Anything but a Mess

Caroline Horton did a fine job telling her grandmother’s wartime story story. But Mess, her own story of her struggle with anorexia, is in a different league.

If you’ve been on the Fringe circuits, you may have seen a lovely little play called You’re Not Like the Other Girls Chrissy, a one-woman show where writer/performer Caroline Horton plays her own French grandmother, in her wartime story where she was separated from her English fiancé. It deservedly received all-round accolades for her performance, the only question being how she could follow this up. Because, for all these virtues, she had the advantage of a grandmother an amazing tale. However, the way she transplanted the story to the stage clearly impressed the Traverse Theatre, who accepted her into their Edinburgh Fringe programme.

Roundup: Edinburgh Fringe 2012

That’s it, I’m now back from my second visit, and I have finally got round to writing everything up. Before I begin, just a word about the context of this roundup. As any fringegoer will know, there are gazillions of plays on offer and no-one can hope to see anywhere near all of them. Since I don’t like pre-vetting what I see based on other people’s reviews, there are going to be plenty of plays out that I would have liked had I seen them, but I didn’t. This list should, therefore, be considered a cross-section of the good stuff that was at the Edinburgh Fringe rather than a top ten of the whole festival.