Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2021 – At The Scottish Storytelling Centre

The Scottish Storytelling Centre on the Royal Mile is open again and there is a lot to see and hear this month.

Here is a quick rundown of what you can expect:

Spoken Word

Loud Poets once again present the top spoken word talent this year’s festival has to offer in a series of riotous, laugh-out-loud funny evenings that brings poetry to the masses. The word acrobats will be joined by a stellar line-up of guests, making each night and each performance a unique experience. 

Storytelling

Connecting audiences with the magic of Celtic traditions, Storyteller Alice Fernbank and musician Graham Dickson recount the epic Celtic tale of The Golden Fly, about a shape-shifting goddess forced to wander the earth in search of truth. 

After their 2019 sold-out Fringe success performance Walk the Oars, Danish Storyteller Svend-Erik Engh and Scottish musician Neil Sutcliffe return to the Netherbow stage to tell the tale of Wolves Within. The performance combines storytelling and music, bringing to life the symbolism of the wolf in stories from across the globe. 

Theatre

Andy Cannon takes audiences on a thousand-year journey from fact to fiction and back again. Is This A Dagger?, his renowned one-man, family-friendly adaptation of Shakespeare’s ‘Scottish Play’.  A perfect introduction for newcomers to this wicked tale, and a fresh take on it for Shakespeare aficionados.

Multiple award-winning production Thunderstruck tells the tale of tragically deceased musician Gordon Duncan and the indelible mark he left on the history and traditions of bagpiping. Written and performed by David Colvin, the play was the recipient of a 2019 Herald Angel and Scottish Arts Trust Award. 

Sometimes things get so bad, the only resort is to imagine them worse – and then laugh at the nightmare. Perthshire maverick Gussie McCraig, performed by Christopher Craig, joins No.10 as a Scottish adviser in The Liard Strikes Back. Can nothing halt the irresistible rise of Scotland’s greatest sleazebag in Brexit Britain?

Maria MacDonell’s tale of a Scottish seamstressintimately weaves the hills of Glenesk to Canada’s Klondike gold rush in Miss Lindsay’s Secret. Using original live music, drama and historical material from Glenesk Museum, the play unravels a lively and moving local story, woven into Scotland’s national identity, reaches across time and continent.

Online

Puppet State Theatre Company present two specially recorded online performances, both of which will be followed up with a live Q+A. 

Leaf By Niggle is an acclaimed adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s fantastical tale, with sound design from Karine Polwart and MJ McCarthy; and The Man Who Planted Trees blends puppetry and storytelling in a multi-award-winning adaptation that toured for almost 14 years, with repeat appearances at the Sydney Opera House and off-Broadway.

Visual Art

Thistles, Sunflowers and Dreamscapes is a first major solo show in five years from Bulgarian-born, Edinburgh-based artist Diana Savova. Featuring over 30 new works in ink, oil and acrylic, the exhibition reflects on notions of displacement and home, both in the context of migration and the pandemic. 

https://www.scottishstorytellingcentre.com

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe, online and in person at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, Fringe Venue 30, 6 – 30 August 2021.

Is This a Dagger?

6^th-10^th, 12^th-17^th, 21^st-22^nd & 28^th-29^th | 13:00 (1hr)

£12 (£10) (£40 Family) | 8+ | Children’s Shows

The Golden Fly

19^th-20^th & 25^th-27^th | 13:00 (1hr)

£12 (£10) | 12+ | Spoken Word

Wolves Within

10^th, 12^th, 24^th, 26^th * 28^th | 16:00 (1hr10)

£12 (£10) | 12+ | Spoken Word 

Miss Lindsay’s Secret

6^th-9^th, 11^th, 13^th, 16^th, 18^th, 22^nd-23^rd, 25^th & 29^th-30^th | 16:00 (1hr)

£12 (£10) | 12+ | Theatre

The Laird Strikes Back

14^th, 15^th, 17^th, 19^th, 21^st | 16:00 (1hr)

£12 (£10) | 16+ | Theatre

Paddy the Cope

7^th, 9^th, 11^th, 14^th, 16^th, 18^th, 22^nd, 24^th, 26^th & 30^th | 19:00 (1hr15)

20^th | 16:00 (1hr15)

£12 (£10) | 12+ | Theatre

Thunderstruck

8^th, 10^th, 12^th, 15^th, 17^th, 19^th, 21^st, 23^rd, 25^th & 29^th | 19:00 (1hr15)

27^th | 16:00 (1hr15)

£12 (£10) | 12+ | Theatre

Loud Poets 

6^th, 13^th, 20^th, 27^th & 28^th | 19:00 (1hr15)

6^th, 13^th, 20^th, 27^th | 20:45 (1hr15)

£12 (£10) | 14+ | Spoken Word

Thistles, Sunflowers and Dreamscapes

3 – 31 Aug | Exhibition | Free  

JRR Tolkien’s Leaf by Niggle

17^th | 19:00 (1hr50) | Youtube + Live Q&A on Zoom

PWYC £15, £10, £5 | 8+ | Theatre

The Man Who Planted Trees

24^th | 19:00 (1hr50) | Youtube + Live Q&A on Zoom

PWYC £15, £10, £5 | 8+ | Theatre

Phyllis Stephen

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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.

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