Edinburgh in August is a people watcher’s extravaganza.
A feast of deliciously watchable characters have all descended on our capital city to attend and/or perform in a zillion wildly eclectic works of art, from the hundred-piece orchestra concert at the Usher Hall to the one-mermaid monologue in a toilet cubicle.
You know festival time has arrived when you’re queuing for coffee in Waverley station behind two ghosts and a human sunflower.
I love festival-time Edinburgh, and people watching. So, when I saw this a fortnight ago on arriving to perform in Thrown at Traverse Theatre (come and see us!), my heart did a wee jig.
If I’d done an actual jig, that would have been fine too – it might even have kicked off a conga in the coffee queue, such is the ‘anything goes’ spirit of festival-time Edinburgh.
To attempt to categorise the beautifully diverse and infinitely various people one might watch at the Edinburgh festivals may be bluntly reductive, but I’m going to do it anyway. For me, there are three main categories.
Fringe-goer 1: The permanently costumed
You’ll find most of these marvels on the Royal Mile, either flyer-ing for their show, performing their show, strutting their funky stuff for the hell of it – or all three.
You might dance with a psychedelic beetle, lament the weather with a Regency-era frog doing a woodland creatures version of Pride and Prejudice.
Or you could find yourself discussing the comparative merits of starring or not starring reviews with a man dressed as an exclamation mark – and nobody bats an eyelid. I love that.
Fringe-goer 2: The hardcore festival-er
These fall into two sub-categories.
Firstly, the spreadsheet warriors, whose supreme stamina and stunning organisational skills can see them pack fifteen cultural experiences into a 24-hour period – and no sleep.
You can easily spot these festival heroes by their windswept hair, weather suitable-attire, ‘on-a-pure-mission’ gaze, and forward leaning posture.
Oh, and by the fact that they’ve passed you seven times today already, as you’ve sat on your lazy bum people watching.
Secondly, the party animal. These are everywhere, and every year I admire – almost as much as the spreadsheet warriors – their stamina and commitment to consuming as much of the festival as possible.
There are round-the-clock parties, gigs, and envelope-openings all over the city, and somebody has to be there to bring the vibes and drink the booze.
The best of these can make one night’s make-up look fresh for a full 48 hours and not be sick in their pants after nine glasses of rosé at their seventh festival launch/closing party.
The worst can be found in the Scotsman pub at 9am trying to mentally retrace their footsteps since they lost their shoes, phone, and sunflower head.
Fringe-goer 3: The go-with-the-flow-er
This might sound more moderate but when you consider that anyone going with the crazy flow of the festival might find themselves in the company of a permanently costumed and/or hardcore festival-er, the results can be just as extreme.
Or more so, as these types (of which I am one) are completely unprepared for what’s to come.
For me, the great unlisted festival event is the month of August itself, starring all the people in Edinburgh unleashing audacious, ‘anything goes’ creativity all over the place. It’s the stuff of life – and a people watcher’s paradise.
Thrown is at the Traverse Theatre as part of the Edinburgh Festival until August 27 2023.
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