The Breathe Before the Storm

Image from edfringe.com

For the entire month of August, Edinburgh holds the Fringe festival, and already this city is heaving with changes and temporary construction stages. In Bristo Square, there is now the 'Udder Belly' and on McEwan Hall, instead of its stately stone blocks are painted black and white photos of serious looking people. Princes St. and George St. are already so full of tourists walking slowly and looking up at the sky (Edinburgh is a beautiful city) that it makes walking anywhere in a hurry impossible. Trunks and wheeled suit cases and people with maps and keys in there hands are likely the performers themselves staying in Edinburgh for the entire month. And in my favorite coffee shop, The Grind, obvious tourists wander in for a rest. Yesterday the sun was so strong and glorious there were several cases of sunburn, which means that the streets were thriving, and oddly enough, full of very pregnant women. (Yesterday I counted 10!). Here's a peek at whats about to unfold in the streets and performing halls in Edinburgh: Edinburgh Fringe .

Particularly, I'm interested in 'The 39 Steps' as this was novel published in 1915 by Edinburgh native John Buchan, achieved world-wide recognition in Hitchcock's 1935 movie premiere, and recently resurrected in the BBC's 2008 version with (a personal favorite) Rupert Penry-Jones. Now here it is back in its early play form by the Royal Scots Club, once again the '39 steps'.