The opening day of this year’s Edinburgh Fringe was thrown into chaos after a power outage struck – plunging the event into darkness and ‘deflating’ one of its most iconic venues.
Running until August 26, this year’s line-up of performances includes Taskmaster star Fern Brady, Texas comedian Kemah Bob, and musical acts such as I Wish You Well (based on Gwyneth Paltrow’s recent legal woes) and drag artist Kate Butch.
At the heart of the annual comedy festival is the upside-down giant purple cow tent, known as the Udderbelly, and owned by the management company Underbelly.
As a power cut hit Edinburgh on Friday afternoon, much of the Fringe was affected, with several venues and performances thrown into darkness.
Among those struck by the blackout were hub venues in Bistro Square, George Square and the Pear Tree, lasting from 4pm to 6pm.
The Underbelly’s purple cow even partially deflated due to the loss in power. As a result of the disruption, several acts found themselves ploughing ahead in pitch black darkness – lit only by the light of audiences’ phones.
Scottish Newspaper The National reported the blackout, writing: ‘NEW: The infamous Underbelly purple cow has deflated after large parts of Edinburgh were hit by a major power cut.
‘It’s thought five postcodes are affected, with Fringe audiences plunged into darkness and box offices forced to close.’
This came accompanied by a picture of the depressingly-deflated cow.
As the event ground to an unexpected standstill, the Edinburgh Fringe X account tweeted: ‘There’s a power outage in come city centre postcodes at the moment, which may be affecting some #edfringe venues – if you’re an affected venue and you see this, add a reply so we can let people know.’
‘Not a venue myself, but @ThePleasanceDome and @FollowTheCow Bristol Square both seem to have emptied their buildings,’ reported user samwithabeard.
‘We’re 20 minutes into LoveYouMusical. Opening show cancelled. Really hope we can make up for it today,’ said Karl Steele, director of the musical I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.
Fringe organiser Ben Moorhouse shared a picture from comedian Olaf Falafel’s performance, which showed audience members assisting with the lighting using the torches on their phones.
‘The show will go on! Power cut across a part of Edinburgh but nothing will stop @OFalafel and his show. Audience have their torches out #BlitzSpirit,’
In an interview with BBC Scotland, Olaf said: ‘I was about 20 minutes into my show and everything shut off.’
He continued: ‘I went oh… I had about 90 folk in and everything went pitch black. There’s a lot of multimedia and video in it too.
‘I asked if we could carry on and they were like “yeah,” so we got them to put their phone lights on and they spotlit me.’
He described the situation as ‘one of the most interesting and emotional shows’ he had ever done.
In a tweet on Saturday morning, the comedian joked: ‘I can’t promise the same will happen today (but I also cant promise it won’t).’
Meanwhile, other performers took their shows out onto the street, with comedian Ollie Horn continuing his show, Not My Audience, in the open air.
‘I was in “Not My Audience” with @olliehorncomedy with the power cut hitting about 15 minutes in. He ended up continuing the show in the street to other audiences and with a stream of surprise guests. Very fringe!’ wrote the X user AidanKSadler.
The post came accompanied with a picture of Ollie mid-performance, surrounded by smiling onlookers as he entertained the audience.
Meanwhile, the musical act Who Do You Love? based on musicians KC and The Sunshine Band also continued despite the blackout, performing in George Square.
‘Power cut cancelling our edinburgh fringe opening night show so our cast & @kcandsunshineb put on an impromptu outdoor performance!!! come see our show @WhoDoYaLove_ 4:50 assembly george square studio 1,’ wrote alkewley.
The accompanying video showed the band performing to an audience of entertained punters as the chaos continued.
SP Energy Networks apologised for the disruption, which was a result of a cable fault and affected around five postcode areas.
At 18:19 – just over an hour after their initial tweet, Edinburgh Fringe posted a second update, announcing that normal service could be resumed.
‘Power has been restored and Fringe venue operations returning to normal,’ the social media account announced.