THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL | WEEK ONE ISSUE | WWW.THREEWEEKS.CO.UK ThreeWeeks EDINBURGH ALSO INSIDE… THE BOY WITH TAPE ON HIS FACE BRYONY KIMMINGS Edinburgh’s Eastenders: EastEnd Cabaret THE MAGNETS PLUS Luke Wright | The Grandees | Haley McGee | It’s Dark Outside | The Dead Secrets | Ben Van Der Velde 2Faced Dance Company | Cerrie Burnell | Monkey Poet | and plenty of brand new ThreeWeeks reviews START POINT Hello there,For all we’re the latest ThreeWeeks, festival newsnice to as meet it breaks you For lots of info about all things ThreeWeeks check www.ThreeWeeks.co.uk/informationwww.ThreeWeeks.co.uk/news Reaching out with a new identity: Just Festival Contents Edinburgh International Centre For talks amongst its programme, the ThreeWeeks 2013 wk1 World Spiritualities and Creative Just Festival is like a mini-Fringe in Space, we now have over 70 different itself. With such an eclectic line-up, START POINT organisations involved across the Newbigging is predictably hesitant to project”. pick out highlights. But pushed she Caro writes… 04 Billed as “an annual celebration of says: “We’re definitely excited about Letter To Edinburgh 04 culture, faith, philosophy and ideas”, the play ‘Tejas Verdes’, marking 40 religion is obviously a theme running years since the Chilean coup d’etat, A poem from Luke 04 through this particular outpost of our series of award-winning European Edinburgh’s festival month, though it films showing at The Filmhouse, and INTERVIEWS has never been just for the religious. a concert of Japanese folk music near “Our focus is on diversity” says the start”. It’s Dark Outside Q&A 06 Newbigging, “and that, of course, “I must also mention Soweto The Grandees Q&A 06 includes all of the different faith Melodic Voices” she adds, “Africa’s groups, and non-faith people, and of national choir champions, personally Oh My Irma Q&A 06 all ages too. We want to see as many backed by Archbishop Desmond people as possible getting involved Tutu. This choir of 40 young people, with our events this year”. many of whom are orphaned or from COMEDY The new name is part of that severely disadvantaged backgrounds, The Dead Secrets 08 mission to reach out as widely as fundraises for children who are Column possible. “We wanted to take the abandoned, abused, disabled or HIV Edinburgh’s Festival Of Spirituality & Peace, which has been festival to a wider audience, including positive”. Comedy Reviews 08 slowly growing during the city’s festival month for over a decade those without a faith background who Soweto Melodic Voices, two The Boy With Tape On 10 now, has a new name for 2013. And organisers hope that, as the are interested in social justice issues of whom are pictured left, are His Face Q&A Just Festival, their eclectic programme of performances, talks, and world cultures. We also want to performing thrice daily until 23 workshops and film will reach an even wider audience. show that our festival is a modern, Aug, and they even provided a Ben Van Der Velde 11 vibrant one that combines thoughtful snippet of their performance to the Column “This is our thirteenth year” becoming a festival in our own right discussion with joyful celebration and ThreeWeeks podcast team, which you Director Katherine Newbigging told in 2007, to launching the new name is a space for people to have fun and can check out at www.threeweeks. ThreeWeeks, “and not at all unlucky earlier this year. And while originally a make friends”. co.uk/2013SMV. THEATRE for us! We’ve grown each year from partnership between St John’s Church, With theatre, music, dance, Theatre Reviews 12 our small beginnings in 2001, to Edinburgh Inter-Faith Association, spoken word, films, workshops and LINKS: www.justjust.org Bryony Kimmings 13 TW Column MORE ONLINE> Book Festival kicks off three decade celebration PHYSICAL Check out performances The Edinburgh International the next thirty years, amongst other long time supporter of Edinburgh’s 2Faced Dance Q&A 14 and interviews galore with Book Festival kicks off this issues. Leading thinkers will be invited book festival, who died earlier this weekend, with a programme to consider all those areas, while summer. the ThreeWeeks podcasts, a panel of non-politicians will also Commenting on his programme MUSIC that makes much of the featuring this week: consider what lies ahead in Scotland’s this year, Book Festival Director Nick The Magnets Q&A 16 event’s thirtieth anniversary immediate future, and the key Barley told ThreeWeeks: “This is not French Kiss this year. Though the literary questions to be asked before the big just a birthday, but a celebration of Music Reviews 16 Graveyard