Fringe Fever

I am writing this from a room with no windows on the top floor of an Edinburgh flat. My knee appears to have decided that I have had enough theatre, and is shooting messages of pain up my thighs and into my arms. Even my beloved codeine cannot help, and  audience participation, for the first time ever, terrifies me, since I can barely stand, let alone get involved in on-stage hilarity.

The Fringe is outside, calling me like a child who wants to play and can't understand why I am not moving. Last night, I went to see That Bin Laden Show, and it deserves comment. Too much to type,  just let me say it is worth a punt. More than... socio-political intelligence, wit, not what you expect...

I am as uninspired as a Daily Telegraph columnist. A top five? Bin Laden, Dark Matter, a couple of Summerall (presuming you avoid the various lectures that are pretending to be theatre), and obviously Red Bastard.

A burlesque show that is oddly old fashioned? In Flangrante.

What do star ratings mean? How do we approach the work of young people in the Fringe?

Can anyone help me with advice for bad knees? This is the tuning up. Expect more when the painkillers kick in...