The 2009 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which launched earlier today at the EICC, will be the biggest yet with 2098 shows in 265 venues over the course of 24 days in August.
The cover of this year's Fringe programme is a glowing, purple egg. For Kath Mainland, who took the reins as Chief Executive of the Fringe Society only three weeks ago, "the egg symbolises anticipation of the Fringe... you use your imagination to see what's inside."
Eggs represent fertility, freshness and newness. They can also be rotten. With 34,265 performances, there's bound to be a few stinkers.b
Shows run the gamut of tastes, from celebrity Denise van Outen debuting with a one-woman, musical comedy Blondes featuring music by great, blonde artists, to a comical adaptation of Beckett's Waiting for Godot performed in the Public Toilets of the St. James Shopping Centre; from the enigmatic Talking Heads frontman David Byrne, performing at The Playhouse as part of The Edge Festival, to comedian Holly Burn's show performed in a real Edinburgh New Town home.
Performances take place virtually around the clock. Each day, the Fringe rises early with shows such as Breakfast with Burns, Shakespeare for Breakfast at C Theatre, and World is Too Much: Theatre For Breakfast at the Traverse Theatre, and continues into the wee wee hours with comedy and carousing with the likes of the Bongo Club Cabaret and Gilded Balloon's bear-pit slot Late 'n' Live.
New Fringe Theatre
New productions at this year's Fringe include Sarah Kane's fourth play Crave (ICU Dramsoc & Royal Holloway Theatre) and David Mamet's Oleanna by Zimbabwean company Pumpkin Pie Productions.
There's also Another Heartbreaking But Ultimately Life-Affirming Show About Death, which sends its audience on a variety of Edinburgh-based challenges, whilst David Leddy's Susurrus, the audio-drama based on Midsummer Nights Dream, proves that Glasgow isn't the only place where you can put The Bard in a Botanical Gardens.
Another Fringe first this year is a show presented in online video streaming format (Soul Photography by Mikhail Tank). Meanwhile, one of the Fringe's more quirky productions comes in the form of Foot-Washing For The Sole, in which Adrian Howell washes and massages the feet of the audience in a one-to-one conversational encounter.
Crash bangs
Among topical social issues touched on And Then He Said... (In a Pickle) looks at the judgement and presumption that comes with the class system whilst Allthelonelypeople and Me (Claire Fleury) uncovers how loneliness is just as much a part of our society as togetherness.
The subject of the global recession is viewed through the eyes of the 1929 Wall Street Crash in Suckerville (Spitting Difference).
Also discussing the struggle to save a way of life is Black Swans (Goldsmiths Drama Society) set in a surreal post-recession Britain whilst Steelopolis Tales (Wounded Satellite Productions) looks into the instant change when humans lose of control of an unruly financial system.
The aftermath of the invasion of Iraq and the conflict in Afghanistan is a theme in several shows, from Palace of the End (Royal Exchange Theatre) to post World War II play A Promised Land (Theatre Objektiv). The illegal policy of extraordinary rendition is examined in Rendition Monologues (Iceandfire Theatre) while personal accounts from several witnesses of the Mumbai terror attack are retold in A Personal War (Balancing Act Productions).
Big Kids
On a much lighter note, the big kids are back in town with a range of shows for those who never want to grow up. Almost 10 (Tangram Theatre) describes the quandaries of facing a double digit age whilst All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten (The American High School Theatre) is a lesson in how the world would be improved if everyone lived by the same rules as children.
Also in the theatre section, Edward Gorey's dark comic tale, The Doubtful Guest is brought to life by award-winning Hoipolloi while former Fringe First winners Red Shift Theatre return with The Fall of Man in the intimate comedy space of Pleasance Courtyard.
Bring on the puppets
Puppetry continues to be one of the fastest growing elements in the Fringe programme with a range of shows from One Eye Gone (Oxford Playhouse), Lilly Through the Dark (The River People) and The Puppet-Show Man (Flattering Panda Productions) in the Theatre section and The Man Who Planted Trees (Puppet State Theatre) and Frog (Theater Terra) in the Children's section.
