Walking down The Royal Mile during The Fringe Arts Festival even once can be so chaotic and stressful that it can leave one feeling drained or even apathetic. While the long stretch of road up to Edinburgh Castle is filled with undeniable talent, the amount per square foot can be overwhelming. Artists hand out flyers to hundreds, nearly begging for people to attend their show. As I walked down the street, part of me sympathized with the artists performing to passing crowds. Part of me envied them for the energy they had for their dream. But most of me wanted them to leave me alone and stop asking me to come to their show.
About half-way down The Royal Mile, an average looking man in plain black clothing and a pony tail was kneeling on the ground opening a suitcase. Few people noticed him in the middle of the blocked off street, but it seemed that he was setting up for a performance. While I waited for the rest of the group to catch up, I watched him prepare. He set up speakers and made jokes through his headset to the few watching him. I turned to my friend and said, "This is going to be terrible, his mic is so cheap." She nodded but we stayed to see what else he'd pull out of his suitcase. The man in black clothing made jokes to those passing by as he continued to arrange his stage. Once people heard the laughter, they joined the crowd. He even said himself, "You've been watching me for 30 minutes and I haven't even done anything yet."
I'm really into cult documentaries. I don't mean documentaries with a small fanbase, I mean documentaries about actual cults. The reason I'm fascinated by these films is the idea of charisma and how powerful it is. Terrible people like Charles Manson and Jim Jones convinced people to trust them by having one quality: charisma. Though they often go hand in hand, charisma can exist without attractiveness or any other becoming qualities. That's how powerful it is. Now, I don't mean to compare an innocent street performer with a person like Charles Manson, but the only real difference between the two is one used their charisma for good and one used it for evil. The street performer who goes by the name J-P Koala drew a crowd slowly until I realized there were hundreds of people standing behind me, watching him as intently as me. He did tricks with whips, juggled axes and knives but what was truly impressive was how he interacted with the crowd. Towards the end of the show, J-P explained he continues to do street performances not out of necessity but preference. If he performs outside for free, more people are able to see his
show. J-P humbly asked that we give what we thought his show was worth and that he hated the part of the show where he has to talk about money. People rushed to fill the velour top hat he set out even though it had started to rain. The man I had originally said was "going to suck" proved me wrong.
-Audrey