EDINBURGH FESTIVAL
www.cphstheatre.org
Can you think of a similar arts
festival held in Catalonia for a weekend ?
Do you like theatre and arts ?
Do you usually go to the theatre ? How often ?
.............................. ?
http://www.eif.co.uk/G8_About_the_Festival.php
'Brevity
is the sole of wit… I will be brief'.
Hamlet
The
Edinburgh International Festival is a festival of performing
arts that takes place in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, over three
weeks from around the middle of August. By invitation from the General
Director, the International Festival brings top class performers of
opera, theatre, music (especially classical music) and dance from around
the world to perform.
The first International Festival took place in 1947, in the wake of
the Second World War, with an optimistic remit to 'provide a platform
for the flowering of the human spirit' and enrich the cultural life
of Scotland, Britain and Europe. The founders of the Festival included
Rudolph Bing, Henry Harvey Wood the Head of the British Council in Scotland,
and a group of civic leaders from the City of Edinburgh. The festivals
have taken place every August since.
In 1999, the International Festival moved to a permanent home in the
The Hub , formerly 'The Highland Tolbooth'
- an architecturally remarkable building a couple of minutes' walk from
Edinburgh Castle, originally built as an assembly house
for the Church of Scotland. Its gothic spire is the highest point in
central Edinburgh, and can be seen for many miles around.
The dates for the next few International Festivals are as follow: 2006
- 13 August - 3 September; 2007 - 12 August - 2 September; 2008 - 10
August - 31 August; 2009 - 16 August - 6 September; 2010 - 15 August
– 5 September
Adapted
from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edinburgh_International_Festival
THE FRINGE
The
Edinburgh Festival Fringe is often called the Edinburgh Fringe
and sometimes just the Fringe. It takes place annually
in the city of Edinburgh during August. It was originally set up to
complement the Edinburgh International Festival but now dwarfs it.
The Edinburgh Fringe is the world’s largest arts festival.
The
Fringe is focused almost exclusively on the performing arts,
particularly theatre and comedy. Fringe material can be anything from
Shakespeare to modern works; however the nature of the fringe encourages
experimental works. At first there was a lot of animosity between the
fringe and the official festival, however now this has almost entirely
disappeared.
The Festival Fringe Society administers the fringe. They publish the
programme, sell tickets and offer advice to performers. The office is
located on the Royal Mile.
A bit of History
The Fringe started when eight theatre companies turned
up uninvited to the first year of the Edinburgh International Festival
in 1947. They aimed to take advantage of the large theatre crowds and
showcase their own, more alternative, theatre. It initially got most
of its support from University of Edinburgh students who set up drop-in
centres and a central booking service.
In 1958 the Fringe became more organised with the Fringe Festival Society
producing up the first guide to all Fringe shows.
The Fringe Today
In 2005 the fringe sold 1,335,000 tickets and was the 3rd year in a
row that they sold over 1 million tickets. The website states there
was "26,995 performances of 1800 shows in 247 venues, and hosted
16,190 performers". It was the largest festival on record. The
2005 festival was also the first year that the Metro Half Price Ticket
Tent was used, offering special ticket prices for different shows each
day, it sold over 45,000 tickets.
Today the Fringe exists over many different venues but can be sampled
by visiting the Royal Mile around St. Giles
Cathedral. This historic and busy area is pedestrianised during
the Fringe period and becomes the focal point where members of production
casts hand out flyers, attempt to sell tickets for their show.
taken
from http://www.answers.com/topic/edinburgh-fringe
ACTIVITIES
After reading the text, can you do this CROSSWORD ?