{"id":360,"date":"2016-02-18T18:45:42","date_gmt":"2016-02-18T18:45:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/3\/?p=360"},"modified":"2023-03-19T22:23:39","modified_gmt":"2023-03-19T22:23:39","slug":"the-edinburgh-festival-2010-a-report-from-a-scottish-perspective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/3\/the-edinburgh-festival-2010-a-report-from-a-scottish-perspective\/","title":{"rendered":"The Edinburgh Festival 2010: a Report from a Scottish Perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark Brown<\/strong>*<\/a><\/p>\n

\"1141298221\"<\/p>\n

Since they began in 1947, the Edinburgh International Festival (EIF) and its sister, off-festival programme (which would soon become known as the Edinburgh Festival Fringe) have had the most profound impact upon the city of Edinburgh (which has gained the enviable reputation of being the host of the premier arts festival in the world). One might contend, as I do, that the festivals[1]<\/sup><\/a> (often referred to collectively as \u201cthe Edinburgh Festival\u201d) have played an equally important role in transforming artistic culture, and particularly theatre, within Scotland.<\/p>\n

For a complex series of theological and political reasons[2]<\/sup><\/a> which it would be inappropriate to explore in detail here, theatre has not, historically, been Scotland\u2019s strongest cultural suit; whereas England\u2019s national Bard, William Shakespeare, is first-and-foremost a dramatist, Scotland\u2019s, Robert Burns, is a poet. Even if one compares Scotland (a nation of approximately five million people) with smaller neighbouring countries, such as Ireland or Norway, the historical weakness of Scottish drama becomes clear; there is no Scottish J.M. Synge, Oscar Wilde, Sean O\u2019Casey or Samuel Beckett, nor is there a Scottish Henrik Ibsen.<\/em><\/p>\n

However, in the post-Second World War period, and particularly since the 1960s, Scotland has seen the emergence of dramatists, directors and theatre companies which have given Scottish theatre, for the first time, a truly global reputation. A \u201csort of Renaissance\u201d has occurred on the Scottish stage, giving rise to such writers as: Gregory Burke (Black Watch, Gagarin Way<\/em>),[3]<\/sup><\/a> John Byrne (The Slab Boys trilogy, Tutti Frutti<\/em>), David Greig (The Architect, The Cosmonaut\u2019s Last Message to the Woman he Once Loved in the Former Soviet Union<\/em>), Chris Hannan (Shining Souls<\/em>), Zinnie Harris (Further Than the Furthest Thing<\/em>), David Harrower (Knives in Hens, Blackbird<\/em>), Liz Lochhead (Medea<\/em> after Euripides, Perfect Days<\/em>) and Anthony Neilson (Stitching, The Wonderful World of Dissocia<\/em>). Add to that list such directors as Andy Arnold (The Arches, Glasgow and the Tron, Glasgow), Vicky Featherstone (National Theatre of Scotland),[4]<\/sup><\/a> Giles Havergal (Citizens, Glasgow), Dominic Hill (Traverse, Edinburgh and Dundee Rep), John McGrath (7:84), Gerry Mulgrew (Communicado), Alison Peebles (Communicado) and John Tiffany (NTS) and their associated companies,[5]<\/sup><\/a> and it is difficult to resist the conclusion that contemporary Scottish theatre has become a significant player in world theatre.<\/p>\n

It seems to me impossible that this \u201csort of Renaissance\u201d would have occurred in the way that it has without the development of the Edinburgh Festival. The EIF and the Fringe have brought the artistic world to Scotland in such numbers and in so many forms that Scottish theatre could not fail to be revolutionised. The key ingredient in that revolution has been internationalism. Great though much theatre in London is, Scottish theatre now had an opportunity it had never had before to look beyond the UK\u2019s capital and draw upon the aesthetics of the likes of Jacques Lecoq, Jerzy Grotowski and the Berliner Ensemble. That European continental and internationalist perspective is apparent in both the stage writing and the performative aesthetics of the best contemporary Scottish theatre.<\/p>\n

Revolutionised though Scottish theatre has been, I still refer to the developments of recent decades as only a \u201csort of Renaissance\u201d. Although great claims are often made for Scottish theatre, not least from within the community of theatre practitioners in Scotland itself, the truly great work is, in my opinion, still too rare. The Scottish work presented in Edinburgh in 2010 was a sobering reminder of this.<\/p>\n

