In August, Edinburgh serves up some of the best exhibitions, events and performances in the world. But with so much going on, where to start? Scottish arts journalist and festival veteran Susan Mansfield picks some highlights of the festivals for Artmag readers.
For abbreviations, see end of article.
Andy Goldsworthy: Fifty Years (July 26 – Nov 2, Royal Scottish Academy building) While he is one of Scotland’s most important artists, Andy Goldsworthy rarely has museum exhibitions, preferring to make his sculpture in-situ, in the natural world. He makes up for it this summer with a fifty-year retrospective for National Galleries of Scotland, filling the Royal Scottish Academy building, including photography, sculpture and major new installations. EAF
Make It Happen (Aug 7-10) Succession’s Brian Cox returns to the stage in Scotland for the first time in a decade as philosopher and economist Adam Smith, in this drama about the rise and fall of the Royal Bank of Scotland. He’s joined by another top Scottish actor, Sandy Grierson, as infamous bank boss Fred “the Shred” Goodwin in James Graham’s epic new satire directed by award-winning Andrew Panton. EIF
Karine Polwart: Windblown (Aug 9-13, Queens Hall) Multi award-winning Scottish folk musician Karine Polwart made a flawless transition to making theatre with her debut, Wind Resistance, in 2016. Her latest piece of theatre is a tribute to the longest-living plant in the Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Gardens, a 200-year-old Sabal palm which has reached the end of its life. A reflection on time, loss and history. EdFringe
Gimme Danger: Linder in conversation with Marina Warner (Aug 8, 4.30pm) Linder’s provocative photomontages were born in the age of post-punk, but have been heartily rediscovered by the art world today. That journey is explored in a three-way conversation between the artist, writer and historian Marina Warner and Art Festival director Kim McAleese. Linder’s retrospective, Danger Came Smiling, is at Inverleith House (until Oct 19) and her performance A Kind of Glamour About Me will be staged in the Royal Botanic Gardens on Aug 7. EIBF/EAF
The Burns Project (Aug 2-16, The Georgian House). The man behind the legend is explored in a site-specific period setting by actor James Clement, working with highly-acclaimed director Cora Bissett, in collaboration with the National Theatre of Scotland. Clements has enjoyed unprecedented access to Burns’ private letters and papers, and created a complex, irreverent and honest portrait of the man we think we know. EdFringe
Grow (Aug 16-19) Edinburgh International Film Festival hosts the world premiere of this film by up-and-coming Scottish director John McPhail (Anna and the Apocalypse). A troubled young woman begins a new life with a tough aunt and discovers a supernatural talent. Expect family drama and pumpkin-growing in a sleepy Scottish town, and a star-studded cast which includes Nick Frost, Jane Horrocks and Sanjeev Kohli. EIFF
Victoria Crowe One of Scotland’s most acclaimed painters turns 80 this year, and there are two shows to celebrate. Victoria Crowe at 80: Decades at the Scottish Gallery (July 31 – Aug 30, free) is an exhibition of mainly new work, in which Crowe returns to the Pentlands landscape she first painted fifty years ago. Victoria Crowe: Shifting Surfaces, at Dovecot Studios (July 28 – Oct 11) brings together many of the textile works the Studios have made in collaboration with her. EAF
The Genesis (July 31-Aug 25, not 6, 11,18, Assembly Hall) One of the biggest shows on this year’s Fringe, The Genesis brings together 17 international circus artists in a show about human connection and collaboration. Fresh from a European tour, Copenhagen Collective wow audiences with their dexterity and daring, while packing an important message about why we all need each other. EdFringe
Mary, Queen of Scots (Aug 15-17) Cousins and rivals, Mary, Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I were drawn together by blood but pulled apart by politics, and often manipulated by power-hungry men. Their complex relationship is brought to the stage by Scottish Ballet in this world premiere created by Sophie Laplane and James Bonas. A new contemporary score and Soutra Gilmour’s designs ensure the story has plenty of 21st-century verve. EIF
Ohio (July 30-Aug 24, Assembly Roxy) Obie-winning indie-folk duo The Bengsons tell part of their own story in this lo-fi musical which is already a cult hit in the US. A story about losing faith, finding music and holding on to hope in the darkest of places, it is brought to the Fringe by the Olivier Award-winning producers of Fleabag and Baby Reindeer. EdFringe
