Royal Mile

Having posted not much other than reviews and show recommendations I thought it would be worth chatting about other great aspects of the Fringe.

One of the highlights of the festival is the Royal Mile.

Right in the centre of the old town the street comes alive as 100's of street performers, theatre groups, flyerers and a few tramps all compete for attention.

If you want to soak up the Fringe atmosphere this is the first place to head. The street performers will keep the kids entertained for hours, there are three mobile stages with acts doing short preview performances every 20 minutes. If you wander between the three of them you are pretty much constantly watching something new.

If you like anything you see you can buy tickets from the fringe office which is right there in the middle of the Royal Mile. (There are also a lot of year round tourist attractions there - head further up the hill to see the Camera Obscura - one of the world's oldest visitor attractions).

You'll also see people trying to invent new ways of getting attention. Lying in the road pretending to be dead seems to be popular at the moment, which can be quite annoying when there is a big crowd trying to get past.

Yet there are still people handing out flyers without so much as a smile!

See my posting from last year for tips:

http://alocalsguidetothefringe.blogspot.com/2008/07/flyers-flyers-flyers.html

A mention should go to the cast of "Much Ado About Nothing" for attracting photographers with their posing, before dancing in the middle of the street with each other (and encouraging passers by to join in). Geat way to get attention. Good luck with your show!

Also the cast of "Showstopper" deserve a mention for a very entertaining improvised song. Their show looks great.

If the weather holds I will probably head back down today.