THE world’s largest arts festival got underway today, starting a three-week run of music, comedy, dance and theatre in the Capital.
The Edinburgh Fringe will see 2,453 shows played out at 250 venues across the city, building on last year’s 1.8 million tickets sales with an additional 300 shows to take place in 2010.
This will be the 64th time the city has hosted the Fringe, and what seems to set it apart from other festivals is its open access, bringing together big-name acts with relative unknowns.
Established stars like Jimmy Carr and Al Murray will share programme space with new and amateur performers.
Kath Mainland, chief executive of the Fringe, said: “I think the thing about the Fringe is that it is an entirely open access arts festival. Continue reading →
BLOOMING GOOD READ: With a colourful fringe of her own, model Christina Kernohan, 27, shows off the 2010 Festival Fringe programme, released today. A host of famous faces are set to flock to Edinburgh this summer for what promises to be the city’s biggest ever Fringe. Chart-toppers Dizzee Rascal, Jason Derulo and Plan B were among the 2,453 acts revealed.
But Bowen told weekend reports: “We’re in negotiations with the man who owns the rights to the show and we plan to do it as close to the real thing as possible.” Continue reading →
But the frontman has revealed the first time he ventured north of the border was as part of a DRAG act almost 30 years ago.
Le Bon was a young, struggling drama student when he was forced to don a mini-skirt and a pair of sexy fishnet stockings for the lead part in a university Fringe show.
At the time, the blonde Birmingham University drama student had recently joined the newly-formed New Romantic group, and was still unsure about which career path to take.
A TOP Edinburgh Fringe Festival boss fears last year’s box office disaster could force some shows and venues into “a spectacular financial collapse.”
Tomek Borkowy, a leading festival venue manager for 18 years, has accused Fringe bosses of keeping sponsorship money to themselves and demanded a dramatic reshuffle of the world famous festival’s board.
In an explosive open letter to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, Borkowy announced he is to put on a post-mortem type debate after this year’s Fringe.
He hopes performers, ticket-buyers, businesses and MSPs will discuss “What’s the Fringe Worth,” in a bid to prevent to turn around falling ticket sales.
And he compared Fringe organisers to the bankers blamed for the global recession.
He said: “Circumstances over the past years have given many of us cause for concern – in particular, a lack of leadership in providing guidance to Fringe office staff, a lack of openness and sincerity in dealing with other Fringe Festival stakeholders and total misjudgement of the time frame needed to introduce a new box office system, culminating in last year’s Box Office disaster. Continue reading →
SCOTTISH artists at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival received a massive boost yesterday as the Scottish Government pledged £1 million to showcase their work.
The fund, which is spread over the next two years, will help Scots performers develop and showcase their work at the world-famous festival this August.
The Edinburgh Festival Expo Fund will promote the work of talented Scots performers through the “Made in Scotland” programme to an international Fringe audience.
The fund also provides for artists to tour their performances internationally following a successful run during the Fringe.
Mike Russell, Culture Minister, said: “Expo is about recognising exceptional creative talent that exists in Scotland and giving it an international platform to excel on. Continue reading →
The 20-year-old has created the world’s first ‘kazookeyele’ which he put together from an old, broken baby piano, half a ukulele and a kazoo.
The young busker has now received over 2.5 million views after posting a three minute clip of him playing Europe’s worldwide hit The Final Countdown on his unusual instrument.
The wacky Scot is now making a modest income from advertising revenue from the website and is currently creating more bizarre musical gadgets.
VISITORS to Edinburgh Zoo might get a shock when they see its newest and most dangerous animal attraction – humans.
As part of a Fringe show, five performers will live in an enclosure originally designed for penguins for the next 11 days.
And yesterday, as the species was unveiled, crowds gathered at ‘Enclosure 44 – Humans’ to watch them in their new habitat.
The group – from the Janis Claxton Dance School – will not speak to each other during their time in captivity instead using movement to communicate and interact.
New arrivals, Skye Reynolds, Vikky Stewart, Libby Charlton, Kirki Kyrkou and “alpha female” Janis Claxton danced around in the pyjamas as their zookeepers fed them a breakfast of chopped up fruit.
Artistic Director, Janis, originally from Brisbane, Australia, says she came up with the idea after observing different species of animal.
In that time, she noticed distinct similarities in the way humans and animals behave.
She said: “I have been researching animal behaviour in relation to human behaviour for the past year-and-a-half. During this process, I saw this empty enclosure and I thought it would be a fantastic idea.
“I found many similarities. Some of them are in relation to the primates. Our ability, and the primates’ ability to use tools, to use gesture as a form of expression, to have emotional experiences, to be able to be involved in compassionate behaviour, but also devious and cheating behaviour.
“The performance is an exhibition of human behaviour through movement and the art of dance.”
But while Janis is hoping this experiment raises the profile of dance in Scotland, the choreographer is equally concerned with increasing awareness of the need for animal conservation.
She said: “The statement I’m focusing on is to do with conservation and particularly attention to the primates. I’m hoping that people will realise through watching our performance how connected we are to the Great Ape. We are in the same super family as the chimpanzees.
“It’s particularly important in 2008 because of the great need in this world to address many of these issues. And I’m also hoping that many people will start to see the art of dance and movement and beautiful means of poetic expression.
“It’s these two points of expression and conservation.”
Jon Morgan, Director of the Fringe, believes that the innovation of shows such as Enclosure 44-Humans is proof that the Fringe is diverse and cutting-edge.
He said: “The wide range of shows that connect with current issues in our world demonstrates that the Fringe is an incredibly flexible platform for artists. The Fringe was founded on the principle of open-access for all performers and it continues to be the best place to showcase new work.”
During their stay in Enclosure 44, the performers will be treated the same as the other animals in captivity.
Visitors to the zoo can observe their interaction within the habitat and watch as the newest attraction are fed by their own personal “Zoo-Keepers.”
Deadline Press & Picture Agency 