Edinburgh Festivals Diary: A funeral for Edinburgh's most famous dog and Coco's lost costume
Zoe realised Greyfriars Booby had not had a proper funeral
Fifteen minutes before his late-night comedy show Coco the Time-Travelling Tart, performer Max Norman realised he’d left his costume in the National Galleries of Scotland - where Coco has been giving guided tours of the paintings during the day as an additional “performance” to his main show at Underbelly.
With no backup outfit option and an admirable show-must-go-on mentality, Max put on a bin bag and went on stage.
Ironically, the outfit was one he had worn when first appearing on stage as Coco early in his career.
“It’s actually a full circle moment as this was the first thing I wore when the character emerged on a stage at a comedy night in London a few years ago,” he says.
On the theme of clowns, American performer Zoe Wohfeld, whose own show is all about a funeral for her childhood dog, decided to take matters into her own hands when she realised Edinburgh’s most famous pooch, Greyfriars’ Bobby, had never had a proper send off.
So she gathered more than 30 performers from across the Fringe to head a procession through the streets of Edinburgh to the spot where little Bobby was laid to rest. Zoe was joined by fellow clowns for what she describes as a “colourful, musical, and theatrical tribute to wee Bobby” - the most loyal of all dogs who famously stayed at the grave of his owner, nightwatchman John Gray, for 14 years.
Zoe says: “I don't know what people mean by 'performative grief'. I just want to walk through a busy city in full mourning attire, weeping loudly with a procession of brightly-dressed clowns playing music to give the cute puppy a proper send off.”
It’s more innovative (and less destructive) than just touching his nose, at least.
Red carpet in Fountainbridge
On Monday night, I was lucky enough to catch the premiere of brilliant Edinburgh-set film The Education of Jane Cumming at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.
I can’t help feeling a little bit bad for those behind the film, who donned their best frocks for the premiere, which was at Edinburgh’s Cineworld cinema in Fountainpark. I’m not criticising the cinema itself, it is a lovely cinema for a Saturday night blockbuster. But its location, nestled between a Wingstop, a shuttered casino and a trampoline park, screams Hollywood glamour even less than a bag of XXL sized sweet and salty popcorn and a Coke Zero.
Film festival organisers are not deterred, however, rolling out a red carpet in the foyer, right underneath the Starbucks mezzanine and across from the nacho stand. In a dark corner of the Starbucks branch, I spotted EIFF director Paul Ridd, hiding behind his laptop, trying to catch a couple of quiet minutes way from the premiere glamour.
“I’m answering emails,” he whispered, clearly distraught at having been found.
Happy birthday Tony!
It’s not festivals related, but happy birthday to Scottish comedian and actor Tony Roper, who turns 85 on Wednesday, while midway through rehearsals for what is set to be his final time directing The Steamie, almost 40 years after his much-loved Scottish classic was first performed.
I had a lovely chat with Tony a couple of months ago, when he told me he expects he will be “in la la land, or maybe even in another land altogether” when the next incarnation of the play comes around. Let’s hope not.
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