The ulimate roundup of the best roundups of what to see at the Edinburgh Fringe (you read that right) – and Grantium hell
The biggest creative arts festival in the world starts next week, here are the best roundups by other people of the best shows to see
Hi friends!
How are you?
I saw Beth Steel’s ‘Till the Stars Come Down last night at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. It is a sparkling jewel of a show, full of wit and warmth. The staging was a little strange, but forgivable. There are drunk women, a wedding, glitterballs, stilettos and silliness. A perfect night out. Do go, if you can.
Shine on: ‘Till the Stars Come Down
I’m currently in a special kind of background anxiety. I’m not the only person in this special kind of anxiety, I know there are thousands of us, all in the same anxiety boat. That boat is called the good ship Grantium, a website which the Arts Council uses to manage funding applications. It has not been functioning since Thursday 23 July. I’ve been quoted in The Stage complaining about it over here, I’m particularly proud to get a reference to Schrodinger’s Cat in a complaint about a funding portal.
On Thursday, thousands of creative people eagerly flocked to the Grantium portal to see the results of grant applications we’d made – will we be able to fund our dreams? or will our dreams be crushed? Think of it like exam results day – you need to rip the envelope open and see what your future holds!
But Grantium was down. And it stayed down. As of the time of writing, it’s STILL DOWN. I’m on a couple of whatsapp groups with other funding applicants and we got ourselves into a big frothy anxious frenzy about it.
One reason I’m speaking about this issue is that I recently learned from some very reputable arts organisations and journalists that people are hesitant to speak out against the Arts Council (ACE).
