A wailing and gnashing of teeth over the fate of the Assembly Rooms on George Street, for 30 years the heart of the Fringe and now, sadly, not.
Edinburgh city council says it is open to “cutting-edge” thinking from promoters for next year’s festival period, prompting outrage from artists who remember the venue in its golden age about 20 years ago.
The £9.3 million council refurbishment has turned a thriving arts venue into something “sterile”, according to Dillie Keane, of Fascinating Aïda. Carol Benjamin suggests that she and David Johnson, a fellow promoter, might form a team to take over the venue. David’s reply? “I would rather put my member in a blender than work with Edinburgh council.” Fact: David Johnson is producer of Puppetry of the Penis, though not for much longer with such a cavalier attitude.
Council officials are less than impressed by the belly-aching. Our woman in City Chambers tells us: “We love the Assembly Rooms. We defend it.”
To Jenners, where Fergus Linehan, director of the international festival, hosted the annual artists’ party. Young and carefree on eve of festival he now wears the look of a man who has drunk of the cup of life and found a dead beetle at the bottom. The pace is relentless. Still, the consolation is free entry to the big shows, and none bigger than Lanark. “I did not like it, I loved it. You just fastened your seatbelt and launched into it. What an incredible moment of creativity.”