The Guardian - 03.08.2019

Saturday 3 August 2019 The Guardian •

National^23

High rents ‘pose threat to

future’ of Edinburgh fringe

Lanre Bakare

Concerns over soaring rents have

dominated the lead-up to this

year’s Edinburgh festival fringe,

with performers saying the event

risks becoming unsustainable and

glorifi ed industry showcase”, accord-

ing to artists.

Daisy Hale , the producer of Fatty

Fat Fat by Katie Greenall at the Pleas-

ance theatre, says performers have felt

a noticeable increase in costs. “When

I came fi ve years ago I managed to get

two fl ats for £3,000 and this year the

one I’m in costs more than that,” she

said. “Everyone wants the fringe to

continue but it needs to be sustainable.

“I can’t imagine coming as a punter,

I wouldn’t be able to aff ord it. There’s

no way I could pay to be here for two

weeks – live in a fl at, eat, and buy

tickets to see shows – it’d be impos-

sible. If you push out your average

punter, then all it is is a glorifi ed indus-

try showcase.”

This year there has been a 5% rise

in Edinburgh rents, and prices go up

sharply during the month-long festi-

val, which brings an estimated £300m

to the Scottish economy.

Some of that increase has been

attributed to the introduction of the

private residential tenancy (PRT)

in Scotland, which replaced short

assured tenancy in December 2017.

Traditionally, student lets would be

over a fi xed term, allowing landlords

to rent out properties during the festi-

val. With PRT, landlords cannot ask a

tenant to leave without a reason.

Louise Dickins , managing direc-

tor of an Edinburgh lettings agency,

Dickins, said the impact ha d been

“major”. “ People would do leases that

coincided with being able to provide

a festival let. Now they can’t do that .”

Shona McCarthy , the chief execu-

tive of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Society, said the event was doing what

it could to provide alternative accom-

modation for performers and workers.

▲ Peyvand Sadeghian in Rich Kids at the Traverse theatre in Edinburgh

increasingly elitist unless there is a

fundamental change.

Ticket sales have increased for the

sixth year running this year and there

will be more international performers

than ever before , but changes to rental

rules in Scotland and an increasing

lack of aff ordable accommodation are

threatening to turn the fringe into “a

Rich Kids: A History of

Shopping Malls in Tehran

Traverse, Edinburgh

★★★★☆

Mark Fisher

T

he sensation of racing

a high-performance

car along a swanky

boulevard in Tehran

is surely akin to

watching this hi -tech,

high-octane production by Javaad

Alipoor and Kirsty Housley. With our

phones open on Instagram as well

as seeing images projected on stage,

we’re subjected to a fact-laden,

multimedia collage – all hashtags,

live feeds and rapid scrolling – that is

almost overwhelming in its detail.

The form suggests the sensory

overload of a young and wealthy

elite, the kind who, like Chatunga

Mugabe, son of Robert, might fi nd

it entertaining to pour champagne

over a priceless watch simply

because they can.

Engagingly played by Alipoor

and Peyvand Sadeghian, Rich

Kids is about more than the

excessive consumption of the rich

off spring of Iran’s revolutionary

elite, however. Their behaviour is

compellingly shocking, not least

given the principles of their parents

and the standards of a country

where alcohol, let alone cocaine,

is outlawed for Muslim citizens.

But Alipoor’s kaleidoscopic script

delves below the horrifying Made

in Chelsea-style glamour to create

an epoch-spanning vision of human

waste.

Using Instagram as an analogy for

archaeology, each picture taking us

further into the past, he whisks us

back to the age of portrait painting,

in which the rich made Insta-like

memorials to their own wealth, and

then further into geological time.

The story of two young rich

people in a fatal Porsche crash in

Tehran is told backwards – like

scrolling through an Instagram feed.

But the script also looks forwards

to the legacy of our generation. The

components of the phones we have

in our hands , it points out, will last

for an inconceivable amount of time

after we are gone.

T he show makes us complicit

in the unrestrained consumerism

devastating the planet. It’s dazzling,

discombobulating and alarming.

U ntil 25 August

Theatre review

A hi-tech, high-octane

vision of human waste

The show makes

us complicit in

the consumerism

destroying the planet

PHOTOGRAPH: PETER DIBDIN

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