The National Theatre of Scotland (NTS) presented plays at both the Fringe (Beautiful Burnout <\/em>by Bryony Lavery) and the EIF (Caledonia<\/em> by renowned satirist Alistair Beaton). Despite some surprisingly positive reviews,[6]<\/sup><\/a> both shows were, especially in the context of the world\u2019s biggest arts festival, disappointing.<\/p>\n

Lavery\u2019s play about young boxers, a co-production with English theatre company Frantic Assembly, offered a predictable schema, moving from a concerned mother\u2019s kitchen, to the tough training of the gymnasium, to the tension of the boxing ring, and back again, and a largely naturalistic script which descended into clich\u00e9. Beaton\u2019s drama \u2013 a play about the disastrous attempt, in the late 17th-century, to create a Scottish colony in Darien, Panama \u2013 was directed by the fine playwright Anthony Neilson. In the first half of the play \u2013 in which the colonial scheme chimed humorously with the global financial speculation of our own times \u2013 Beaton gave expression to his satirical talents. In the second \u2013 in which the colony collapses, partly due to the rapid and terrible spread of cholera among the colonists \u2013 it loses almost all sense of structure. In the context of the prestigious EIF, the production was a further embarrassment for the NTS.[7]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

If the NTS is not presenting impressive work at the Edinburgh Festival, the Traverse, Scotland\u2019s self-defined \u201cnew writing theatre\u201d, can usually be relied upon to offer exciting and engaging drama. Without doubt, the typically extensive 2010 programme (which included work by fine Irish writer Enda Walsh and leading English dramatist Tim Crouch) included many rewarding shows. However, its main in-house presentation \u2013 young playwright Sam Holcroft\u2019s While You Lie <\/em>\u2013 did not measure up to the best work on the theatre\u2019s festival programme.
\nAn example of the dominant house style of new stage writing throughout the UK \u2013 at London\u2019s Royal Court as much as the Traverse in Edinburgh \u2013 the play falls into the current British formula, what I call \u201csoap opera with a twist of Sarah Kane\u201d. Despite some flashes of nice writing, Holcroft seems to have accepted the dubious notion that contemporary theatre audiences want small-scale, domestic dramas, in which people speak more or less naturalistically (as they \u201cspeak in the street\u201d),[8]<\/sup><\/a> mixed with the kind of \u201cshocking\u201d action and language which is considered more \u201cpowerful\u201d in the live theatre environment than on the television or cinema screen. Consequently her drama – in which a charismatic and sinister plastic surgeon arrives in the midst of a broken down marriage and distorted sexual relations in the workplace \u2013 is a very predictable combination of naturalistic dialogue and sudden moments of sexual or psychological \u201cshock\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"White,
White, written by Andy Manley, and presented by the theatre company Cathering Wheels
\u00a9 Douglas McBride<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If most of the major Scottish productions in Edinburgh disappointed, however, White<\/em> – presented by children\u2019s theatre company Catherine Wheels, and written by talented children\u2019s theatre maker Andy Manley \u2013 certainly did not. It is a beautifully simple piece for children aged two to four, in which two male characters – Cotton (Manley) and Wrinkle (Ian Cameron) \u2013 live in an entirely white world. Everything \u2013 from the clothes they wear to the tepee they live in \u2013 is white.<\/p>\n

The pair go through the daily ritual of cleaning themselves and their many pristine little bird houses in preparation for the dropping from the sky of small white eggs (from which emanate the sounds of children\u2019s play and laughter). However, when a coloured egg drops from the sky (and is later retrieved from the white dustbin by Cotton), this world of \u201cperfect\u201d whiteness becomes \u201cpolluted\u201d with colour.<\/p>\n

Technically ingenious (how do Manley, Cameron, director Gill Robertson and designer Shona Reppe make the various colours appear throughout the set and props?) and beautifully performed (with fine music and sound by Danny Krass), the show is a charming and world-class work of theatre for very young children.
\nThat Catherine Wheels\u2019 production should be, arguably, the strongest piece of Scottish theatre in the 2010 Edinburgh Festival should not be surprising.<\/p>\n

