Edinburgh festivals diary: Flying chandeliers and venue closures as amber wind warning hits Edinburgh

Underbelly's big purple cow venue. Always upside down.

As I write this, it is late Monday morning and I’m sitting in Assembly’s below-ground Club Bar, where I often base myself to work between events. What I hadn’t accounted for - or noticed before - was that the roof of this bar, which is adorned with fabric hangings and ornate lighting, is actually a tent.

The winds are picking up in Edinburgh and the 60mph gusts are making the structure rock. Staff have been running around picking up bits of (plastic) chandeliers, which are flying off at increasingly regular intervals - and are currently up a giant ladder trying to dismantle the potentially lethal decorations.

Today’s amber weather warning driven by Storm Floris is the talk of the festivals. The Pleasance cancelled 72 shows on Monday and closed its main hub, not helped by The Green venue in the Pleasance Courtyard resembling a temporary, tent-like structure.

Meanwhile, the Edinburgh International Festival scrapped its Ceilidh Sessions event tonight because of the city council’s decision to close Princes Street Gardens due to the storm. North Berwick’s Fringe by the Sea has also been forced to cancel its entire programme for Monday.

The Edinburgh International Book Festival, preparing for a Saturday opening, has had to reschedule some of its planned building work on its outdoor tents, but people there tell me there is “plenty to be getting on with inside” and there will be no delays to the event.

Pleasance Courtyard, where The Green is situated. | Pleasance Courtyard, where The Green is situated.

Other venues are having a more relaxed attitude to the gusts. I’ve been watching and waiting for Underbelly’s purple cow to take off and fly into the Edinburgh skies like some kind of bizarre hot air balloon. But so far it has remained on terra firma, with the venue’s PR team repeatedly insisting it is “business as usual”. Hopefully the collective weight of sell-out audiences looking for an indoor activity on this breezy day will hold it down.

For one Fringe performer, however, there are no problems, just opportunities, as my dad would say. Climate comedian Matt Winning, who has a daily show at Assembly on the climate crisis called Sostalgia, has emailed journalists offering commentary on the extreme weather.

Wrong city

At the weekend, I met singer Hannah Rose Platt, who is performing her entire album, Fragile Creatures, at Surgeon’s Hall. She admitted to me she accidentally booked her gig in the wrong city - but is happy she did.

Given the material, about women’s fight for bodily autonomy, Ms Platt, from Bristol, was looking for a medical-themed place to perform and online, came across what she believed to be the Royal College of Surgeons in London.

“I was looking for a place to perform and something popped up, saying they were looking for artists at Surgeons Hall,” she explained. “I filled it in without realising it was in Edinburgh and then got an email offering me a venue for a Fringe show. I can’t believe it, I’ve always had a childhood dream of bringing a show here.”

Evacuation

In Assembly’s Club Bar, staff have just announced the area is closing. If the noise from the tent roof - which is literally shaking - is anything to go by, it’s a good call. I’m off to find a new place to work - ideally in an indoor, permanent structure.