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arts, arts industry, biscuit barrel, coronavirus, covid19, edinburgh, edinburgh festival fringe, edinburgh fringe, festivals, fringe, into the unknown, live performance, lockdown, make your fringe, opinion, opinion piece, performing arts, performing arts arts festival, the arts, theatre, united world
As all 3,500-odd different productions have weeped about for the past week, this year’s Edinburgh Festival (and all of its sister festivals) have been cancelled amid.. well, we all know why EVERYTHING has been cancelled by now. The world’s greatest escapist month-long bubble has been burst and my heart for one, was broken. Having already battered and bruised the rest of its body, this crisis has now gone for the heart of the arts. And rightfully so – when a festival has the power to temporarily increase city’s population by a few million, causing China-level proximity issues, it may be unwise for a year that will still be in the later stages of recovering from a pandemic by the time August hits. This festival could well cause the next major outbreak.
At the same time, that decision was not easy. The very economy for Edinburgh is affected by that festival – what happens when you pull that Jenga brick out? Which is why I disagree with some of those who complained about the cancellation taking two weeks after the UK went into lock-down. I mean, did you think it was going to be a quick process to shut down the biggest arts festival in the world? Many artists and comedians’ careers revolve round Edinburgh Fringe, as do the venues that only run during the festival – it was a courtesy for the Fringe Society to weigh out all the factors in front of them. And, in the end, the right call was made.
So what’s the bright side? I’d joke that, for one, there won’t be seven-hundred shows called ‘COVID the Improvised Musical’ — but that brings me to my point, as well as what may hopefully change about the festival come 2021.
Since Beyond the Fringe in the sixties – namely when Peter Cook impersonated the Prime Minister.. in front of the Prime Minister – topicality has always been a strong addition to the festival. Shows have been able to creatively question our morals and our politics without limitations and in any manner or form. So when did it become click-bait?
When did political commentary in a theatre festival turn into tabloid headlines and Lad Bible articles (toxic website by the way, just my opinion)? Well, naturally, the festival followed the rest of the world. In 2016, we were introduced to the wonderful buzzwords of ‘Bre**t’ and ‘Tru*p’. So divisive, they may as well have been the two dots on the divided symbol.
And what happened to the Fringe? Come 2018, the festival was full of productions carrying those very words. And who could blame them? It’s a great selling-point – and I’m sure that, done right, a Bre**t musical could be absolutely hilarious. So what’s the problem?
Let’s go back to 1947, when the Austrian-Jew Rudolf Bing founded the Edinburgh International Festival. Note the words: 1947, Austrian, Jew, International Festival. Two years after the world had battered itself with the most devastating war it had ever seen… and Rudolf wants to bring THAT world together for a party? What an absolute nutter. And yet, here we are 73 years later. The festival founded as the band-aid for World War Two, and it is still THE biggest arts festival in the world. It is perhaps the most incredible thing in the arts-sphere – still the most viable gateway for independent artists to get into the industry.
Cut to 2020, we face a completely different war, and not against each other. Whilst it will not cause the same level devastation or sacrifice of World War Two, by God there will still be a lot of that. The world is once again scared, and we are ALL scared at the same time. BUT, after years of disagreement, wars, elections, referendums – all these trigger words of conflict that has made everyone concentrate their hate on each other with no real benefit – finally, we all have a common enemy. We are all working together for the same outcome. As Rudolf Bing had intended all those years ago with an International Festival, we are united for the one cause.
Cut to 2021, what world are we in now? A world that will not be sick, but instead sick of only being able to consume art at home. A world indoctrinated into the escapism it consumed whilst it wanted to run away from the world’s problems — not in the bitter divisive headline’s from yesterday’s paper. And what will those factors lead to? The most highly attended Edinburgh Fringe of all time – I’m calling that now. Because there is nothing else like it and, like so many things right now, we did not appreciate that until it was taken away.
What do I hope for? For the resurrection of the Fringe to repeat the actions of its birth. A united festival for a reunited world.
Stay safe, and see you at Edinburgh Fringe 2021.
Horsey x