Critically acclaimed street performer actually âpissed angry dosserâ, says Fringe
Fringe Festival organisers have confirmed today that a man who has been delighting tourists on Edinburghâs High Street is not an âartsy street performerâ, but actually a local homeless man with alcohol issues and an aggressive personality disorder. The clarification comes after the Guardian gave the man, known locally as âMad Davieâ, a five-star review.Â  âStreet theatre doesnât get any better than thisâ, claimed critic Fenton Barnes in the misguided and widely-read review.Â  âThe boorishness of Mad Davieâs performance is a wonderful counterpoint to all that is going on around him â in Mad Davieâs hands being told to âeff off back where ye come fromâ â is truly exhilarating. It continued: âHis stream of phlegm speckled invective is interrupted only by his harrowing pleas for cash before we are engulfed once more in a tidal wave of four-letter opprobrium. Has first world hypocrisy ever been more starkly exposed than this?â Visiting English couple John and Helen Brookes sought out âMad Davieâ on the strength of the Guardian review. âWe felt a bit foolish when we found out that he is just a local drunk, especially after we gave him Â£20 for his âperformanceâ, said Helen.Â  âThat said, paying twenty quid to have an alcoholic psychopath screaming abuse in your face for five minutes is still better value than the American improv group we saw last nightâ. A spokesman for the Fringe said: âMad Davie isnât street theatre; heâs here all year. If the Guardian like that sort of thing they should have been here in January when he was pissing up against our office window at nine oâclock on a Tuesday morning, threatening to kick our heads in. That really was âtruly exhilaratingâ.