Slot programme will spend as independence vote. an extraordinary generation of talent. much time looking ahead Elsewhere in the programme are The explosion of Scottish culture over MUSICALS Superhero Snail Boy strands programmed by Gavin Esler the last 30 years has reverberated at the next three decades to Musicals Reviews 17 John McNamara come, as looking back at its (on our loss of faith in institutions), around the world and our writers, Neil Gaiman (pictured left, on the artists and performers have influenced Künt And The Gang thirty years in business since reshaping of the modern fantasy all aspects of our lives. While we have Simply The Jest launching in 1983. story), Kate Nosse (on re-evaluating prematurely lost one of our greatest CABARET the role of women in the world today) authors just recently, we must also EastEnd Cabaret Q&A 18 Shirley Gnome On that theme, sessions will and Margert Atwood (pictured right, celebrate the next generation of Cabaret Reviews 18 Phone Whore consider what the world might face on genre boundaries, and why the writers who are distilling the world in terms of the environment, the + many more! best works ignore them). Meanwhile around us”. arts, defence and mental health in writer and illustrator Barroux will be LINKS: www.edbookfest.co.uk ART & WORDS www.ThreeWeeks.co.uk/podcasts the festival’s illustrator in residence, and other celebrity bookings include Monkey Poet Q&A 20 Andrew Marr, Salmon Rushdie, Liz Art & Words Reviews 20 Lochhead and Roddy Doyle. The festival will also include a celebration of the late great Iain CHILDREN’S SHOWS Banks, one of Scotland and Britain’s Cerrie Burnell Q&A 22 finest writers of recent times, and a Children’s Shows 22 More festival news: www.ThreeWeeks.co.uk/news Reviews news, reviews free weekly journalism led by editors and features magazine, training who have ThreeWeeks EDINBURGH from the daily reviews programme covered the world’s biggest sheet and delivers vibrant Festival every THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL festival website review team year since 1996 PICK US UP OR GO ONLINE WWW.THREEWEEKS.CO.UK WEEK ONE | WWW.THREEWEEKS.CO.UK | PAGE 03 TW START POINT We’ll keep you up to date on all the latest Festival news online at www.ThreeWeeks.co.uk/news Letter to Edinburgh: from Tiernan Douieb done you’ve cured all your patients, TW COLUMN that means you’ll now only lose your house and your car! Well done!” Regular faces from Festivals Why are the costs of performing at past, but who are not here this the Fringe so high? Well, venue hire CARO WRITES> has gone up to reflect the increased year, send a letter to the Fringe Whoa, are we at the Week One edition licence fees from Edinburgh Council already? It doesn’t seem that long community via the pages of and so you pay a lot to live in a cave since I was thinking about the whole ThreeWeeks. This time, Tiernan for a month with no air and a variety week I had to finish it off. And now Douieb, who enjoyed his year of Victorian diseases. Then take into that week is clearly up, the Festival is off so much last August, he’s consideration all the costs of the Fringe, in full swing, and our reviewers have doing it again this year. And from PR to flyering teams to the cost of been out there en masse for several living, and you realise it’s only people here he explains why… days, sampling all the delights that this with a lot of financial backing that can August in Edinburgh has to offer. feasibly do the Festival. You could do Yes, our hand-selected, crack I love the city of Edinburgh. Its cobbled without some of that I suppose, but team of young journalists have been streets, its seemingly impossible against 2000 shows a day will anyone through their ThreeWeeks training topography that means you’re nearly notice yours? and induction programme, they’ve always going uphill, and its endless There’s the Free Fringe option of come out unscathed the other side, supply of giant baked potatoes. But course, which removes some of the and are now seeing shows as we during August I’ve started to fall out of costs, but you still incur extortionate speak, while putting together the most love with it, and for the last two years accommodation fees from locals who informative and helpful reviews that I’ve actively avoided the Fringe. Last let out their flats knowing full well that they can. There are a great many of year was just a much-needed break; no-one is willing to pay four times the them, and they see an awful lots of after seven years of sketch shows, going London rent like impoverished shows between them. Those reviews, mixed bill shows, kids’ shows and three artists.