Hello everyone!
It’s August and the Edinburgh Fringe has returned to it’s usual, gargantuan self. Swallowing Edinburgh whole and spitting out affordable living like cherry stones. This week, I thought I’d share a few shows that have a online presence in some shape or form.
I must admit, there does seem to be a lack of digital output compared to what I assumed. This is probably due to the fringe returning “to normal” of quick get ins and turn arounds and the space for some intresting techinal online cross overs is pretty limited within those time constraints. As well as a focus on marketing to irl audience members being a sign of success for many shows being presented. It makes sense. The fringe does tend be a bearer of what the next year or two of programming in theatres in the UK looks like so there is a worry, almost selfishly on my side, that there may not be as many hybrid, digital/physical shows finding the space to tour their work but we will wait and see.
Before I get into suggesting shows that are being presented online, I just wanted to highlight these threads by PLACE Edinburgh and Rosie Aspinall Priest about rising housing costs in Edinburgh. I think as an industry, we can look inward a bit too much and not offer much when it comes to acts solidarity. After this years fringe, we really need to consider what participating in the Edinburgh Fringe actually means. Especially in the face of how some venues are reacting to the rail strikes this weekend and their reluctance to offer solidarity to those on the picket line. It’s easy for me to be sat in my flat in Liverpool saying “things need to be different” when there a lot of artists taking that risk and putting themselves through weeks of stress. It’s a complicated beast to navigate the politics of, almost as if its been done intentionally.
Below are this weeks selections
enjoy x
available until 31st August
Pay What You Can
What does it mean to care for our bodies, ourselves, and each other in times of personal and collective pain? Pain and I is a bold exploration into chronic pain experience by Sarah Hopfinger, which unashamedly celebrates the rich complexities of living with pain. In this 30 minute audio experience for headphones, Hopfinger’s poetic and honest autobiographical text is layered over a sensitive and spacious musical score by Alicia Jane Turner; inviting the listener to be with their body and settle into the richness of listening to pain, wherever they are.
Content Warning - Pain and I explores lived experience of chronic pain.
Drink Your Pink by Theodora van der Beek
free
available now
Trapped in a tower in a world of pink, a YouTuber princess is given a box and told never to open it because it contains all the evils of the universe. Isolated from the world, she is plagued by weird, sexual dreams of blue and the unsettling idea that perhaps there could be more....
Mixing classical references from Greek mythology and fairytales with the modern world of Instagram, pop music & #MeToo, Drink Your Pink explores the limitations of strict gender constructs, and the frustration of being confined in a box too small.
Note - If you’re in Edinburgh, there’s also a screening of the film at Banshee Labyrinth on the 23rd
How to Live a Jellicle Life: Life Lessons from the 2019 Hit Movie Musical 'Cats' by Linus Karp
available now
from £8
Following 5-star reviews and two sold out runs the jellicle show is back! A show that provides a jellicle discussion about the jellicle aspects of the jellicle cats in ‘Cats’ and how you can apply them to your life in order to make it truly jellicle. Expect jellicle laughs, jellicle dance and a very jellicle PowerPoint presentation.
Following the success of “Awkward Conversations With Animals I’ve F*cked” (Underbelly Edinburgh 2018, King’s Head Theatre + National Tour 2019) Awkward Productions have returned with yet another show about… sexy animals.
A one man comedic parody that celebrates one of the biggest cinematic flops of recent years. Come along for a silly, ridiculous, very queer and unquestionably jellicle time full of “too many penis jokes” (The Guardian).
The Little Glass Slipper as Performed by the Queen of France and Her Friends by Cara Johnston
from £10
Until 29th August
THE LITTLE GLASS SLIPPER AS PERFORMED BY THE QUEEN OF FRANCE AND HER FRIENDS is inspired by true events! Hidden away in the gardens of Versailles, stands the Petit Théâtre de la Reine, Marie Antoinette's very own private theatre. In 1780, the Queen and her friends played Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny's Le Roi et le Fermier at this little theatre. The original forest set and rustic cottage set have survived to this day! The storming of the Bastille occurred in Paris, France on the 14th of July in 1789. The Bastille was seen by the revolutionists as a symbol of the monarchy's abuse of power and its fall symbolized the end of the Ancien Régime and marked the beginning of the French Revolution. In 1792, the monarchy was abolished. In 1793, Louis and his wife Marie-Antoinette were sent to the guillotine for treason.
Before I go, just wanted to shout out to School for Poetic Computation who have annouced a new line up of online courses on how to make some cool online/digital art stuff. I really wish there was something like this in the UK…maybe there is and I just haven’t found it yet.
We are also 11 subscribers away from 300! I keep being told that etude should have thousands of subscribers and then people are shocked that the numbers are a lot lower. If we could reach 300 subs before the end of the year I’d be dead made up.
Anyway, Hope you enjoyed this weeks etude and see you soon
Josh
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