We’ve experienced our first full on day at the Fringe Festival, and what a day it was. We kicked things off with a visit to Ideas Fund Edinburgh runners up High Tide and their performance of Lidless, a play about Guantanamo Bay.

We were handed a small chair and invited to sit in a large white box, shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the audience. The show packed a few punches and was incredibly compelling. We won’t give away too many details, as this is a show you definitely have to go and see, but being so close, and almost part of the play adds a new, and sometimes uncomfortable depth to the show, but one that plays up well to the main overarching themes.

Ticket details here

Next up we hotfooted it across town to Ideas Fund Edinburgh Winners Tortoise in a Nutshell and their puppet show, The Last Miner. We bumped into their mentor Jill Robertson, from Catherine Wheels Theatre who’d also come along to support the winners. The first two rows were full of children, which added to the magical atmosphere, but this was by no means simply a play for kids. The Last Miner was a beautiful, eerie and moving show that bought a tear to all of our eyes. We highly recommend that you take some time out from your afternoon and go to see this wonderful show.

Ticket details here

It goes without saying that we’re incredibly proud of both of our winners; they’ve both produced fantastic and compelling shows that were thought provoking, challenging, emotional but above all highly enjoyable.

To top the day off, we paid a little visit to Tom Allen, the fantastic comedian and former NYT member (you can check out our recent interview with him here about his Edinburgh show). Despite a few latecomers and some drunken hecklers, he put on a brilliant performance, that was intelligent, subtle and quite simply hysterical. It was the second time that we cried that day, but for very different reasons.

For our nightcap we popped into the Forest Fringe's 10th Birthday where we witnessed a Bristol band performing Brazilian folk music, a Belgian DJ and a hillbilly band – all of who were fantastic. We need to explore the forest fringe a little bit more, but have high hopes for our return visit.