The mainstream critics seem to have fallen out of love with Edinburgh, while fringe freesheets and blogs by young people have been thriving, observes Lyn Gardner.
It's ironic that just as Dame Diana Rigg arrives in Edinburgh to present a show based on her collection of stinking reviews, No Turn Unstoned, the mutterings about a critical exodus from the fringe by the mainstream press have become louder and harder to ignore. In a way, you could say that it was always thus. When I started coming to the fringe in the early 80s, newspapers would send entire teams of critics. It was the Independent that really changed the face of Edinburgh fringe coverage by bringing hordes of fresh-faced young writers – including myself, Tom Morris, Ian Shuttleworth, Sarah Hemming, Alex Renton and more – to the festival, and covering it with a military precision that made the Scotsman really up its game... Read more in The Guardian
It's ironic that just as Dame Diana Rigg arrives in Edinburgh to present a show based on her collection of stinking reviews, No Turn Unstoned, the mutterings about a critical exodus from the fringe by the mainstream press have become louder and harder to ignore. In a way, you could say that it was always thus. When I started coming to the fringe in the early 80s, newspapers would send entire teams of critics. It was the Independent that really changed the face of Edinburgh fringe coverage by bringing hordes of fresh-faced young writers – including myself, Tom Morris, Ian Shuttleworth, Sarah Hemming, Alex Renton and more – to the festival, and covering it with a military precision that made the Scotsman really up its game... Read more in The Guardian