Edinburgh Confidential

The fat lady is warming up her voice as I struggle to get mine back. The end of the Fringe brings a cocktail of emotions; the joy of returning to my own kitchen, the sadness that it's over for another year, and the wonderment of "where's it all gone?"

I'm happy to say that I ended my stint at the festival by seeing a show that epitomises what I think the fringe should be about.

My Point colleague Gary and I went to see a Norwegian and three Australians put on The Happy Sideshow, a mutant amalgam of humour, weirdness and death-defying feats.

The show starts with Shep (a man, not a dog) placing parts of his body in dingo traps and moves on to Captain Frodo climbing through two tennis racquets. Before you can say "you cannot be serious!", Tiger Lil walks on nails and enthusiastically cracks an angle grinder against her pelvis.

The show culminates with The Space Cowboy performing the longest sword swallow to be seen anywhere in the world. They do other amazing stuff too, but you'll have to go and see the show to find out.

The show is at the Assembly Supper Room from 10pm.

But if that doesn't sound like your kind of thing, my other recommendation would be Jesus Hopped The A Train at the Gilded Balloon, a hard-hitting play about judiciary, humanity, insanity, with a huge spoonful of black humour.

Last week I rambled on about tenuous arts performances in the High Street, but this week it got worse.

Maybe I upset the regulars, but what I did not expect was being hit in the head by a coin as I tried to remember my lines for a piece to camera. I wonder if someone thought throwing projectiles at a spiky-haired lad with a funny accent could be considered art. And if so, where's my commission?

That aside, the festival provided me with a bellyful of laughs, a bellyful of beers, and I'm pleased to report that despite moving into the age of the nerd, technology hasn't curbed our ability to make each other think, laugh, and cry. Long live the festival. Just make sure it's only once a year.

The best of The Point At The Festival will be screened later in the year::::::::::::::snb26p7round::::::::::::::

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