Festival review: 'It has been a more difficult year than most'

Published on Friday 29 August 2008 09:17

IT obviously wasn't meant to be symbolic, but after ticket problems, lukewarm reviews for the big shows, miserable weather and finally the resignation of the Fringe director, it seems cruelly appropriate that Edinburgh's festival season should close with silent fireworks.

It will be very strange for the skies above Edinburgh Castle to be filled by dazzling pyrotechnics without a sound, but it will be interesting to see what a difference it will make for some of them to go off with not so much as a pop. At least the Scottish Chamber Orchestra will have no trouble being heard, but fireworks without noise might be like mince without tatties.

The same has been said about much of this year's International Festival programme, with the majority of critics being underwhelmed by the big shows upon which so many hopes were placed. In particular the National Theatre of Scotland's play 365 fell some way short of the admittedly high bar it set itself with Black Watch and The Bacchae, and the much-anticipated Dorian Gray failed to excite most critics although the King's Theatre crowd were on the whole more appreciative. That there were walk-outs at Class Enemy, an English play performed in Bosnian, should remind director Jonathan Mills that putting bums on seats is one thing but keeping them there is another when there is so much else on in Edinburgh for people to do. For a programme with a theme of "artists without borders" it was surprising how many barriers were put up for audiences.

Some criticism has been levelled at this year's programme for the lack of more popular classics and of world-class names, although those that attended the Prokofiev concerts from the London Symphony Orchestra and heard violinist Leonidas Kavakos might beg to differ.

The Fringe was overshadowed by the failure of the new online ticket system and people found themselves with legitimate tickets for already full venues while shows which should have been packed were half full. On top of the split between the Fringe Society and the big four comedy organisations the challenges facing Jon Morgan's successor are considerable, not least in just restoring public confidence. Buying in a robust ticketing system is an obvious priority.

At least the quality of productions on offer from Edinburgh theatre groups was higher than ever and the spirit of the Fringe is very much being kept alive by the local organisations.

The absence of the Film Festival for the first time meant there was much less glamour around, and were it not for Sir Sean Connery's presence at the Book Festival there would have been an almost total absence of genuinely big names.

It has been a more difficult year than most and the whole August programme is now in need of review.