By Richelle
Friday 31st of August 2018

It was 1947 and World War II was not long over. Some ambitious individuals (in particular a guy named Rudolf Bing) decided to take it upon themselves to invite a select few of the best performers of the time to the Scottish capital. And so, the Edinburgh International Festival was born. Top-notch talent brought terrific theatre acts to the city and all was well. The Festival started and was a raging success. However, the people of Edinburgh couldn’t help but acknowledge that some of the most riveting shows were being held near the outskirts of the Festival. Tongues were wagging regarding the alluring performers putting on fantastic shows and lurking in the smaller, less popular venues. Who were these mysterious thespians responsible for all the glowing reviews? Eight very brave theatre companies. They has missed the invite to the Festival. Despite the lack of invitation, they made the calculated decision to just to go for gold anyway and reap the rewards of having the International Festival audiences nearby. During the next year, Scottish journalist and playwright Robert Kemp drew particular attention to this ‘unofficial’ portion of the Festival. He had picked up on all the hype and ever-expanding theatrical niche that was dispersed among the shadows. Kemp attributed the word ‘fringe’ to all the happenings. Thus, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival was born.

With this little history in mind, Sara, Ryan, Daniel and myself headed north up to the Scottish capital for a long weekend of laughs. Our days were spent sight seeing, our nights were spent show hopping and there isn’t any better way to do the Fringe.