Children\u2019s theatre has become particularly strong in Scotland over the last decade or so. White<\/em> allowed Scottish theatre to showcase a piece which could take its place alongside such great productions at the 2010 Festival as American composer and theatre maker Meredith Monk\u2019s exceptional and deeply moving Songs of Ascension, <\/em>Polynesian choreographer Lemi Ponifasio\u2019s extraordinary dance piece Tempest: Without a Body<\/em> and \u00c1gua<\/em> by Pina Bausch\u2019s Tanztheater Wuppertal.<\/p>\n

\"Songs
Songs of Ascension, by Meredith Monk \u00a9 Edinburgh International Festival<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

Endnotes<\/b><\/p>\n

\n<\/a>[1] The EIF and the Fringe run either concurrently with or with diaries partially over-lapping with the following festivals: the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the Edinburgh Art Festival, the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival, the Edinburgh Mela and the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. The following website carries details of all festivals held in Edinburgh throughout the year, including the Imaginate festival, the UK\u2019s biggest and highest quality festival of children\u2019s theatre: www.edinburghfestivals.co.uk<\/a>
\n<\/a>[2] Although some on the more fundamentalist fringe of Scottish Nationalist politics might contend that a rich Scottish theatre tradition has been suppressed by English influence, particularly since the Treaty of Union between England and Scotland in 1707, most people who have researched the history of Scottish theatre would agree that the Scottish Protestant Reformation, which was deeply hostile to the theatre, played the most significant role in ensuring that modern Scotland would emerge as a nation with a weak tradition in live drama.
\n<\/a>[3] Burke\u2019s biting political comedy about globalisation has been translated into at least 20 languages.
\n<\/a>[4] The National Theatre of Scotland was established in 2006. Calling itself a \u201ctheatre without walls\u201d, the company has no theatre building of its own, and is based in administrative headquarters in Glasgow.
\n<\/a>[5] One might also mention theatre companies such as Grid Iron, Vanishing Point, the Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh, and Wildcat (the latter of which is no longer in existence), and also leading children\u2019s and cross-generational theatre companies and practitioners such as Catherine Wheels, Wee Stories and Andy Manley.
\n<\/a>[6] It is better that critics do not attempt to deduce the reasons for colleagues\u2019 judgments, but, rather, give the clearest possible expression to their own.
\n<\/a>[7] Although the NTS\u2019s first Edinburgh Fringe production \u2013 John Tiffany\u2019s 2006 presentation of Gregory Burke\u2019s Iraq War drama Black Watch <\/em>\u2013 was a massive success, both with critics and audiences, and has led to a number of successful, international revivals, the NTS\u2019s subsequent Edinburgh Festival productions, such as John Tiffany\u2019s adaptation of Euripides\u2019s The Bacchae <\/em>in 2007 and David Harrower\u2019s 365 <\/em>in 2008 have disappointed.
\n<\/a>[8] If one wishes to hear people speak \u201cas they do in the street\u201d, one, surely, need only step out into the street. As the great English dramatist Howard Barker writes: \u201cThe art of theatre<\/em> asserts its absolute independence of the street\u201d; Death, The One and the Art of Theatre <\/em>(Abingdon: Routledge, 2005) p.3.<\/p>\n

\n

\"1141298221\"<\/p>\n

<\/a>*Mark Brown<\/b> is theatre critic of the Scottish national newspaper the Sunday Herald and an occasional contributor to the arts pages of the UK newspaper the Daily Telegraph. He teaches at the University of Strathclyde and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. He is a member of the executive committee of the International Association of Theatre Critics and a member of the editorial board ofCritical Stages<\/em>. He is editor of the forthcoming book Howard Barker interviews 1980-2010: Conversations in Catastrophe<\/em> (published by Intellect Books, February 2011). In 1999 he received the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society\u2019s \u2018Allen Wright Award\u2019 for \u201coutstanding arts journalism\u201d by a young writer.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9<\/strong> 2010 Mark Brown
\nCritical Stages\/Sc\u00e8nes critiques<\/em> e-ISSN: 2409-7411<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This work is licensed under the
\nCreative Commons Attribution International License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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