Peter Crawleyon the Edinburgh binge

Edinburgh just doesn't make sense. It is the only city in the world, for instance, where your journey anywhere will involve a steep hike uphill, but the journey back will somehow be uphill too - as though the place were balanced on a giant seesaw. Add to this a climate somehow colder and wetter than our own, and it means that the only species that really thrive here are such hardy creatures as sea birds, Starbucks and, of course, the Scots.

At the time of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, when the city's population quadruples and the cobbles of the Royal Mile become lost beneath a carpet of soggy promotional flyers promising laughter, tears and possible nudity, does the terrain become any more hospitable to audiences seeking theatre?

It may seem like an uphill struggle but there are rewards at the summit. In August Edinburgh becomes a Mecca for the binge spectator - of which I'm one. Given unlimited funds, or a press pass, you can watch yourself sick, taking in a one-man show on Hitler's rise to power in the morning, a scathing satire on the introduction of national identity cards before lunch and then another bleedin' Sarah Kane play in another bleedin' basement.

We get excited by attention-grabbing show titles - Cabaret Auschwitz; Chav! It's a Musical Innit; This Is An Insult To Beckett And Fo- although experience has taught us not to. It's Edinburgh, innit?

But if that deluge of plays can makes things tough for a punter, what chance does a production have of making an impression? The odds of winning big in Edinburgh seem as good as they are in Las Vegas, but given the right venue, the right review and the right attention, this is a festival that can open doors - usually to other festivals.

Each year a battalion of Irish productions joins the fray, at great expense, to compete with 1,900 other shows for unforgiving and choice-addled audiences. Last year 10 shows trooped off to the city, part-funded by Culture Ireland, the State body that promotes Irish arts internationally. Some, like Rough Magic's Improbable Frequencyor CoisCéim's Knots, did very well. But most shows don't entertain the hope of breaking even.

I wonder though, if Irish theatre types have changed their attitude to Edinburgh. This year Culture Ireland is funding just five companies to go and - insofar as this is possible - they're as safe as houses: established names such as Rough Magic and Druid performing new plays in such quality-assured venues as the Traverse.

Is this a good strategy? It seems an understandably cautious one, particularly with new plays. But, asked to take a gamble on A (Gay Disabled Transsexual) Love Story Told To A Ticket Inspector At Alton Towers, I can't help feeling that most self-respecting, sure-footed Edinburgh punters aren't big on cautious strategies. The Irish in Edinburgh seem very sensible this year. But Edinburgh doesn't make sense, remember?

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe runs from August 5th to 27th