Latest news with #Fringe
Edmonton Journal
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- Edmonton Journal
Fringe Review: Rat Academy 2 improves on already stellar original
Article content Stage 11, Varscona Theatre 10329 83 Ave. Article content I saw last year's inaugural iteration of Rat Academy, and didn't think it could get much better. I was wrong. Article content Fingers (Dayna Lea Hoffmann) and Shrimp (Katie Yoner) have taken their story of the last two rats in Alberta and made it even funnier. But also, more tender. Article content This time around, we join our favourite clown rodents as they discover they are being evicted from their home in the back alley, behind the Buckingham, on Whyte Avenue. Article content Article content Understandably distraught, the two open a lemonade stand to raise money to buy their own home. But things take a far darker turn when the rats learn they've actually been evicted from the entire province of Alberta, and that the rat patrol has been given leave to exterminate them. They turn to the audience, which is only too eager to help. Article content Article content Fingers and Shrimp have fabulous good cop/bad cop chemistry. Shrimp (truly, more bunny than rodent) is naïve and loving, while Fingers is the sharp-tongued brains of the pair. Their dialogue is clever and thoughtful, and they never descend to Trump talk (Though there is a pretty good joke about measles). Article content Tickets for Rat Academy 2 (directed by Joseph McManus) are sold out for the rest of the run. Here's hoping the show will be part of the Fringe holdover series, to be announced Aug. 22 at noon. Article content
The Herald Scotland
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Fringe chiefs thwart 'self-sabotage' public funding bid
Chief executive Tony Lankester, who is in his first summer in the role, has seen off a behind-the-scenes rebellion led by Peter Buckley Hill, the founder of 'Free Fringe' venues at the festival, which sparked fears the society would struggle to secure public funding in future. Read more: He wanted members of the society to ensure there was a 'level playing field' for artists and it was not doing anything to 'discriminate in favour of one show against another'. However Mr Lankester claimed it was 'fanciful' to suggest that the UK and Scottish Governments, who are supported the festival to the tune of more than £1 million this year, would keep putting money in if there was no 'rigour' or 'oversight' into how it was being distributed. Tony Lankester is chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society. (Image: Gordon Terris) The bid to rethink the Fringe's funding programmes was rejected by 80 members, while just 23 voted in support. Mr Buckley Hill and his supporters wanted the society to commit to distribute all public funding should be distribute 'equally and equitably' among all artists who take part in the event. Ruxandra Cantir's show Pickled Republic is part of the Made in Scotland showcase at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. (Image: Andy Catlin) However Mr Lankester said this would mean the Fringe Society spending tens of thousands of pounds to administer a fund that would distribute grants of just £6 to artists. The motion put forward for the Fringe Society AGM stated that 'the principle of open access' remains at the heart of the Fringe' and argued that the charity has 'no power or mandate to 'distinguish between the artistic quality of shows, or the value of venues'. Free Fringe founder Peter Buckley Hill has led criticism of how public funding support for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is Fringe Society has insisted it has been an 'impartial, arms-length administrator' of public funding, using independent expert panels and assessors to decide on funding applications. However a key criteria for funding is that it is intended to support artists and performers who 'do not have an existing high profile and artists who face barriers to funding and the arts more generally'. Speaking at the AGM, Mr Buckley Hill claimed most of the public funding handled by the Fringe Society was being used to help acts pay for 'bloody great big posters.' Mr Buckley Hill suggested that the Fringe Society's application forms were 'framed in middle class terms.' And it feels counter-intuitive and self sabotaging to be entertaining or supporting a motion that will have the effect of doing the opposite – not just to the programmes we currently run, but any future initiative or project which seeks to put money back into the ecosystem, into the pockets of those who deliver the Fringe and take personal and financial risk to do so. He said: 'Giving some shows an unfair advantage over other shows is a violation of the open access principle that the Fringe has always stood for and still boasts of. 'Some people are richer than others. We can't stop that, nevertheless we can stop exacerbating that, and instead work in the direction of equality for all and at least level off the playing field.' Stand-up comic Kate Smurthwaite said the distribution of public funding by the Fringe Society had encouraged "an advertising arms race' at the festival. She added: 'We now have a situation in which those of us who don't have funding are suddenly being out-postered by people who are being sponsored by government.' Mr Lankester insisted the Fringe Society 'could not be more transparent' about how the public funding it is responsible for has been allocated and distributed. He added: 'We agree that the Fringe Society should not play favourites. We agree that the Fringe Society itself should not be making subjective decisions or assessments on the artistic merits of a piece of work or of a performer. We agree that the Fringe Society should not discriminate against one artist in favour of another. We want to state clearly that we don't do any of those things. 'Without some baseline criteria, without an independent group of assessors, without the rigor of Fringe Society oversight of the process, that money would never have been made available to artists, full stop. 'It's fanciful to suggest that we can strip out that rigour, strip out that oversight and strip out of that process and funders would still be willing to give us money.' Mr Lankester said the 'single biggest challenge' facing Fringe artists was the cost of bringing work to Edinburgh. He added: 'Supporting them in overcoming that challenge by advocating for funds to come into the ecosystem that wouldn't otherwise have done is exactly the role of the Fringe Society. 'It feels counter-intuitive and self sabotaging to be entertaining or supporting a motion that will have the effect of doing the opposite – not just to the programmes we currently run, but any future initiative or project which seeks to put money back into the ecosystem, into the pockets of those who deliver the Fringe, and take personal and financial risk to do so.' The Herald has teamed up with to make the purchase of tickets for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe so much easier. To buy tickets, please click here.
