FOLLOWING a ticketing fiasco that was like the Sermon on the Mount without the magic as staff tried to divide two fishes and five loaves between thousands of irate customers, the director of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe has resigned.
There is no good reason to doubt that Jon Morgan was a sincere, effective fellow, but if you are driving the bus when it hits a low-lying bridge no amount of pointing at what it says on Ordnance Survey maps is going to deflect the spray of blame in y
our direction.
So Jon will move on to brighter pastures while the Fringe considers its next director.
There are three team members in the yearly entertainment relay that is the Fringe – the performers, the venues and Edinburgh itself. They must all come together to cross the same finishing line for the singular benefit of those who are important above all others – the audiences.
Of the three groups, Edinburgh is – oddly – probably the least public. Although the Fringe monopolises almost every available city resource from the Royal Mile to the university halls of residence to each and every Greggs the Baker, Edinburgh itself could be said to lack a vocal, participatory presence in the ongoing evolution of the event. This isn't just because most of the performers and venue managers aren't from Edinburgh or even Scottish.
Part of the problem is that for entirely ridiculous reasons a significant number of Edinburghers seem to consider the Fringe an inconvenience. That opinion is truly incomprehensible given the Fringe's economic contribution to the city. It's like complaining about Christmas because you don't like wrapping paper.
The underlying truth behind the griping is that not enough is done to make Edinburgh as a whole feel part of the process and less like a city under siege. There would not be a gap for the Edinburgh People's Festival to jab sticks through if the Edinburgh Festival Fringe had evolved in a way that including its host city in a slightly more organic way.
That is just one thing which should be on the agenda for the next director of the Fringe. And much as I love Edinburgh, I wouldn't even argue it's the most important one. Culture delivery systems have changed in a way that needs to be acknowledged by how the Fringe operates. Work needs done to establish the serious artistic nature of much of what happens at the Fringe rather than the weary recycling of photos of jugglers and people with their faces painted that accounts for way too much of the current international public face.
A route forward needs to be imagined and crafted that includes all Fringe stakeholders; keeping them all pointed in the same direction and in a way that exploits rather than is handicapped by the creative tension of their occasionally competing aims. And it would be nice to avoid more ticketing fiascoes.
With this and more in mind, the Fringe doesn't at this stage require another ex-venue manager as director. This might have worked in the past but running and fronting this complex institution can no longer be said to be analogous to what happens in a year-round theatre. Running the Fringe is entirely different from dealing with the ins and outs of such a typical venue. Just because you know how to reverse park a Toyota Corolla doesn't mean you should be next in line to replace Bernie Ecclestone.
The Fringe needs someone who can take it back to the future, and restore the sense of abundant opportunity and cultural excitement that will continue to reward all those who come to Edinburgh to perform, organise and – above all else – consume.
Tat's all folksTHANK goodness something has been done about all that tartan tat being sold on the streets of the Old Town. Far too many central dwellers no longer feel safe to walk their cobbled streets for fear of becoming prey to the contraband dealers of tea-towels and C U Jimmy hats.
The seizure of such goods by the local flying squad might seem excessive, but experts warn that its a slippery slope to using hard textiles that begins with Greyfriars Bobby Made In China T-shirts. And frankly, anything that makes the Royal Mile more like a street and less like the downhill slalom at Garmisch Partenkirchen is to be welcomed.
Criminal negligenceNICE to know that the Home Office has worked out that the forthcoming slump will result in a rise in crime.
Now they won't have any excuses when it comes to knowing what resources to demand to tackle this boom in illegal activities; if you know the grass is going to grow, it makes sense to order a lawnmower. As such, there need be no rise in crime at all. Unless of course they are incompetent.