Damian Barr: Forgotten Love (Aug 23, 3.15pm) Painters Robert Colquhoun and Robert MacBryde met at Glasgow School of Art in the 1930s. They were together for the rest of their lives, and briefly blazed across the art world with their daring embrace of modernism. They are almost forgotten today, but writer and presenter Damian Barr hopes to change that with his new novel, The Two Roberts. EIBF
Michael Elsener – How To Live In Paradise (Aug 1-21, not 11, Gilded Balloon at Appleton Tower). Comedian Michael Elsener is a kind of Swiss John Oliver, an incisive political commentator and late-night host. In his Edinburgh debut, he turns his unflinching eye on what it means to be Swiss, exposing the hypocrisies in a country which some claim to be paradise, while adding his razor-sharp take on the current political moment. EdFringe
Aubrey Levinthal: Mirror Matter (Ingleby Gallery, ends Sep 13) Philadelpia-based Aubrey Levinthal is a serious and committed painter, concerned with communicating aspects of emotions and experience. She plays with scale, perspective and colour, while remaining concerned with descriptive detail. Her first major solo show in the UK is a reminder of how strange the domestic can be and why it matters. EAF
Two Pints (31 July – 24 Aug, not 6, 11, 18, Assembly Rooms) Booker Prize-winning novelist Roddy Doyle has always written great dialogue, which means he has made a smooth transition into writing for theatre. Two Pints follows two old friends (Sean Cairns and Anthony Brophy) shooting the breeze in their Dublin local in a play variously described as witty, poignant and “a masterclass in comedy writing and acting”. EdFringe
Faustus in Africa! (Aug 20-23) The timeless tale of the man who strikes a bargain with the devil is reimagined in African terms by leading artist and theatre director William Kentridge with puppets by world leaders Handspring. This Faust confronts the costs of colonialism and the prospect of climate emergency, eleven years on from Kentridge/Handspring’s ground-breaking collaboration Ubu and the Truth Commission. EIF
How To Win Against History (July 30 – Aug 24, Underbelly George Square). A tragi-comic musical about the life of Henry Cyril Paget, who was one of the world’s wealthiest men in the late 19th century. But in the course of a short and rather glorious life, the “Dancing Marquess” spent every penny and ran up enormous debts. Ever since the runaway success of Six, the Fringe has been seen as a great place to debut new musicals like this one, which is produced by Francesca Moody and Bristol Old Vic. EdFringe
In Transit (Aug 17-19) Jennifer Ehle stars as an enigmatic painter who asks a young bartender to pose for her in an encounter that changes both their lives. Edinburgh International Film Festival hosts the world premiere of this new film by Emmy award-winning director Jaclyn Bethany, described as “one to watch” by Variety magazine. In Transit is described as “elegant, subtle drama with a chilly edge”. EIFF
A Gambler’s Guide to Dying (July 31 – Aug 24, Traverse Theatre) Ten years after Gary McNair’s smash hit one-man show premiered on the Fringe, it’s back at the Traverse. This young man’s grandad won a fortune by betting on the 1966 Football World Cup, then, when diagnosed with cancer, gambled it all on living to see the year 2000. A chance to see a show which audiences around the world have loved. EdFringe
Mike Nelson: Humpty Dumpty (Fruitmarket, ends Oct 5) Nelson is well known as a maker of compelling immersive installations from salvaged materials, and his latest is something of a coup for the Fruitmarket. He spent two months working in the gallery building the three-part exhibition which takes in a city in Turkey, a housing development in south London, and the politics of living space everywhere. EAF
Bloomsbury Bell (July 30-Aug 24, not 11, 18, Pleasance Courtyard) Actress Kara Wilson, who is also a painter, had created a happy niche for one-woman plays about artists, during which she paints an example of their work. Following last year’s show about Beryl Cook, in this new adaptation she now takes on Vanessa Bell, star of the Bloomsbury Group, and sister Virginia Woolf. Here, the older Vanessa paints a portrait of Virginia, now long dead, as she remembers the days of their youth. EdFringe
For more information and tickets:
EAF – Edinburgh Art Festival – www.edinburghartfestival.com
EIBF – Edinburgh International Book Festival – www.edbookfest.co.uk
EIF – Edinburgh International Festival – www.eif.co.uk
EIFF – Edinburgh International Film Festival – www.edfilmfest.org
EdFringe – Edinburgh Fringe – www.edfringe.com
