Escape Rooms

Robert Louis Stevenson’s Guide to Edinburgh

Edinburgh, Literature

As one of Edinburgh’s most famous offspring, Robert Louis Stevenson (henceforth RLS, I keep misspelling “Louis”) left his mark on the city in many ways. If you’re here for the Fringe and looking for literary inspiration, we’ve picked out a few of our (and his!) favourite places in Edinburgh, from the Royal Mile to the Firth of the Forth

Makar’s Court

Hidden away in the depths of the Royal Mile is a small courtyard, decorated with stones dedicated to some of Scotland’s greatest writers. There are flagstones for writers of all eras and genders, from 1400s poets to literary icons of the 20th and 21st centuries. The only rules? You must be Scottish, and you must be dead. RLS’ stone is not immediately obvious upon entry into the courtyard – you have to travel past many of the others to find it nestled beneath a streetlamp at the bottom of some steps. It contains one of his finest quotes, written from many miles away as he convalesced from an illness. As a fellow exile of Edinburgh (and frequent returner), I have to agree.

The Writers’ Museum

Unlikely to be one of RLS’ favourite Edinburgh haunts as it was completed sometime after his death, but the Edinburgh Writers’ Museum contains a wealth of information on three of its most famous writers: Robert Burns, Walter Scott and RLS himself. The building dates from 1622 but was donated to the city in 1907 to be turned into a museum. Although slightly lacking in female input (we see you, Susan Ferrier), it gives context to the lives of Burns, Scott and Stevenson and is a must see for any book lovers.

Entry is free (donations suggested) but the building’s opening times have been affected by restrictions so do check ahead of time before travelling over.

New Town

RLS moved to 17 Heriot Row with his family in 1857, and spent much of his childhood in the beautiful Georgian New Town. It’s worth a visit to nearby attractions such as the Georgian House (owned by the National Trust of Scotland and situated in Charlotte Square) to get an idea of what life would have been like for the relatively wealthy inhabitants of New Town – you can also wander through Queens’ St Gardens where locals would have taken the air. There is a tiny islet in the pond in the Garden which is often said (without anything to substantiate it particularly, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun) to have inspired the eponymous Treasure Island in his most famous novel.

Deacon Brodie’s Tavern

Deacon Brodie (1741-1788) is something of a legendary figure in Edinburgh – a man who was reputable and upstanding by day, but criminal and deceiving by night. Much of what is written about him is likely to be speculation or embellishment on the facts, but he remains an enduring icon of the city and has both a tavern and a cafe dedicated to him on the Lawnmarket. RLS actually owned a cabinet made by Deacon Brodie over a century later.

The popular belief is that his double life inspired RLS to write The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. However, competing theories have sprung up around RLS’ use of medication and his own struggles with health. Why not visit the two establishments and decide for yourself?

The Hawes Inn

Moving further afield, if you have time you may wish to travel to the Hawes Inn in South Queensferry. With stunning views of the bridges and excellent food (I recently sampled their chips), it’s worth a visit on its own merits. However, the Inn also has a strong literary connection as it features prominently in another seafaring novel by RLS: Kidnapped!. RLS was in fact staying there personally when he began writing the novel, and the Inn still has a small mural dedicated to the events of the novel in tribute.

And further afield…

Can’t quite reach the Fringe this year? Not a problem. There are various other notable places across the UK and beyond that share in RLS’ remarkable literary story. These include:

  • Cockermouth in the Lake District – visited and written about in Essays of Travel (1905)
  • Ballachulish in the Highlands – visited and used as inspiration for Kidnapped (1886)
  • Bournemouth, home to RLS and his wife Frances between 1884-1887. It was here that several of his most famous literary works were published, and where he began to be taken seriously as an author
  • London was an oft-visited place and provided the setting for several very famous novels, including Jekyll and Hyde (1886) and New Arabian Nights (1882). Legend has it that RLS (also a trainee barrister) was deathly bored during a dinner and lecture at the Middle Temple when his attention was caught by two of the paintings in the Dining Hall, dedicated to “Josephus Jekyll” and “Robertus Hyde”, judges elected to the bench in 1717 and 1665 respectively.
  • RLS also travelled very widely across Europe – why not see if he wrote something pithy but disparaging about your home town? This website has a treasure trove of information about his life and travels.

