Festival HistoryNewsPre-Festival Stuff Festival Time Newbie? Witterings Links Site Map
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HomeFestival HistoryNewsPre-Festival Stuff Festival Time Newbie? Witterings Links Site Map |
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Pre-Festival Stuff for 2011 This page is split into two halves. The top section covers the launch of each festival programme when they take place plus any early critical feedback: Edinburgh International Festival The brochure for this year's festival can be viewed online, downloaded as a pdf file or you can order a printed version. See this page for details. EIF Friends can book tickets now. Tickets will be on sale to the general public from April 2nd, 2011. Initial media feedback Initial media feedback was available almost instantly (links below) although these pieces are seldom much more than a regurgitation of the EIF's press release, occasionally spiced with a quote or two from Mills. The Scotsman was first out of the blocks, closely followed by The Stage and The List. The early headlines have focused on: Dance - The Peony Pavilion by the National Ballet of China and Scottish Ballet with Song of the Earth and a new piece by Jorma Elo; Drama - a new six hour, two part, production of One Thousand and One Nights using actors from the Arab-speaking world and The Tempest by the Mokwha Repertory Company from Korea; Opera - The Revenge of Prince Zi Dan by the Shanghai Peking Opera Troupe and Die Frau ohne Schatten; Music - the opening concert this year will be given by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, performing Das Paradies und die Peri; and the Visual Arts with work by Hiroshi Sugomoto. More considered comment from the critics should appear over the next week or two. Go to Picks and Previews at the bottom of this page where you will find links to media views on the individual programme launches plus, from June to early August, a digest of links to the critics' recommendations and useful preview articles. Susan's initial thoughts My friend Susan, from the US, has been kind enough to give me her initial thoughts. She has been coming to the Edinburgh Festival for close on 30 years and is a particular aficionado of music and opera. She also likes dance and theatre and spends ever more time at the Book Festival. "I was very disappointed that there is no Greyfriar's early music this year, as that definitely had become the highlight of recent festivals. The Sixteen will be performing for one night at Usher Hall but I am not sure how they will sound in that venue---designed to sell lots of tickets. I will greatly miss the Greyfriar performances!!! As
I have said before, I think the Edinburgh Festival can only claim
International in its name by the countries being represented in
performances, many of them paid for by tourism and cultural promotion
offices. The audience is mostly from It seems to me at first glance that the tickets have become more expensive, which is sure to keep more adults, especially visitors, away. To make up for any losses in audience numbers because of ticket prices, the Festival is offering half-price tickets to students. That is great for the students and attracting young people who might not otherwise attend but I'm sure traditional audiences will not be able to attend as many performances as they might have in the past. In
fairness, I think we have to be grateful there is still someone like
Jonathan Mills willing to work to make the Edinburgh International
Festival possible in spite of the substantial funding issues.
As performances depend on money from foreign governments and so many
individual donors to replace the loss in government funding, it is a
miracle that the Festival is still happening. Individual funding has
guaranteed a degree of classical singers and musicians and greatly
reduced opera. And, as we are always open to new experiences,
we are looking forward to the Peking Opera and the Chinese
ballet. It would have been nice that since the purpose of the Festival
is to introduce us to Eastern cultures, there could have simultaneously
have been some Eastern focused art exhibits such as ceramics etc. And
since the focus is on Asia, I would have liked more from We,
with great deliberation, did reduce the number of performances we plan
to attend because of the cost as well as our commitment to saving
enough time to attend more theatre and book events. That being said, I
would be happy seeing most of the classical offerings at
Queens Hall and Usher Hall---I just wouldn't take a trip to This punter's early thoughts Like Susan my immediate reaction was one of disappointment at the loss of the Greyfriars concerts. Dance comes out well this year with six productions. The National Ballet of China's production of The Peony Pavilion is arguably the highlight, while the locals will be rooting for the Scottish Ballet's Song of the Earth along with their world premiere of a new piece from Jorma Elo. In addition, Shen Wei's Re-Trilogy and Ea Sola's Drought and Rain are strong possibles. The highlight in drama is probably the six hour (two part) production of One Thousand and One Nights. The problem here for visiting punters is that such a lengthy production is difficult to fit into a tight schedule - the locals may find it easier to accommodate it. Meanwhile, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle sounds appealing. At the risk of sounding extremely boring I will trot out once again my view that, given the general funding issues, the EIF should leave the visual arts to the Art Festival. However, having said that, it is highly likely that we will go to Hiroshi Sugimoto's photography exhibition, while Heirlooms is a possible. Finally, Ravi Shankar makes his first appearance at the EIF in over twenty years. Edinburgh Fringe Festival The headlines include ... 