The National
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The National
The Edinburgh Fringe show exploring being Irish in Scotland
Burke has brought her new show Mind How You Go to the festival to share her family's tale, featuring moving statues, nuns, and American cousins 'with beautiful teeth and magazine hair.' Directed by Gerda Stevenson, and with songs from Burke's album produced by Duke Special, the piece spans generations — from her great-grandfather's imprisonment for Irish independence to her Uncle Pat's return on the day Neil Armstrong landed on the moon. 'It's all about me and my family, and growing up in Ireland and my Catholic childhood,' Burke explains. 'And I suppose now, because I live in Scotland, looking back at that with a lens of being older and an immigrant. The themes in this piece are immigration, religion, independence - Irish independence - and Spike Island, a militant prison in Ireland and also about, you know, family. READ MORE: Emotional Fringe play tells powerful story of students lost in Lockerbie bombing "There's quite a lot of fun and comedy in it as there always is in families.' Bafta Scotland winner Stevenson agrees that the universality of those themes is key. 'We all come from somewhere, and so it's very much about all of that. It's also about music because Michelle is a wonderful singer and songwriter. The show is filled with those songs and the songs are built into the show and the storytelling. So, music, storytelling, history.' What makes Mind How You Go distinctive is the way it draws on real artefacts from Burke's life. 'All these objects that we have in the show, which are real from her life. And there's something about objects that have kind of sat there silently and witnessed things going on. There's something very eloquent about objects. And we all have them," Stevenson shared. Burke added: 'I do carry my granny's rosary beads and miraculous medals. I don't go to mass anymore and I'm a complete and utter hypocrite, but I do have them.' Music runs through the piece, with songs from Burke's new album co-written with Duke Special, Kathryn Williams, and others. 'One of the songs on the album is set — we've set a poem written by my great-grand uncle that he wrote while he was a prisoner on Spike Island. It does feel special to put music to something that was written by him over 100 years ago.' Creating a work for the Fringe also brings its own challenges — particularly the strict turnaround times in venues. 'You cannot go on longer than your slot, and you've got a 15 minute get in and get out,' Stevenson shared. 'So it has to be very simple, which it is, and brilliantly designed by Jessica Brettle. She's fantastic, and she's designed this very simple but beautiful set that we can hopefully put up in 15 minutes and start the show and then get it down in 15 minutes because the venue will not tolerate anything other than that.' The discipline of sticking to time has shaped the performance itself. 'I have to stick to the script. I find that really tricky because sometimes I could go off on a bit of a tangent," Burke laughs. READ MORE: I tried to go to 10 Fringe shows in one day. Here's what happened Stevenson adds: "This is the first show where we've actually had really quite a definite script because Michelle's a fantastic storyteller … and we can't do that on this because we have to finish within the hour..' Still, Stevenson sees the limits as creatively useful. 'Often you find that it's beneficial because you cut to the chase and it becomes a distillation which is sometimes more eloquent than something that's rambling a bit.' What audiences might take away As for what she hopes audiences will feel, Stevenson reflected: 'I wonder, will it make them think about stories within their own family? I hope that they'll think about people on journeys and moving, entering into another community. And I hope that they'll think about that with interest. I think when you meet somebody who's telling you their story, it's a privilege.' Burke sums it up with characteristic humour: 'Yeah, and I'm on the lookout for anyone who could prescribe me some horse tranquilizers so I can sleep.' With its mix of history, music, and deeply personal storytelling, Mind How You Go promises to be one of the Fringe's hidden gems — a work steeped in memory yet alive with song, humour, and the enduring pull of home. Mind How You Go is on at venue 186, Playground 1 at ZOO Playground, until August 24.
