This year's Edinburgh Festival continues to pull in the crowds. As Edinburgh approaches its last few days before, in Kipling's words, "the Captains and the Kings depart," there is no let-up in the number of people attending. It is estimated, on current trends, that a million people will have seen the various shows, talks and films, by the time the Festival closes Sept. 1. (the Fringe Fest finishes Aug. 27.) Although the Edinburgh International Festival remains the "official" event, attention - as usual - has been focused on the Fringe Festival which, to all intents and purposes, is Edinburgh every August.

The Stage newspaper's Acting Excellence award is to be announced on Sunday, with strong competition among the actors and actresses under consideration: candidates include Nichola McAuliffe, for Bed Among The Lentils at the Pleasance and Michael Nardone, for Gagarin Way at the Traverse, which is already booked in to appear at the National Theatre's Cottesloe auditorium, previewing Sept. 24 and opening Oct. 3.

by Paul Webb Theatrenow