If any book, in terrestrial life, should have "Don't Panic" in large, friendly letters on the cover – as Douglas Adams described his proto-e-book The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy – it is Mark Fisher's The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide: How To Make Your Show A Success, published recently by Methuen at £9.99.
A former theatre critic on this newspaper and co-convenor of the Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland, Fisher still looks much the same as he did when I first knew him, and he has lost none of his passion for theatre over what is assuredly more years than either of us care to count. This combination of experience and enthusiasm might be expected to produce a good book, and so it proves.
It is, by the by, curious that Scotland's male theatre scribes, while they may often disagree with one another, share some sort of weird boyish gene, which not only affects their appearance but also promotes a generally upbeat prose style. It is at this time of year, when the London newspapers send an altogether contrasting posse of grumpy old blokes on their annual visit to the Festival and Fringe, that the truth of this comes home. The London lot will proceed to file dispatches about how the wrong man is running the former and the latter has been swamped by comic commercialism, while your local drama experts can be pretty much guaranteed to point expectant readers in more rewarding directions. I'm just saying, like.
Fisher's book, as the subtitle makes clear, is not aimed at such a general audience, but I rather think that even the casual reader, who is perhaps as likely to bring a show to the Fringe as to fly in the air, might enjoy it. For a start, he has done a power of original research and spoken to a very large number of people to use their rich experience as illustrations in his text. Many of them you may never have heard of, but there are a few very well-known names from theatre and comedy quoted along the way.
Best of all, "along the way" is often exactly how and when they are quoted, Fisher having grabbed a quick Q&A with many visiting performers in the years of writing the book. He is always careful to give the context – "says Phil Nichol, on his way to The Stand for his latest solo show" – which gives the book real pace, as well as accurately reflecting the way things are in Edinburgh in August. I suppose he could have made some of that up, of course, but it matters little either way, and I suspect not.
Not only is it highly readable, but The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide is also thoroughly reliable as far as I can see. I've always been a sucker for manuals, and I wish I'd kept the well-thumbed Every Boy's Handbooks – little volumes with Lists and How To's – from my childhood, now that their predecessors are being reprinted in kitsch retro-editions. My shelves still carry workshop manuals for sundry decrepit motor cars that I mercy-killed, and I may well have a folder full of multi-lingual instructions for long deceased hi-fi gear somewhere. So I can tell when a book covers all the bases, and Fisher has his team well-drilled.
There is not an administrator worth knowing unnamed, and a good number of us hacks are listed in the index as well. From the facilities offered by the Fringe Society, to the finding of accommodation, to the choosing of a venue and the publicising of the show – it is all here, with a range of options and opinions from folk who know whereof they speak. Best of all, the one message that comes through loud and clear is that there is no point in putting yourself through all the Fringe madness unless you know why you are doing it – and don't even think about arriving as a performer unless you have seen it as a visitor. But after that, and with Fisher's guidebook in hand, you may even believe that you can fly.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article