The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
‘Awe-inspiring’ start to festival
EDINBURGH: Emotional First World War outdoor production opens 2018 programme in the capital
Edinburgh’s famous festival season is under way with hundreds of thousands of performers and visitors set to invade the capital this month.
The Edinburgh International Festival (EIF) and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe annually run over three-and-a-half weeks in August, hosting the largest arts jamboree in the world.
Anna Meredith’s Five Telegrams – inspired by five aspects of communication during the First World War and commemorating the lives lost a century ago – was the free event which opened this year’s festival.
The Fringe programme features more than 3,500 shows covering theatre, dance, circus, physical theatre, comedy and music.
Performers include Hi-de-Hi! star Su Pollard, who will be making her Fringe debut, actor and singer Jason Donovan, broadcaster Esther Rantzen, actress Maureen Lipman and Lee Ridley, winner of this year’s Britain’s Got Talent.
Also in the programme are the shows Trump the Musical and Mandela Celebration, a South African musical extravaganza of traditional music, jazz and township big bands honouring the life of Nelson Mandela.
The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo will add to events in the capital with nightly performances on Edinburgh Castle esplanade until August 25.
EIF director Fergus Linehan described Anna Meredith’s production as an “awe-inspiring and emotional start” to the 2018 programme.
The EIF was established two years after the Second World War to “provide a platform for the flowering of the human spirit” through a shared celebration of artistic excellence and cultural exchange.
The Fringe also began in 1947 when eight theatre companies turned up uninvited to perform at the inaugural event.
Although refused entry to the programme, they decided to perform on the fringe of the festival anyway, beginning the dawn of the worldwide movement in the process.
Shona McCarthy, chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, said: “This year’s programme contains an eclectic mix of creative endeavour from across the globe to move, challenge and entertain.
“We are encouraging everyone who comes to the Fringe to take a leap into the unknown.
“Whether your first or 50th time as a performer or audience member, new discoveries wait around every corner.”