Ö÷²¥´óÐã at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
On Saturday we ended our two week run at the which, for the first time, saw Ö÷²¥´óÐã television, radio and online come together under one roof at our own pop-up venue on Potterow in the heart of the world's largest arts festival.
Over the course of the last fortnight over 100 hours of radio and 200 hours of TV and red button content has been produced from our temporary home at the Fringe with more than 10 Ö÷²¥´óÐã networks involved and over 20,000 fringe-goers visiting our venue. I'm very proud that we've had every on our stage at some point during the last fortnight including the winner Adam Riches.
This venue was something of a pilot for us as we look to join up our Fringe coverage as well as the Ö÷²¥´óÐã's overall Edinburgh Festivals programming.
As the person responsible for bringing all of the production teams together at this single venue it was great to see Radio 1's Fun and Filth Cabaret hosted by Scott Mills and Nick Grimshaw, with guest hosts Dappy from N-Dubz and The Hoff, crossing paths with the team from Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio 4's Fringe favourite Just a Minute, chaired by the legendary performer Nicholas Parsons, who not only recorded radio shows at the Ö÷²¥´óÐã venue but also hosted his own daily chat show and appeared in a play at the Pleasance during the Festival.
Under the careful eye of Headmaster Arthur Smith, and new for 2011, the Comedy School at the Fringe included masterclasses with some of the most respected names in comedy including the team behind Ö÷²¥´óÐã Three's Mongrels, Miranda Hart and Ricky Gervais.
In addition, with a host of performance and comedy writing workshops and the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Three Funny in 15 seconds video booth, we hope to have found a few stars of the future.
For a taste of the last two weeks from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe our short film and website will, I hope, whet your appetite for Edinburgh 2012.
Sophie Taitt is Project Director, Ö÷²¥´óÐã at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2011
Comment number 1.
At 31st Aug 2011, Ö÷²¥´óÐãSuppressesItsCritics wrote:It was good to see the Ö÷²¥´óÐã at Edinburgh once again presenting high quality coverage of the myriad events of this classic international event. I hope this standard of coverage we have begun to expect every year can be maintained in this time of austerity.
I wonder how the Festival next year will reflect the events of this? For example, once the dust has settled the phone hacking hearings would be an obvious subject for lampooning; especially certain pie thrusting events. Also whether events in the Middle East will ever be a fit subject? Surely the participants aren't always stony faced?
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Comment number 2.
At 31st Aug 2011, zippybungle wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 3.
At 31st Aug 2011, KeepF1onÖ÷²¥´óÐãTweeter wrote:I see mention of the Mongrels, and wonder if they are funny? I've dipped into their show a couple fo times and they keep popping up where Basil Brush would have a few years ago, and they just aren't funny. Sort of amusing yes, but nothing original. At Edinburgh were they able to throw off the Ö÷²¥´óÐã scriptwriters and rise to the occasion perhaps?
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Comment number 4.
At 31st Aug 2011, KeepF1onÖ÷²¥´óÐãTweeter wrote:Regarding Arthur Smith, I heard one of his broadcasts from The Fringe one evening when I was on my way to the local shop. He revealed what I'm sure is a well known fact in certain circles, which is that the wife of George Formby was a fiercely in favour of anti-aparteid sentiments! Apparently she 'robustly' (none of her swear words allowed here!) ticked off somebody in South Africa who tried to tell her which children she should and should not hug. Given that previously the only fact I'd heard about her was her pessessiveness of our George, this was a wonderfully fresh insight into her beliefs. Thank you Arthur, Edinburgh and the Ö÷²¥´óÐã!
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Comment number 5.
At 31st Aug 2011, KeepF1onÖ÷²¥´óÐãTweeter wrote:Foloowing on from @4, this is how the occasion is described on Wikipedia (my censoring of her swear word - not Wikipedia's!):
In 1946 Beryl and George toured South Africa shortly before formal racial apartheid was introduced, where they refused to play racially-segregated venues. According to Formby's biographer, when George was cheered by a black audience after embracing a small black girl who had presented his wife with a box of chocolates, National Party leader Daniel François Malan (who later introduced apartheid) phoned to complain; Beryl replied "Why don't you p*** off you horrible little man?"
Yes, 1946! Way ahead of her time.
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Comment number 6.
At 7th Sep 2011, Paul T wrote:so what this got to do with the dodgy deal done by the bbc and sky?????
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