| Festival |
Posted
on 10-Aug-02 02:38 AM
The world's largest celebration of the arts, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, is back for the 56th time. It takes place from 4-26 August, when the city streets fill with festival-goers, performers, celebrities and tourists.
The Fringe has long been a magnet for talent scouts seeking bright young actors, sharp new scripts, fresh designers and people from some of the world's biggest production companies. The majority of shows are new to Britain, many will be having their first performance before a paying audience and, more importantly, before the press.
A good way of finding the best shows is word-of-mouth, fringe gossip and news are normally found in the restaurants, coffee bars and pubs on the High Street in the heart of Edinburgh's historic old town. For the duration of the festival, much of the town is closed off to traffic and takes on a carnival atmosphere. Another good place to hang out is the Fringe Box Office on the High Street, which is usually besieged by performers pulling bizarre publicity stunts and thrusting free tickets for their shows at unsuspecting pedestrians. If you are one of the lucky ones, you might just find a gem of a show that will be fixed in your memory for years.
Check out the following shows if you dare!
Comedy - Humour with Spikes
If you are the kind of person who partakes of a few sweet sherries come Friday night, imagine what it's like on those rare occasions when, in your inebriation, you get creative, tap spontaneously into the most absurd part of your psyche and start spouting hilarious stream-of-consciousness nonsense that has your companions in stitches. You think you're pretty d**n funny, don't you? Well, Noel Fielding can do it when he's sober.
Music - Julien Lourau Quartet
The Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival has a track record of introducing innovative French musicians to Scotland. Julien Lourau's debut added further weight to the conviction that some fascinating music is being created across the channel.
The current French jazz scene is most strongly identified with a crossover tendency, in which jazz, world music and contemporary dance music mix and match with promiscuous intent. Lourau's reputation in that crossover vein is well established with his Groove Gang, but this acoustic quartet represented a more directly jazz-oriented aspect of his work.
The official web site is: http://www.edfringe.com
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| ashu |
Posted
on 11-Aug-02 10:25 AM
I had the good fortune to attend Edinburgh Festival last August for a week-end. Enjoyed a delicious Nepali meal at a Nepali restaurant there.
Plus the Royal Tatoo -- a show put on, among others, by our own Gorkha soldiers -- was remarkably breath-taking. I remember seeing the sword-swallowers, magicians and the whole lot doing their tricks all round the way to the Castle and on the streets.
In fact, inspired by this Festival, some friends and I, for some tinme have been thinking of putting on a week-long arts festival later this year in Kathmandu - a fact once highlighted by CK Lal in his Nepali Times column. Plans had been set, but then the Mayor's office got disssolved, and that was that . . . until at least another Mayor
gets elected. Oh well.
Those of you who can go on a vacation this August, do consider spending some time in Edinburgh at the festival. The Fringe -- NOT the official part of the Festival -- is supposed to be even better than the Official parts.
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
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