Edinburgh festivals diary: Bring back paper tickets - QR codes are making me have to queue
QR codes are supposed to make queues faster, not slower
Hands up if you feel like you have spent most of this year’s Fringe queuing?
I blame technology. Most of the late-running shows I’ve experienced are due to dodgy QR codes. I mainly feel for the poor front-of-house staff, who are spending hours every day waving their devices above mobile phones which are too bright; too dark; where the code is too small; too big.
People's phones time out while they're waiting and there's a constant chorus of "oh wait, let me put my passcode in".
Other audience members struggle with the tech, unable to access the QR code that was emailed to them: to which account? Where was it downloaded to? How do I access my Apple Wallet? What even IS a QR code?
The tech is about as efficient as Tesco's automatic checkouts.
Let's go back to good, old-fashioned paper ticketing. Ripping a perforated line takes a lot less time than trying to beep a QR code. There, I said it. You know we're all thinking it.
Hot Mess no less
Speaking of delays, there was a half-hour wait to get into climate change musical Hot Mess at the Pleasance the other day due to a technical issue. The producer spoke to the audience before the show and explained they had managed to get things running, but lighting effects would be reduced.
If they were reduced, it did not take anything away from this show, which has got to be one of the stand-outs of this year’s Fringe. It was a slick, brilliantly performed and produced two-person musical about the romance between Earth and Humanity, which sounds insane, but just worked. I loved it.
Marlene
For Marlene Dietrich show My Marlene, luggage woes are ongoing - with the performer's costumes having gone astray in transit.
"Every heel, tuxedo, and sequin is currently circling Europe without her," her PR people tell me, adding the team are scouring Edinburgh for alternatives - or potentially just planning to have her appear naked, presumably as a stand against the luggage handlers at Edinburgh Airport.
Poor Marlene. She should try Armstrong's.
Impressive improv
They might be regarded as something of a Fringe cliche, but I can’t help being in constant awe of performers of improv shows. The fear. The terror. The risk of a complete mind blank. But it never seems to happen.
I had family visiting this week and on my day off, we popped along to Shakespeare improv show ShakeItUp at Gilded Balloon. We were lucky enough to watch on a day when they had a guest performer - Dylan Emery from Fringe staple, musical improv hit Showstopper, who the cast described as their “guiding light” and mentor.
Emery undoubtedly stole the show, despite not usually having to perform in iambic pentameter - as the audience-inspired villain Glynn, a “sort of manager”. He even managed not to break into song.
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.