A Brief History of Escape Rooms

Edinburgh

Ah yes, the great Escape Room. They’ve swept across the world in the last few years, followed by a trail of awkward selfies with weird props and increasingly confusing themes (see below…). But where did they come from?

“In 1203 AD, a mysterious tale reached the shores of England. Sailors spoke of a room containing riches beyond imagination, that could be accessed if the seeker was brave, clever and quick enough to find them. But if they failed to escape within one hour…they would be trapped in an underground bunker forever, doomed to die amongst the puzzles they failed to solve.”

– William of Newburgh, Anglo Saxon Chronicler and Historian

It was at this moment that Susan remembered how much she hated mazes.  Photo by Maksym Kaharlytskyi on Unsplash

I made that bit up. There are no Escape Rooms in Anglo-Saxon chronicles (as far as we know) and their origins are somewhat more prosaic. Treasure hunts and puzzles have existed in some form or another since…well, since one person knew where something was but wanted to make it harder to find. Labyrinths and mazes provide some early examples – treasure maps are another. Socialite Elsa Maxwell was credited with the invention of the treasure hunt as a party pursuit – in her own words, it was a good opportunity to pair people off and create mischief as they inevitably disappeared into bushes and hooked up. Something to consider when choosing a partner for an Escape Room.

A more recognisable version of Escape Rooms arrived with platform video games – designers carefully built levels to make players hunt for clues and solve puzzles. (Personally, I still remember the summer of 2001 when I spent weeks on Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone on Gameboy Color and still couldn’t find the Asphodel Root. Message me if you want to know where it is). Another possible inspiration came in the form of game shows such as Jungle Run and The Crystal Maze, which became popular in the 1980s and 1990s. They involved interlinked challenges and teams were rewarded for solving puzzles and obtaining special items to help them along the way. And who could forget Trapped! – that borderline-creepy show on CBBC which made small children solve puzzles to escape an old man, all whilst one of their friends was secretly sabotaging them. Nowadays, you can achieve the same effect by taking the most unhelpful person you know as part of your Escape Room team.

Most Escape Rooms come equipped with an equally Sardonic Games Master. Photo: The Crystal Maze

The culmination of this came with Crimson Room, a video game designed by Toshimitsy Takagi and released in 2004. It featured room-based challenges, and forced the player to collaborate in order to progress through different levels. In 2007, the Japanese company SCRAP took this concept one step further and created real-life escape rooms, based around different themes. From here, the concept spread across Asia and into Europe, eventually reaching across the globe.

Escape Rooms in Popular Culture

Escape Rooms are now sufficiently popular across the globe that they’ve started to crop up in popular culture. They’ve appeared on shows as diverse as Modern Family, Brooklyn 99, Conan O’Brien, My Little Pony, Castle, The Big Bang Theory and even Sherlock in one form or another. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the horror genre’s affinity with problem solving (looking at you, Saw), an escape room themed film (imaginatively entitled Escape Room) was released in 2019, with a sequel to follow in 2020.

It’s pretty likely that the craze is here to stay. If you’re new to it all, just to start you off we’ve found some the weirdest escape room themes out there:

  • Komnata Quest – an “adult” escape room aimed at couples (would love to know the divorce statistics on this one)
  • The Black Book – find very specific evidence of Government corruption (In case you couldn’t get enough of Bodyguard and felt like you had to BE Richard Madden. Sex with the Home Secretary not included)
  • Escape the Plane! (Samuel L Jackson not included)
  • Pet-Snatched! Rescue the Pet-napped Emu (and question your life choices?)

Why are you talking about Escape Rooms on a theatre blog?

I’m so pleased you asked. We’ve got something quite exciting in store for Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2019. It involves spies, quests and enough running around alleyways to make Elsa Maxwell very happy. Keep your eyes peeled for more information in the next few months…

Cover photo by Dariusz Sankowski on Unsplash