2,542 shows in the programme brochure (up 89 on last year); 607 shows will be free (typically under the banners of PBH's Free Fringe and Laughing Horse's Free Festival); the distribution of shows across art forms - comedy 37%, theatre 30%, music 14%, children's shows 4%, dance & physical theatre 3.5%, musicals & opera 3.5%, events 3.5% and exhibitions 2%. For theatre addicts Dominic Hill, the artistic director of the Traverse, introduces his farewell festival here - he is moving to the Citizen's Theatre in Glasgow in October. The Traverse programme brochure can be downloaded from the same page. An early article on the launch was available in Whatsonstage.com. This was quickly followed by similar articles in The Stage, The Scotsman and The Guardian. Better articles - in the sense that they contain a reasonable amount of information on the shows - can be found in the same Whatsonstage.com article (under Theatre Highlights) and in The Scotsman. More may follow in the next couple of days. Meanwhile, The Guardian appears to be the first out of the traps with a set of Fringe picks from its critics. The link to this set of picks, along with links to all useful preview articles and picks across the festivals from now until early August can be found in the picks and previews section at the bottom of this page. My early thoughts, after an initial browsing of the programme brochure, are that I have not so far been greatly excited by what is on offer. The Traverse programme has too many Scottish productions for my taste. Now I fully understand the reasons - the Scottish Government is currently ploughing money (its Expo funding) into Scottish artists and productions - and I have nothing at all against Scottish productions per se but I would just prefer to see a more balanced international programme at the home of festival drama. The drama programme at Assembly also seems somewhat thin when compared with previous years; the lack of 3 or 4 reliable shows under the Guy Masterson production banner does not help. On the upside, a number of drama successes from previous years are making brief returns, including Lockerbie: Unfinished Business and Roadkill. If you did not see them last year then now is your opportunity although they may well be sold out already. I like a mixture of well established comedians to complement the long list of wannabes but they seem to be in relatively short supply this year. Jerry Sadowitz is on for a week and he is always good value, particularly if there is a reasonable amount of magic in his show ... although his insistence on flashing his member the last time that we saw him adds absolutely nothing to the proceedings. Doctor Phil Hammond makes a welcome return to the festival and he can no doubt bank on a loyal NHS following. We really enjoyed Tim Vine's Jokeamotive show last year. He is doing a chat show this year (with members of the audience). Not sure that I am convinced about this ... but I may be wrong (as usual!?!). On the dance front I am still grieving over the loss of the Aurora Nova venue, and the absence this year of any of the major companies who graced its stage in the past makes me wonder about the attractiveness of the programme. Hopefully, I will get over this early reticence and eventually look forward to the programme. International Book Festival The Guardian, new sponsors of the festival, produced a "heads up" on the morning of the announcement. This was followed by a useful summary of this year's programme. Launch articles soon appeared elsewhere, including The List, stv.tv, The Scotsman and ThreeWeeks. EdinburghGuide.com arguably has the most comprehensive. Revolution is the major theme this year. Libyan writer Hisham Matar, shortlisted for the 2006 Man Booker Prize In the Country of Men, Pakistani writer Kamila Shamsie, Gao Xingjian, China's Nobel laureate of literature, and the Egyptian author and political commentator, Ahdaf Soueif will be scrutinising revolution in the 21st century through a series of events which are being curated by the BBC's Allan Little. Other writers and celebrities include Michael Ondaatje (launching his latest novel The Cat's Table), AS Byatt, Melvyn Bragg on the King James Bible, Alasdair Gray, the author of Lanark, Julia Donaldson, the new children's laureate and Sarah Brown on life in 10 Downing Street. Links to useful preview articles will be posted in Picks and Previews at the bottom of this page as they become available up to the time when the festival commences. International Film Festival Go to Picks and Previews at the bottom of this page where you will find links to media views on the individual programme launches plus a digest of links to the critics' recommendations and useful preview articles. Edinburgh Art Festival Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival Please note that the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival will be held a week earlier than usual this year, running from Friday, July 22nd 2011 until Sunday, July 31st. Forest Fringe Picks and Previews at the bottom of this page will contain links to any relevant articles or previews as they appear. Edge Festival Early media feedback on the launch can be found in stv.tv and ThreeWeeks. Edinburgh Mela Festival Edinburgh Magic Festival Go to Picks and Previews at the bottom of this page where you will find links to media views on the individual programme launches plus a digest of links to the critics' recommendations and useful preview articles. Picks and Previews for 2011
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