Edinburgh Festival day 8: Festival eye

NOW THAT the smoke of the Festival's first week has cleared, the first awards and nominations have been announced. The five shows awarded the Scotsman's Fringe First Awards for new plays this week were: Eclipsed (Punchbag), Cyrano de Bergerac (Communicado), Studs (The Passion Machine), Mad (The Grassmarket Project) and Sex III (Emily Woof). In this week's Critics' Awards, voted by journalists covering the Festival, Greenwich Theatre's production of C P Taylor's Schippel won the theatre section, the BBC Scottish SO's Moses and Aaron was best musical event, and Lip Service's Withering Looks scooped the comedy award. David Attwood's Wild West, the story of an Asian C & W band, won the film section. Three shows so far have been short-listed for the Guardian's Edinburgh Festival Student Drama Award: Success (Cambridge Nights), Stalinland (Suspect Culture) and Grimm - The Telling of the Tales (Edinburgh University). The next nominations for the Independent Theatre Award will be announced on Saturday.