American Invasion
This year’s programme brings the best of US theatre to Edinburgh.
New York Fringe highlights include hilarious musical play The Bicycle
Men (winner of Best Overall Production, NY International Fringe
Festival 2004) and the European premiere of Glyn Maxwell’s The
Forever Waltz. Other unusual US fare includes Stirring
by Shoshona Currier, using text based on online personal ads; Meat,
a play from Brooklyn playwright Ethan Lipton (winner Dramalogue Award,
LA), possibly the only play on the Fringe this year about dogs and
gazelles, and Splice, a theatrical romp through 100 years of
cinema and at least 35 well-loved films, as never seen before.
Theatre for the Senses
For a more unusual experience theatregoers can sniff out On the
Scent, a British Council Showcase performance by Curious and internationally
renowned performer Lois Weaver. Groups of four will be treated to
an intimate story telling experience using smell in an Edinburgh Old
Town house. Meanwhile, Aireborn Theatre Company will blindfold audience
members to bring Louis de Berniere’s Sunday Morning at the
Centre of the World to life using sound alone.
Unusual Musicals
Bad Penny Theatre brings together seven unemployed terrorists for
Terrorist! The Musical. They sing, they dance, they blow things
up – a different take on the axis of evil. Zimbabwean touring
dance theatre company Siyaya, bring ‘Thatha (meaning ‘please,
take’). ‘Thatha is a spectacular celebration of song,
dance and life in Africa. The Ghanaian Djembe meets the Zimbabwean
Ngoma in an all out vigour, complimented by the lively dances, superb
percussion rhythms and the sweet a capella harmonies all resembling
the rich cultures and traditions of Africa.
Quality Kids' Theatre
Double Fringe First winners En Masse Theatre Company return with new
play The Shelter, a site-specific thriller for children set
in World War II. Their award-winning pirate adventure Ignatius
Trail returns. Blue Chicken give families a true-life tale of
dastardly dangerous female pirates in Hell and High Water,
and comic kids’ play Mudfinger should delight any child
who has ever tried to dodge a bath.
