A young actor, Georgie Grier, recently took to social media to post a teary message after her Edinburgh Festival play, Sunsets, only had one attendee in the audience. Comedians including Dara O’ Briain and Jason Manford reached out to reassure her that one day it would be funny and that it’ll get easier. They’re absolutelyContinue reading “In Solidarity With Georgie Grier”
Category Archives: festival
Festivals Are For Poshos
It’s 6 am and Jocasta and Crispian are out of their boutique yurt to participate in some salutations to the sun yoga with their pals Starla and Josh. Their kids Mungo, Timmy and Giselle are a tad fractious this morning, but that’s okay, they can be dispatched in the kids’ tent while they have someContinue reading “Festivals Are For Poshos”
Her Master’s Voice: Nina Conti Says Goodbye
The brilliant, gifted ventriloquist Nina Conti may be better known these days for the ritual humiliation of audience members, as she gets people up onstage, slaps weird masks on them and makes them say ridiculous or filthy things, but back in the day, her act was much, much darker: a kind of psychological cleansing thatContinue reading “Her Master’s Voice: Nina Conti Says Goodbye”
Dance Preview: Too Close To The Sun
Photos by Jassy Earl You can always rely on Barrowland Ballet to create work for wee ones and families alike that is fun, playfully imaginative and yet highly multilayered. So it is with their new piece, Too Close To The Sun. Interrogating complex issues around climate change and collective anxiety, through the prism of IcarusContinue reading “Dance Preview: Too Close To The Sun”
Edinburgh Festival Preview: Sense Of Centre
Having seen Jack Webb perform many times over the years, I can confirm that he’s definitely one of Scotland’s finest contemporary dancers. Webb, who is based in Edinburgh, creates work that is knotty, elegant and angular, often interrogating what Bjork once sang about, the complexities of “emotional landscapes “. His new work for the EdinburghContinue reading “Edinburgh Festival Preview: Sense Of Centre”
Edinburgh Festival Review: Agaxart- Future Temple
This beautiful short film follows Butoh performer Emiko Agatsuma as she crawls like a little sprite of the afterlife clad in a white bodystocking and white wig, through bustling streets, eventually entangling in a billowing pile of plastic. At once a dance and ritual, Agatsuma is a capricious figure, with human and animalistic characteristics. SheContinue reading “Edinburgh Festival Review: Agaxart- Future Temple”
Edinburgh Festival Review: Pain and I (Audio)
Sarah Hopfinger’s Pain and I is an incredible piece, accessible to all, as it’s both a live dance performance and online auditory piece. Hopfinger’s audio piece, featuring gorgeous string arrangements from Alicia Jane Turner, is at once personal tone poem and mantra. Charting her long struggle with neurological pain and back pain, Hopfinger’s words areContinue reading “Edinburgh Festival Review: Pain and I (Audio)”
Annie Griffin’s Festival
It’s that time of year again. The Edinburgh Festival is both a blessing and curse, as it can make or break careers. Even The Guardian recently acknowledged that it’s increasingly pricing out young actors, playwrights, directors and so on as landlords hike prices up to astronomical levels, meaning you’d better have rich parents or patronsContinue reading “Annie Griffin’s Festival”
Edinburgh Festival Preview – Taiwan Season at Dance Base
Dance Base has always had an international remit, and the Festival for 2022 is no exception. The Taiwan Season features world class performance and incredible visuals. Here are three highlights to catch this year. Fusing classical ballet with martial arts and modern influences, Po-Ching Tsai’s Floating Flowers takes Buddhist ceremony and ritual as its centralContinue reading “Edinburgh Festival Preview – Taiwan Season at Dance Base”
Edinburgh Festival Preview: Americana- A Murder Ballad
This show, premiering at this year’s Edinburgh Festival, couldn’t have captured the zeitgeist more, as headlines about yet more mass shootings and the new firearms law in New York remain fresh in our minds . Written by leading Scottish playwright Morna Young and featuring music composed by Davey Anderson, the production from Pepperdine Scotland isContinue reading “Edinburgh Festival Preview: Americana- A Murder Ballad”
Hit The North 