Scotsman
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
My Festival Sam Kissajukian
Six months, 300 paintings, one man's mental state. We caught up with Sam Kissajukian ahead of the Fringe show that documents them all. Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... There are thousands of shows in Edinburgh this month. Please tell us why we should come and see yours. It's actually really tough because there are five other shows at Summerhall about a guy who made 300 paintings in a cake factory during a six-month manic episode. Who or what was the biggest inspiration for your show? Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The late Richard Artschwager, a New York artist who did the most unlikely variety of mediums. His exhibitions were equal measure incredible and frustrating. Who or what are you most excited about seeing this year? Maddie and Marina Bye's show Siblings: Dreamweavers. I've seen it twice. I'm going again. Funniest show I've seen to date. It genuinely makes me happy. Who do you most like spending time with in Edinburgh? Any performer after they've had a technical disaster show. It's very bonding to be around someone who's had their dreams temporarily crushed by QLab. What is the best review you've had? And the worst? There's a guy who has a YouTube channel where he reviews shows and decides whether they are boring or confusing. He said my show was boring but not confusing. I just love the idea of someone detailing their six-month manic episode and you just yell 'BORING!'. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad What will we learn from your show that we didn't know before? Before what? Who's we? And what don't you know? I'm very confused. But not bored. Tell us something about you that would surprise people. When I was 17, I was ranked first in Australia at Magic: The Gathering. I won a bunch of money and wanted to turn pro. My parents forbade it and made me go to university. Joke's on them, eight years at university and now I do finger paintings. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad What are the best and worst things that have happened to you at a festival? A wonderful gentleman offered to show me his kaleidoscope collection. Outside of performing, I spend most of my time painting alone in the dark. So, at the festival, I enjoy meeting everyone and stealing energy from upbeat performers. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad What's the first thing you do in the morning and the last thing you do at night? This festival, I had two evicted clowns crashing in my living room. They had a show at midnight and mine was midday. So, I asked when they came in late if they could be quiet. They made a game of it, they told me they spent all day practising how to be silent: lowering water from the sink tap by hand and moving slowly without raising their feet. At night, I could hear them sliding around the apartment giggling and shooshing each other. It made me feel like a curmudgeon. So, I tied a bunch of bottles to a string that went across the hallway to the door handle. When they came in that night, the bottles clanged and I gave a good 'Shhhhhhhhh!'. Thanks for the interview! We'd like to buy you a drink. Where are we going and what are we drinking? Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad I was quite touched by this offer, but then I found out that you've been asking all the other performers the same question Sam Kissajukian's show 300 Paintings is at Summerhall, 12:05pm, until 25 August. An accompanying exhibition, Paintings to Sleep On, is also on show in Summerhall's In Vitro Gallery.
Scotsman
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Edinburgh Festival Fringe has become 'great monster', Two Doors Down star tells Baby Reindeer-linked venue
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is a 'great monster' that has moved away from its original ethos of accessibility over the past ten years, Two Doors Down star Kieran Hodgson has warned. Speaking at an industry panel event at Shedinburgh on Monday, the new Fringe venue spearheaded by Baby Reindeer producer Francesca Moody, Mr Hodgson said 'professionalisation' of the festival had changed its character. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Comic Kieran Hodgson. | Kieran Hodgson The panel, which included Mr Hodgson and comedian Rajiv Karia, alongside producers Owen Donovan and Phoebe Bourke, also warned the rising costs of visiting the Fringe made audience members less likely to take risks on the shows they see, with established TV comedians more likely to sell tickets. In response to a question from panel host and Berk's Nest co-founder Ms Bourke, who asked whether the Fringe was 'still what it started out to be in terms of ethos', in terms of being 'accessible to everyone and not exclusive in any way', Mr Hodgson said he believed the event had changed dramatically in ethos over the past decade. Gordon (Kieran Hodgson) enrages Cathy (Doon Mackichan) with his impression on her in Two Doors Down (Picture: BBC / Alan Peebles) He said: 'You can find it [the ethos], but it's not the overall character of it. It's the beast. It's the great monster now. 'It dwarfs the entire International Festival, it dwarfs everything. Because there's a lot of money involved and also because it's seven-and-a-half decades old, people have gamed it. People have worked out how to organise it in such a way that certain things thrive and certain things don't thrive. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'It's not just five rooms and people are turning up and giving it a go with something they wrote a month or so ago. To succeed here, you plan it two years in advance. There's so much professionalisation that's happened everywhere. Ten years ago, I think you could find that spirit during the shows when I was doing the free Fringe.' Mr Donovan said his company, Berk's Nest, and others like it had professionalised Fringe production, operating as year-round organisations and taking financial risks on behalf of a small number of artists. He said: 'If the question is 'do we think the original ethos of the Fringe still remains', the answer is no and we are somewhat responsible. Effectively, what has happened over the last ten years is that us and companies like us, where largely producers in the Fringe didn't exist and in a decade of us professionalising ourselves as an organisation, we have effectively come in as commercial producers. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Organisations like us have changed that ethos and we're much closer to how the companies that set up the International Festival were operating, rather than the ones who were behind the Fringe on the side.' Ms Bourke warned the rising cost of visiting the Fringe meant the audience was made up of 'a very particular type of person who can afford to be here'.
