Five things you need to know today
The Fringe is a perilous place
William Burdett-Coutts outlined that Assembly – the company which jumped in to save Edinburgh’s Christmas along with Unique last year, is in financial peril following an outing at Coventry’s City of Culture year. The Assembly founder explained to the audience at the Press launch on Wednesday that the company did not receive £1.47 million which it was due as the charity set up to run the English event went into liquidation.
Hibs victorious
Hibs regained some composure playing at home to the Andorran side which roundly beat them last week.
As Nigel Duncan recounts, Hibs fans were singing in the rain as their favourites overturned a 2-1 deficit to coast into the third qualifying round of the UEFA Europa Conference League, disposing of Andorran opposition, Inter Club d’Escaldes, 6-1 at Easter Road.
That’s despite losing a goalkeeper in the warm-up and a second stopper in the early stages, but Martin Boyle bounced back after a lengthy injury absence to net twice and Elie Youan tore into the opposition rearguard, using his pace to great effect.
House of Oz
A new creature is set to ignite the imaginations of Fringe audiences: Artist Lisa Roet’s “Skywalker” – a massive inflatable of a Skywalker Gibbon which will take pride of place above House of Oz. In addition to its visually arresting look, visitors can also listen out for the peculiar love call of the gibbon which will be played between show times at the venue.
Roet is an Australian artist, based in Melbourne, whose previous work has graced locations from Beijing to Inverleith House, although this year will mark her first visit to Edinburgh. The structure will be not only an exciting visual for audiences to spot throughout August but is also a firm statement for environmental sustainability.
The venue is at King’s Hall in Newington. Tickets and programme details here.
Celebrating 80 years
Edinburgh People’s Theatre began life in 1943 when playwright Andrew Wilson formed a people’s theatre for the benefit of the citizens of Edinburgh.
Their first performance was at The Little Theatre at the Pleasance in 1944 with the play The Eternal Song, and a few years later, they were one of eight theatre groups that turned up uninvited at the first Edinburgh International Festival. This small group of companies were the beginning of the Fringe Festival!
Over the years, the company have staged numerous world premiere and award-winning productions.
In this 80th year, they are bringing back to the Fringe, Compton Mackenzie’s world-famous Whisky Galore which was first performed by Edinburgh People’s Theatre at the 1966 Fringe Festival.
To learn more about this truly local and long-standing theatre company, read their story on Our Town Stories.
Our August issue
Our August newspaper is on the streets now and we hope you like it.
Our cover story is about Rachel, with a strapline to our exclusive story about the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats.
And inside we have a feature from George Mair who is writing for us for the first month – and loads of sport from Nigel Duncan and Bill Lothian.
If you would like to receive a copy just a wee bit ahead of everyone else then please subscribe by clicking on the image below. (And do read about Rachel and the Barbie story here)
