Introduction
This year's supplement, whilst almost the same size as last year's, covers some 20 fewer shows. By the time the usable reviews of the award-winning shows had been included, there was no available space to include the usual batch of other notable productions, nor even all reviews of all shows at Aurora Nova (although, between that venue's healthy batch of award-winners this year and the round-ups we did find room for, I hope that venue's international menu is adequately represented).
This is partly due to a marked divergence of views as to which shows deserved to be garlanded. Last year, there were only five Herald Angels-winners that had not also received Fringe Firsts; this year, almost twice as many. In addition, a couple more batches of major awards have sprung up (and one has been lost: as far as I could see, the List/Writers' Guild Awards this year migrated to the Film Festival). But partly, as I noted last year, it is that less is being covered. This is despite a reasonably stable volume of page-space being devoted to the Festivals. The Daily Express once again did not see fit to cover the world's largest arts festival, and the Daily Mail and Sunday Express sprang to single trips up for Quentin Letts and Mark Shenton respectively (although Mark's single column is admirable in the number of shows he manages to cover; knowing that he cannot afford to go into much depth, he gives a remarkable coherent tour d'horizon of the sizeable bunch of shows he did get to see... we liked it so much we've, er, duplicated the section on Traverse shows!). Even my esteemed colleague and predecessor Ian Herbert gave Edinburgh a miss this year for the first time in an age.
Lyn Gardner and I are now the only London-based critics who stay in Edinburgh for the duration... and even in our cases, it's the duration of the Fringe; we don't stick it out until the end of the International festival several days later. Shorter stays mean a reduction in the range of material seen: the press corps chase each other's tails into important or lauded shows... after, that is, the increasingly obligatory three days for Traverse openings. There was a distinct feeling this year that the Tray may have overstretched itself, with a number of Traverse 3 productions in particular being greeted with less than enthusiasm.
My remarks in one of my round-ups reprinted towards the back of this supplement also turned out to be borne out as regards overall figures: a lot of complaining during the month (a month plagued by worse than usual Festival weather: it was a vintage year for Fringe 'flu) was somehow spun into another set of record figures. How long that can continue is a matter of speculation. Moreover, if current trends continue, 2008 may be the first year in which the number of shows in the Comedy section of the Fringe programme outnumbers that in its Theatre pages.
At any rate, here follow the major reviews (or part-reviews: as Mark Shenton demonstrates, the Edinburgh multiple review is an art form in itself) of this year's Edinburgh landmarks. I hope they prove useful and informative.
Ian Shuttleworth