Musicals
Amongst this year's offerings are two versions of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Rent (EUSOG and American High School Theatre) and Tony Award-winning The Rink (Tempo Musicals). For brand new musicals take a look at Chomp: A Zombie Musical (Fusion) or The Great British Soap Opera (Take Note Theatre).
Children's Shows
This year's line-up of children's shows includes versions of family favourites Wind in the Willows (Cambridge University ADC) and two productions of Treasure Island (Hartshorn-Hook Productions and Nononsense Productions) for children of all ages.
Both mum (or dad) and baby can shake their tailfeather in Baby Loves Disco, with DJs and bubble machines at the Corn Exchange while kids can learn how to make pizza at Happy Food DIY Pizza Party (Zanzero).
Shows for younger audiences include rock ‘n' roll musical for the under-7s Dude! Where's My Teddy Bear? (Jammy Doughnut) while Twine (Tortoise in a Nutshell) enlivens storytelling with live action and puppetry.
The Children's section includes several shows based around famous characters such as Doctor Who and Harry Potter.
Homecoming Scotland
As part of the Scottish Government's Homecoming Scotland celebrations the "Made in Scotland" strand of shows will showcase some of Scotland's "most exciting" performers including site specific Grid Iron's Barflies set in their local bar.
Scottish Dance Theatre return with Luxuria and A Visitation featuring five mannequins, five characters and five ghosts.
There are adaptations of two works by Edinburgh author Dame Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and The Girls of Slender Means (Stellar Quines), both at Assembly.
An adaptation of cult Scottish horror The Wicker Man is aired at The Pleasance and there are several shows around iconic Scottish poet Rabbie Burns (whose 250th birthday anniversary the Homecoming Year celebrates). This includes Burns with Elegance at St. Andrew's and St. George's Church.
Other Scottish works of note include The Sound of My Voice (Citizen's Theatre) adapted from a novel by Roy Butlin and a new production of Gregory Burke's Gagarin Way at The Stand Comedy Club.
Names named
Personalities and celebrities at the Fringe this year Clive James, Julian Clary, Christopher Biggins, Nicholas Parsons and cricketing legend Henry Blofeld.
Amongst many well known names in the comedy section are Stewart Lee, Jo Caulfield, Daniel Kitson, Craig Hill, Jimmy Carr, Sean Hughes and Alistair McGowan. Alistair McGowan will also appear in a show featuring the work of Noel Coward.
Hit New Zealand television comedy Flight Of the Conchords is represented in the comedy section by two of its stars in Rhys Derby's It's Rhys Derby Time and Kristen Schaal's award nominated 2008 show with Kurt Braunohler Double Down Hearts.
American TV and film star, Janeane Garofalo comes to Edinburgh with her one woman show. BBC ‘One Show' regular Hardeep Singh Kohli also appears on the Fringe in his own show. One young man making a name for himself is 18 year old stand-up comedian Daniel Sloss. When not appearing in his own show, Daniel has been busy writing material for Frankie Boyle amongst others.
The media doesn't escape a mention with arts journalism on stage in The Critic (The Lincoln Company) and Plagiarismo (Richard DeDomenici/Escalator East to Edinburgh) with a case-by-case look at the repetitions found in the modern day media.
Credit crunch busters
Feeling impecunious should not been an obstacle to doing the Fringe: there are 465 free shows at this year's Fringe compared to 350 last year. A new initiative this year is "Fringe for a Fiver" - an umbrella for shows whose ticket price is £5.
After last year's 10% drop in ticket sales, attributed largely to the failure of the Fringe box office system, and the cancellation of this year's Fringe Sunday, after a sponsor could not be found, this is a important year for the Fringe to prove itself.
It's important too for Edinburgh as a whole. With the Fringe accounting for 75% of all attendances at Edinburgh's year-round festivals, and generating £75 million a year, it is one of the engines of the Edinburgh economy. A golden egg, you might say.