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Article by John Fleming for the Writers’ Guild
Until the last weekend of this year's fun fest, the most un-remarked-on development at the Fringe was the creative rise of the tiny and shabby Holyrood Tavern, a 50-or-so seater drab room behind a dingy pub at the bottom of the Pleasance Hill en route to the old Gilded Balloon and the new Smirnoff Underbelly. Seldom visited by Armani-clad media moths, only six years ago the Holyrood Tavern used to have naff shows you wouldn't want to see even when drunk and wearing a thin tee-shirt on a rainy day. In the last five years, though, it has been programmed by Vicky de Lacy (female half of the Brian Damage & Krysstal comedy act) and the Holyrood has become a fascinating hotbed of interesting acts - some brilliant, some talented though underdeveloped and some just plain bizarre.
Last year, the Holyrood Tavern's Wil Hodgson won the Perrier Best Newcomer award.
This year, their Laura Solon rightly won the prestigious main Perrier award for Kopfraper's Syndrome while, with less of a fanfare, their Desperately Seeking Sorrow (Johnny Sorrow & Danny Worthington) was nominated for the new Malcolm Hardee Oy Oy award.
Vicky de Lacy and Brian Damage run the Pear Shaped comedy clubs in London and Sydney and are shaping up as the new Malcolm Hardee, although adding a pair of breasts to his legendary bollocks. They drink, they can spot talent and they run fascinatingly creative bills in shabby venues.
So, while the media moths are attracted to the brightly-coloured and wackily-posed posters of the three (or, with the Underbelly, four) main venues and sign up the Douglas Bader end of the creative spectrum - acts with no legs - the really interesting acts have been passing them by.
It will be interesting to see if this changes next year for two reasons. One is that Pear Shaped at the Holyrood Tavern [sic] have now won Perrier Prizes at two consecutive Fringes.
John Fleming Writers Guild
Edinburgh Festival 2005 (link to article)
[please note that Vicky de Lacy from Rare Birds Productions is Venue Manager at the Holyrood]
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