Best of the fests

Our critics select the highlights of the music and dance, theatre and comedy heading to Edinburgh

No fewer than 24 shows from 11 countries are on offer at Dance Base this August – and among them is Ballet Ireland’s Giselle, something of a coup for the venue given that no one can recall any other professional company ever bringing a full-length ballet to the Fringe.

Choreographed by former Royal Ballet dancer Ludovic Ondiviela, this new version introduces a modern-day twist to the 19th-century tale of a love betrayed that still lives on from beyond the grave. The venue’s intimate Studio space will mean that Giselle’s fate will not only touch you – but be within touching distance of the audience.

Among those companies making a welcome return to the Grassmarket venue are Old Kent Road, who tap into more than just hot-shoe shuffles with a new work, Oscillate, where the beat that grabs their feet is delivered by electronic music with an LA vibe.

South African street life, complete with live music, is also coming back to Dance Base with the return of Njobo Productions (FKA After Freedom Productions), who follow up their 2016 hit I Am Rhythm with SOWhEreTO Africa.

It’s been some time since Andy Howitt came on-stage in Scotland – he’s been busy in Oz – but he’s coming home with a full-on celebration of the late, exuberantly camp Australian performance artist Leigh Bowery. His solo, Sunshine Boy, catches the darker side of Bowery’s life and career as well as the outrageous heights of his appearances in platform shoes, lippy and swags of attitude.

Scottish work is also showcased: Ramesh Meyyappan’s Off-Kilter is a tour de force of mime, magic and mayhem while Andy Manley’s Stick By Me is a brilliant reminder that the best children’s work is a treat for grown ups too.

Programme details: https://www.dancebase. co.uk/festival-2018

Edinburgh’s own Grid Iron theatre company were way ahead of the curve in terms of producing site-specific theatre. Having set the tone for their work with early forays down Mary King’s Close with The Bloody Chamber and the cavernous spaces beneath Central Library that now houses the Bongo Club (Underbelly in August), the company have spent more than two decades exploring different ways of making theatre.

This new piece by actor-writer Martin McCormick is presented in association with the Easterhouse-based Platform venue. While it will play in regular theatres throughout an autumn tour, the show’s TED-talk style format lends itself to the National Museum of Scotland’s lecture theatre space. A quasi-autobiographical fantasia, South Bend charts McCormick’s flight to America a decade ago to be reunited with a woman he had fallen passionately in love with, only to find that, in their four months apart, everything had changed, the woman most of all. This leaves McCormick, right, penniless and confused as he goes back on the road in a personal voyage of discovery.

McCormick has previously worked with Grid Iron as an actor, although his increasing profile as a playwright has led to a collaboration that sees him combine both talents, with Jess Chanliau playing all the other parts. Grid Iron artistic director Ben Harrison’s production integrates live foley work into a personal but fantastical road movie for the stage.

As well as overseeing South Bend, Harrison will be directing Let’s Inherit the Earth, a new play by Morna Pearson presented at the Pleasance in a co-production by the Highlands-based Dogstar company and Stockholm’s Profilteatern company.

There will also be a revival of Egg by Paper Doll Militia, based on Harrison’s original direction and staged at Summerhall.

PHOTOGRAPH BY LUCA TRUFFARELLI