Anyone else fed up with politicians on the fringes?
How to make a depressing, rainy Scottish summer worse in the midst of a financial crisis?
Answer: Turn the Edinburgh Fringe into an endless partisan show full of pasts, wannabes and things that should never have happened.
The Edinburgh Fringe was once a fun little hideaway for those wanting to escape the endless rains of Scottish August. Now it’s a narcissism parade, a bevy of politicians loudly poking fun at their petty obsessions — which have already bored us to death with the rest of the year — or getting on each other’s nerves and the culture clashes that they lead, exacerbate created to cause misery in all of our lives.
In the past, one could not help but see a private student disguised as a sad clown handing out flyers along the Royal Mile during his year abroad in order to gain a Brechtian insight into the life of Kazakh nomads. Today you are full of Sturgeons, Salmonds, Mordaunts and Cherrys.
Is this sadism intentional? Don’t they understand that most of us — barring the downed lunatics who would pay to see their gums flapping — could use a little break from them?
Anyway, nothing they say on stage is of any interest. Look, here comes Tory MP Penny Mordaunt. What fascinating new topics of conversation will she grace us with? Oh, it weakens the SNP. Heavens, how absolutely original! What a fresh and innovative interpretation.
Is that Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond we’re looking at? what could they talk about Oh, herself, her feud. Wow. Get me a chair – this is going to be the story of the century.
Look, Joanna Cherry is coming. Amazing, she talks about gender. Has this happened before in world history? What could she have to say?
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And over there Humza Yousaf comes on stage. The leader of the Scottish nation clearly needs far more opportunities than he currently has to get his thoughts across to the suffering masses who are crying out for more political wisdom.
Salmond basically occupied Edinburgh. His show – “The Ayes Have It” (completely harrowing) – stars Tory lucky brothers David Davis and John Bercow, former Labor First Minister Henry McLeish and (again) Joanna Cherry.
Dear God, didn’t these people have enough airtime collectively and individually over the decades?
What makes matters even more annoying is the soft-ball nature of the “debate.” No one gets grilled, no foot comes near fires. It’s a cozy kiss for those sure to be ensnared in their gilded political media bubbles.
This devalues the Edinburgh Festival. The Fringe should be about art. Politics is not art. Art is a way for artists and audiences to come to a collective understanding of this confusing world in which we all live together.
Politics is the ability of one person – or a group of people – to impose their opinion on others. Politics is a way to gain power. Art is a way of challenging power.
The only positive is that these political limelight hogs are helping some venues and their staff are making some money in the struggling entertainment sector.
But it’s quite likely that if you shoved those people off the stage and put some interesting comedians, singers, actors and writers in their place, the finances would even out.
The sight of politicians vying for attention in Edinburgh over the summer is the new definition of ‘thirsty’ in 2023.
Maybe we should do a little role reversal. Why not let the entertainers take over Holyrood for a summer while the politicians spoil show business? I mean, it would just be one group of comedians replacing another anyway.
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