Firstly, here are today’s Picks of the Day: Randy Feltface: First Banana The Fringe’s favourite purple puppet is only here for three days this year, but who needs to do a full Edinburgh Festival Fringe run when you are a star of Netflix and NBC with a global fanbase? In this new show, Randy argues that things have gone downhill for the human race since 10,0000 years ago when the first bananas – which were the world’s first fruit, according to some experts – appeared on Earth around that time. At the time of writing this, the run was mostly sold out, so book fast. Assembly Rooms, tonight and tomorrow, 10pm; tomorrow and 11 August, 5.
10pm. Up Lates One of the joys of the Edinburgh festivals every August is showing up to something not knowing exactly what it is you’re going to get. It’s a rather more common experience in some of the slightly ramshackle corners of the Fringe, but tonight and next Friday the EIF is offering what it describes as “a surprise line-up for a night full of inspiration, as a variety of ideas, genres and performance styles come together in the sociable surroundings of the Hub”.
It sounds a lot like a more civilised Late ‘n’ Live event (though it is also more expensive, with tickets starting from £25). The Hub, tonight and 16 August, 10.30pm Songs of the Bulbul This is the new show by Aakash Odedra Company, whose Samsara was a 2022 EIF highlight.
Bulbuls are common songbird in Africa and Asia, and Odedra’s new show draws on a ancient Sufi myth in which a bulbul, symbolic of the natural world, is captured and sings a beautiful song before dying of despair. Lyceum Theatre, until 11 August, 8pm, plus 3pm on 11 August And here’s a small sample of what you’ll find in the Edinburgh Festivals section of the website today..
. Today we are delighted to announce our first six Fringe First winners of 2024 . Established just over half a century ago by former Scotsman arts editor Allen Wright, these awards are presented in recognition of outstanding new writing on the Fringe, and in the past they have helped launch the careers of a whole host of famous names.
This year, the Fringe Firsts are being jointly sponsored by Edinburgh Napier University and Queen Margaret University. We are hugely grateful for their support, and also for the hard work of our judging panel: our chief theatre critic Joyce McMillan (as chair) plus writers Susan Mansfield, Mark Fisher, Jackie McGlone, Sally Stott, David Pollock and Fiona Shepherd. Our Week One winners will receive their iconic Fringe First plaques, lovingly crafted by Black Box, at an awards ceremony later this morning, and we will be presenting two more sets of awards on 16 and 23 August.
Meanwhile, the Edinburgh International Festival continues to serve up a menu of spectacular music. For the second night of their EIF residency, the Bamberger Symphoniker turned to two late greats: Brahms’ Double Concerto for violin and cello, his last orchestral work, and Dvořák’s Ninth, From the New World, his final symphony. In her five star review of the concert , our critic Carol Main hailed "a seamless performance of consistent precision.
" Other recommended reading in the Edinburgh Festivals section of scotsman.com today: Kate Copstick's latest Fringe comedy round-up , Fiona Shepherd on some must-see Fringe cabaret ; and Susan Mansfield's interview with author Lesley McDowell , ahead of her appearance at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, which kicks off this weekend. Want to find out more about how we cover the world's biggest arts festival? Here's everything you need to know .
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