The aligning of the Edinburgh fringe and international festivals signals a greater shift – the break down of the division between high and low art, says Lyn Gardner.
The Edinburgh international and fringe festivals, which now run in sync during August, both kick off properly today. And it’s more than dates that the two have in common. Looking through the performance programme for the international festival, it’s clear that some of the work programmed might sit equally well on the fringe. Indeed, some of those taking part in the international festival this year are fringe stalwarts. The theatre company 1927, who are collaborating on the Komische Oper Berlin’s The Magic Flute, were discovered here in 2007, and both Enda Walsh (librettist on the Donnacha Dennehy-composed The Last Hotel at the Edinburgh international festival) and Complicite (who present the show The Encounter, directed by and starring Simon McBurney, at the EIF) have made fringe appearances. Complicite even walked away with the then Perrier award for comedy in 1985.
Yes, the international festival has its big flagship shows, including Juliette Binoche in Ivo van Hove’s Antigone, seen at the Barbican earlier this year, and long time EIF favourite Robert Lepage with the premiere of his latest piece, the strongly autobiographical 887. But it’s increasingly the case that it is only budget, production values and venue that make the difference between the very best theatre work on the fringe and at the international festival, and that there is real potential for two-way traffic between them, which new EIF director Fergus Linehan is cannily exploiting... Keep reading on The Guardian
The Edinburgh international and fringe festivals, which now run in sync during August, both kick off properly today. And it’s more than dates that the two have in common. Looking through the performance programme for the international festival, it’s clear that some of the work programmed might sit equally well on the fringe. Indeed, some of those taking part in the international festival this year are fringe stalwarts. The theatre company 1927, who are collaborating on the Komische Oper Berlin’s The Magic Flute, were discovered here in 2007, and both Enda Walsh (librettist on the Donnacha Dennehy-composed The Last Hotel at the Edinburgh international festival) and Complicite (who present the show The Encounter, directed by and starring Simon McBurney, at the EIF) have made fringe appearances. Complicite even walked away with the then Perrier award for comedy in 1985.
Yes, the international festival has its big flagship shows, including Juliette Binoche in Ivo van Hove’s Antigone, seen at the Barbican earlier this year, and long time EIF favourite Robert Lepage with the premiere of his latest piece, the strongly autobiographical 887. But it’s increasingly the case that it is only budget, production values and venue that make the difference between the very best theatre work on the fringe and at the international festival, and that there is real potential for two-way traffic between them, which new EIF director Fergus Linehan is cannily exploiting... Keep reading on The Guardian