Feature: Festival - Sordid Lives production to perform in Edinburgh
Published: 3 June 2010
by PETER GRUNER
This is the Night Mail crossing the border,
Bringing the cheque and the postal order,
Letters for the rich, letters for the poor,
The shop at the corner and the girl next door.
From WH Auden’s poem “Night Train”.
IT’S one of Britain’s most romantic rail journeys, but with a bit of luck you can sleep through most of it.
You get your head down as the sleeper train departs dreary Euston at 11pm and you awake refreshed as day breaks over spectacular English-Scottish border country. Now the train is heading for the magnificent city of Edinburgh where a cultural feast awaits.
Thousands will be taking the ScotRail Caledonian Sleeper to the Edinburgh Festival this August. It’s a journey that has hardly changed – other than in terms of comfort and speed – since the days of steam. With new deals available for the canny traveller the journey is better value than ever before.
Local theatres from Islington and Camden will join the throng bringing entertainment to every Edinburgh street corner, pub, club, restaurant, school or community centre. The Tower Theatre, based in Canonbury, will be performing at the Edinburgh Fringe a black comedy called Sordid Lives by Del Shores (described as Joe Orton with a Texas accent). The Pleasance Theatre, in Holloway, will also perform a number of shows, in collaboration with its sister fringe theatre of the same name in Edinburgh.
International artists from California, New York and New England, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela, Argentina, Samoa, New Zealand, Australia, Spain, and Holland will also entertain.
The Festival opens with John Adams’s magical oratorio El Niño and closes with the annual spectacular Bank of Scotland Fireworks Concert, this year celebrating music from the movies.
There will be the world premiere of Alistair Beaton’s Caledonia, an exploration of Scotland’s foray into colonialism in the 17th century, with parallels for today’s “get rich” politics.
The great American composer George Gershwin’s opera Porgy and Bess is updated in a colourful multi-media production by Opéra de Lyon and the hip-hop and contemporary dance Compagnie Montalvo-Hervieu.
Peter Carey’s novel Bliss is the inspiration for a brand new Australian opera from composer Brett Dean, to be performed by Opera Australia in its European premiere. There’s also flamenco dance work Quimeras from the Paco Peña Flamenco Dance Company.
Gospel music group The Blind Boys of Alabama are to make their festival debut, as are the Abyssinian Chancel Choir from Harlem.
From South America, Teatro Cinema and Teatro en el Blanco will offer audiences a glimpse of cinematic theatre from Chile.
A world premiere from New York theatre company Elevator Repair Service, a new play from The Wooster Group and the Festival debut of Meredith Monk broaden New York’s influence on the theatre programme.
The Cleveland Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra will perform in The Usher Hall.
Explorations, presented in association with the British Council, bring together an international array of academics, cultural commentators and Festival artists in an exchange of ideas and discussions at The Hub.
For more festival details and travel information, see below
Get festive
• Full details of the Edinburgh International Festival at www.eif.co.uk/festival-2010 and the Fringe festival at www.edfringe.com
• As well as Edinburgh, ScotRail run journeys to more than 40 Scottish cities, from Highland retreats to city breaks – Aviemore, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness, and Fort William. There is air conditioning, a lounge car, and bike carriage (must be prebooked). Plus, children aged 5-15 get 50 per cent off, and families can enjoy interconnecting berths.
• The ScotRail Caledonian Sleeper service between London and Scotland operates six nights a week (not Saturdays).
From Monday-Friday, the Edinburgh service departs London Euston at 23.50 and arrives in Edinburgh at 07.17 (07.15 on Fridays).
On Sundays, the service departs at 22.32, arriving at 05.59.
• To book tickets online go to www.scotrail.co.uk or telephone 08457 55 00 33 or visit any major staffed station.