Forest Fringe

Alternative Fringe hubs: The Forest Cafe

Edinburgh's soon-to-be dearly-departed hippy haven

17 Aug 2011

Name: The Forest Café Occupation: Leader of the resistance, home of Edinburgh’s true creative spirit. Resembles: A glorious, shambolic cluster of plants, art, rugs, hippies and graffiti, spread across several rooms. What’s on there, then?

The Time Out

Interactive theatre with a motivational aspect

17 Aug 2011

An interactive piece for 12 players who get to don swimming caps (with headphones inside) and become a water polo team. If this fills you with trepidation, it’s meant to. The focus shifts between Ken, the cliché-spouting coach with motivational tidbits…

Edinburgh arts institution the Forest Cafe gears up for its final Fringe

Edinburgh's rough and ready creative hub closing down

10 Aug 2011

Many Edinburgh-dwellers agree that it will be a sad day when the Forest Café finally closes its doors at the end of this summer. The rough and ready creative hub will be badly missed, but at least it’s staying open long enough for the Forest Fringe to…

The theatre shows to look out for at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2011

Dance Marathon, Ten Plagues and Tuesdays at Tescos among highlights

9 Jun 2011

As ever the theatre programme of this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe is overflowing with keen ideas, exciting stories and risk-taking. The Traverse Theatre maintains its position as the beating heart of the Fringe, with Dominic Hill’s final programme…

Edinburgh arts space The Forest under threat after landlord's bankruptcy

Volunteer-run space raising money to buy building

19 Nov 2010

It’s important not to be fatalistic about these things, because nothing ever really ends; yet, the potential loss of the Forest Café and the Roxy could be a big setback for the vibrant underground music and arts scene scene in the capital. In terms of…

It's Like He's Knocking

The magic of coincidence revealed, with free vodka

23 Aug 2010

'Who'd like some vodka?' asks a cheerful Leo Kay at the beginning of his Forest Fringe performance. A fitting intro, as it happens. Kay's bedsit-set show is all about sharing: booze (real not pretend), memories, ambitions and hopes (the audience's as…

Forest Fringe 2010 marks return to original aesthetic

Edinburgh events and arts space gives artists free reign

10 Aug 2010

Located no more than a small stone’s throw from a lot of the Fringe activity lies The Forest - known throughout the rest of the year as a free events and arts space supplemented with a volunteer-run cafe and the home base of the Forest Fringe during the…

A Microfestival by Forest Fringe

15 Apr 2010

Although its appearance on this coming year’s Edinburgh Fringe will be its fourth, 2009 was year zero for the Forest Fringe in many respects. Picked up on by numerous wings of the Scottish and UK press, the organisers’ commitment to new, challenging and…

Five groups preserving the spirit of the Fringe in 2009

23 Aug 2009

We salute five groups who are preserving the original spirit of the Fringe, off the Fringe! Serenade street parade At 9.59pm on Friday night last, from a location revealed 24 hours earlier, a renegade parade set out to paint the town red. The word…

Sporadical

Sea shanties and your long-lost auntie

21 Aug 2009

You thought your family reunions were bad? They’ve got nothing on the Wellesferry’s. Except that it turns out you are part of the extended Wellesferry clan, which is made clear in this interactive musical with name badges all round, enthusiastic…

5 Questions: Debbie Pearson from the Forest Fringe

6 Aug 2009

5 words to describe the Forest Fringe? Adventurous, supportive, spontaneous, revolutionary, lo-fi. 4 shows you’re looking forward to seeing in Edinburgh this August Littlebulb’s Sporadical and Action Hero’s A Western at Forest, Nic Green’s…

Absurd living and heartbreak at independent Edinburgh festival

Andy Field's festival blog

13 Aug 2008

Well it's been a week now. The festival has erupted. A wild sea of damp flyers and dampened hopes. I've been treading water. My friend Andrzej pointed out that Edinburgh seems to generate its own absurd mode of living, an alternative universe…