With my recent house move I've been a bit skint. It always happens, everything seems to cost a lot more than you plan for, anyway, I was quite taken by the idea of seeing some shows during the festival, but with tickets being very expensive for many and being sold out for most well-known performers I thought I would try out some of the free fringe shows. A work colleague, Annabelle (who thinks I'm crazy but isn't all there herself) agreed to come out with me to catch some shows and see how much free stuff we could get/see.
We didn't start too early, so our first show was Afternoon Tea which promised free cake with your comedy. Upon arrival the audience was given individual cakes as you took your seat, so they definitely held up their offer...I could have done with a drink to go with it, but hey, theres no ticket to buy! The comedy was good - a little disjointed at times, swapping between two performers who had quite different styles, but definitely enough to raise more than a few giggles (and groans) Best line: "I may be a redhead but my dungeon is not fiery" (I think Annabelle nearly spat out her cake at that point - it was perfect!)
On our way to our next show we got stopped in the street by a lady giving out limes for a Smirnoff promotion. Annabelle was going to party later that night so the lady gave us 4!
The next show was my choice...A week before, whilst out with B-Man we were accosted by a mad Australian chap giving out flyer's for his show. We had a quick chat with him as he pleaded with us to visit his show promising that it wasn't a man with an olive on his head! This of course spun into a discussion about how you could make that into a cool show... :s Anyway the guys pleas amused me enough that I dragged Annabelle along on our free day.... and we certainly didn't regret it - he was hilarious! Mark Trenwith is definitely a name that I expect to be hearing more of in the future - at least I hope so! His show was a multimedia-social-experiment-gone-wrong along a similar vein to Dave Gormans style of show which was over all too quickly. He added to our list of free stuff by handing out biscuits! I was even more impressed when he came over after the show and chatted to us (he recognised me from the olive conversation!) We gave him a lime. He was very impressed by that!
On our way to the bus stops, Annabelle spotted lots of people sporting straw cowboy hats, and she became quite intent on getting one. We cleverly followed a trail of tourists wearing them to a small tent like object in George Square. As we got close to the tent we were ushered inside by a man on stilts and a small oriental lady in a yellow cagoule. Inside was another free show going on. A surreal mix between Taiko Drumming and the Blue Man Group. I have no idea who they were but they had a man with a TV on his head and everyone of them was in a matching yellow cagoule!.
There was free face painting too, and a free hat if you entered a prize draw. Of course we had to enter the draw! B Man was very impressed with his new hat when I got home :)
So there we have it. Proof that the free shows at the festival can be worth seeing....They feed you as well as keep you entertained for an afternoon!
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