physical impossibility unless you had a TARDIS. So it's important to plan ahead, to have a good idea what you know you want to see. I've been advised to leave space for new discoveries while I'm there, for recommendations and the unexpected. While I appreciate that, I'm not the sort of guy who can just wake up in the morning and make the day up as I go along. I have to have a plan, a structure, and I need to know where I'm going and what's next. Else I'm adrift and at sea, rudderless and vulnerable!

I've drawn up a schedule of 24 shows I want to see, ordering them geographically so that I'm in roughly the same proximity each day for the shows I'm attending. I've left ample time in between for travel and refreshment, and the all-important reflection, because as well as seeing these shows, the important thing is that I have to write about them too. My hope is to get the reviews on my site with as brief a turnaround as possible, but I realise that might not be practical due to the sheer volume.

I'm hoping to get a device to take with me to write these reviews using the wi-fi capabilities of various venues and the accommodation I'll be using. But even that's proving troublesome - a laptop is too unwieldy and heavy, so I need what I thought was a Notebook, but I'm not even sure they make them any more - are they called Chromebooks now or something?

The Fringe brochure

I'm not good in massing crowds, and I'm definitely not the best with technology and computing. My Dad's ten times more proficient than me! So my task in July is to get myself an electronic device which is portable and does what I need it to in Edinburgh, which is to word process and have good internet access in wi-fi situations. I don't need all the arty-farty new-fangled apps that allow me to alter images and play videos (don't get me started on how much I loathe Windows 10). I just need something that types and transmits!

So while planning for the Fringe is a daunting mix of getting everything I need ready - accommodation, tickets, maps, refreshments, technology etc - I mustn't lose sight of the fact this is a fantastic opportunity, something I've never done before and perhaps wouldn't ever do without the support of the NIC. I'm an arts writer based in North Wales. I've not got ready access to the cultural metropolises of the West End, Manchester, Cardiff or Edinburgh, so this is a BIG DEAL for little old me! I can hold my own, but I'll be holding it alongside some very special, talented and experienced people.

So brace yourself, Edinburgh! I'll be in you very soon!

~oOo~

By the way, my Edinburgh Fringe coverage will appear on my reviews website, Steve Stratford Reviews, and I'll be tweeting like a badass throughout!