ED2020 Comedy ED2020 Theatre ED2020 Three To See

Threes To See and Stream 4-10 Aug: Virtual Fringe Comedy Shows, Other Virtual Fringe Shows, Non-edfringe Things, Important Fringe Campaigns

By ThreeWeeks Editorial | Published on Monday 3 August 2020

THREE VIRTUAL FRINGE COMEDY SHOWS

ComedySportz Online! | Laughing Horse/Free Festival | 7-29 Aug (pictured)
Lots of great online cultural stuff is kicking off in the next few days on account of the fact – which you must surely know by now – that various organisations are staging virtual content for what would have been the grand old edfringe. And we will kick off our virtual Edinburgh tips with a shout-out for ComedySportz Online via the Free Festival. The clue is probably in the name for most of you: it’s improv comedy, it’s on lots of times this month, and here you will find all the info about it.

Greatest Ever Late ‘n’ Live | Gilded Balloon | Saturdays throughout August
Top Edinburgh comedy venue Gilded Balloon has announced a plethora of stuff to access online during the traditional month of the Fringe, a mixture of archive recordings and live online events. We are especially looking forward to these weekly blasts from the past from one of the Fringe’s longest-running late night comedy institutions, which will be released every Saturday of August via YouTube. Find more info on this and all of GB’s online output here, and subscribe to the YouTube channel here.

Edfringe: Comedy In The Meantime | RBM | 8,15,22 Aug
RBM Comedy has three shows for you to absorb over the course of the Fringe month, featuring comedians who would have been at the Festival this year, had it not been cancelled. They’ll be appearing online and sharing some highlights of the material they would have performed. There’s quite the array of talent on board, so don’t miss these! Head this way to book tickets for the first one.

THREE OTHER VIRTUAL FRINGE THINGS

Online@theSpaceUK | theSpaceUK | from 8 Aug
The excellent lot over at theSpace have come up with a big programme of online Festival treats for you, and it’s all starting from 8 Aug. There are more than eighty shows in total and every Saturday evening there will be a live event featuring multiple works. And you probably already know a bit about some of them if you’ve read this week’s Caro Meets Q&A. Head this way this coming weekend.

Show Up, Kids! Online Live! | Peter Michael Marino via Laughing Horse/Free Festival | 8 +15 Aug
TW favourite Peter Michael Marino is appearing as part of the aforementioned Free Festival, and what he’s offering is a show for the small people amongst you, as it’s an interactive and semi-improvised set for kids aged three to ten. Kids from all over the world will offer story suggestions to the NYC-based performer, in what promises to be a “a wildly comedic twist on the traditional kids’ show”. See this page here to book yourself into the first one.

The Army Photographer | Army At The Virtual Fringe | 10 Aug (pictured)
You’ll probably remember that last week Caro met Jordan Blackwood, producer of Army At The Fringe and its 2020 virtual counterpart. Well, things get going in a few days time and this is our first pick from the line up. The first week revolves around film and photography, and this event, which will take place via Zoom, is a conversation with Corporal Rebecca Brown, the first female soldier to win Army Photographer Of The Year. See this page here for more.

THREE NON-EDFRINGE THINGS

Telephone | Electric Dreams Online Festival | 4, 8, 11, 15 Aug
In recent months we’ve been covering online stuff that came from all over the country, because the internet knows no borders (yes, I know that’s not quite true, don’t write in). And – just because we have been excited to discover that there’s much digital edfringe for us to talk about this month – that doesn’t mean we are going to abandon everything else. So let’s start at the previously mentioned Electric Dreams Online Festival and get ready for ‘Telephone’, an interactive and immersive Zoom experience. See this page here for more.

Future Proof/Turing Chat Room | Plymouth Fringe Festival | 5 Aug
And now let’s move on to the short but sweet Plymouth Fringe and this double bill of digital culture. ‘Turing Chat Room’, by Charlotte Kransmo and Fynn Roberts. “delves into the concept of Artificial Intelligence and how people find that undefinable feeling of real connection”. ‘Future Proof’, described as “a confessional monologue, lecture and above all a ritual”, is by Claudia Jefferies, who really impressed us at edfringe a few years back with ‘Syd And Sylvia’. See this page here for info.

Notflix: The Improvised Musical | The New Normal Festival | 10-11 Aug (pictured)
One now that’s just for our London readers, I’m afraid, as this is a live event from the previously reported New Normal Festival, which will take place in a responsibly distanced manner at an outside venue in SW18. Our choice from it this week is the brilliant and critically acclaimed all female musical improv troupe Waiting For The Call. It’s time to get out there, guys! Fresh air and hilarity, exactly what the doctor ordered. Book right here.

THREE IMPORTANT FRINGE CAMPAIGNS

Pianodrome
Yes, you’re correct, these aren’t really things to either ‘see’ or ‘stream’, they’re campaigns associated with the Fringe and the keeping-going of it. But that’s important to us all, I reckon, so we ought to put the spotlight on them all. So, first up, the team behind Pianodrome – the upcycled-piano-amphitheatre venue that we gave a TW Editors’ Award to last year – is seeking funds to secure a permanent home for their awesome creation. Donate via their crowdfunder here.

#futurefringe from The Greenhouse (pictured)
Oli Savage, AD of The Greenhouse – another TW Editors’ Award winning venue – has been in touch to tell us about the #FutureFringe campaign, which they are running in partnership with Staging Change, with support from the University Of Edinburgh and the Fringe Society. The idea is to use this ‘gap year’ to gather data from all over the festival community in order to help shape and improve the Fringes of the future. You can offer your own response via the website here.

Just The Tonic
We love Just The Tonic, they’ve been responsible for hosting so much great Fringe comedy over the years, and with incredibly reasonable ticket prices. So suffice to say, we feel pretty strongly that we want them back at the Fringe in 2021 and we know that many of our readers will feel the same: the comedy programme would be truly diminished without them. If you can, please consider heading to their crowdfunder here to give a hand as they weather the ongoing COVID-19 storm.

PS: See this link here for lots of other Fringe concerns that need help and are crowdfunding.