Flybe / July 2019

20 / 116

20 / Flight Time / JULY 2019
Take-off
The Edinburgh International Festival and
Edinburgh Fringe Festival return from 2nd-
26th August, bringing the best of theatre,
music and dance from across the world to
Scotland’s capital.
The International Festival programme
features 93 events, with 293 performances
across 17 venues and 2,600 artists from
40 nations including Australia, Nigeria,
Canada, Belgium, China, Mali, Holland,
South Africa, New Zealand, France,
Germany, India, Scotland and the rest of
the UK. The Fringe Festival is the world’s
greatest platform for creative freedom.
HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE :
• The Los Angeles Philharmonic who
open the Festival with a special free
concert for 15,000 people at Tynecastle
Park celebrating Hollywood’s greatest
movie music with a programme featuring
soundtracks from cinema’s Golden Age
and a selection from the world’s best-
loved film composer, John Williams.
• Peter Gynt starring Scottish actor
James McArdle (The James Plays, Angels
in America, Mary Queen of Scots), in a
new version by David Hare after Henrik
Ibsen, directed by Jonathan Kent, in
a major co-production with National
Theatre of Great Britain.
E D I N B U R G H O N E
IT’S FESTIVAL TIME
• Leith Theatre hosting concerts from
some of today’s most original voices
including Jarvis Cocker, Anna Calvi, Kate
Tempest, Neneh Cherry, Sharon Van Etten
and Teenage Fanclub.
• An extensive opera in concert
programme with all-star international
casts including the final instalment of
the International Festival’s Ring cycle,
Wagner’s Götterdämmerung, led by
US soprano Christine Goerke; Puccini’s
widely-loved Manon Lescaut with soprano
Sondra Radvanovsky in the titular role; and
Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, featuring British
countertenor Iestyn Davies.
• A new version of Stravinsky’s Rite of
Spring by Chinese choreographer Yang
Liping and Oscar-winning designer Tim
Yip (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)
and the world premiere of Scottish Ballet’s
The Crucible, the centrepiece of the
company’s 50th-anniversary season.
• Sir Ian McKellen recalling seminal
moments from his career and marking 50
years since his landmark performances at
the 1969 International Festival.
• Sydney Theatre Company’s multi
award-winning staging of Kate Grenville’s
novel The Secret River, which takes an
unflinching look at Australia’s dark history.
• Two concert performances of West
Side Story with an international cast
and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra
conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
• Stephen Fry performing Mythos:
A Trilogy, three gripping performances
based on his best-selling book that bring to
life the classic stories of ancient Greece.
• British comedy legends including
everyone’s favourite fox, Basil Brush, who
is doing two shows this year – one for kids
and one for grown-ups; legendary radio
show host Clive Anderson and star of The
Fast Show Arabella Weir who are both
making their solo Fringe debuts.
• Edinburgh Best Newcomer Comedy
Award Nominees Darren Harriott and Ed
Night returning to the fringe for their third
shows. 2015’s Edinburgh Comedy Award
nominee Tom Parry bringing his new show
to the fringe and the 2015 Best Newcomer
Award Winner Sofie Hagen performing her
new show.
•Celebrating 40 years since their first
live performance, the cast of Radio Active
return to the Edinburgh Fringe, where it all
began! The original cast including Angus
Deayton, Helen Atkinson Wood, Philip
Pope and Michael Fenton Stevens will be
reviving all your favourite characters and
performing a brand-new show with their
classic radio scripts live for the first time.
• Edinburgh Fringe favourites Mark
Watson and Lucy Porter are coming back
to the fringe for limited runs.
• Dutch freestyle dance group ISH
Dance Collective, incorporating dance,
BMX, skating, skateboarding and parkour,
will debut at the EICC.
• Newcomers to the fringe including
Funny Women Awards Winner 2017 Cam
Spence, as well as Funny Women Awards
finalist and Pleasance Comedy Reserve
alumni Sophie Duker. Leicester Comedy
Festival’s Best New Show award-winner
Michael Odewale, 2015’s BBC Comedy
Award-winner Yuriko Kotani and Australian
favourite Brodi Snook are also making their
debuts.
• Cult favourite sell-out John-Luke
Roberts, and Edinburgh Fringe veteran
Hardeep Singh Kohli will be returning to
the Assembly this year.