Edinburgh International Festival:
The Ultimate Cultural Experience

By Toni Dabbs

For three weeks each summer, the Edinburgh International Festival turns the Scottish city into the arts capital of the world. The festival, scheduled for August 14 through September 4 in 2005, includes a huge range of high-quality events, exhibitions, and performances.

For example, the 2005 festival features the world premieres of three specially commissioned plays by Scottish writers: David Harrower’s “Blackbird,” Shan Khan’s “Prayer Room,” and Chiew Siah Tei’s “Three Thousand Troubled Threads.”

In a unique festival collaboration, Christopher Wheeldon’s acclaimed new production of “Swan Lake” brings together the American Pennsylvania Ballet and the Russian Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio conducted by Vladimir Fedoseyev.

Kwame Ryan is one of several conductors representing a generation of major new talent. Others appearing in the 2005 festival are Philippe Jordan, Ingo Metzmacher, Edward Gardner, Garry Walker, and Jonathan Nott.

Components

Begun in 1947 as a celebration of the end of World War II, the Edinburgh International Festival has expanded over the years to become the biggest arts festival in the world. It now comprises several components.

* International Festival - The main festival was established “to provide the world with a center where, year after year, all that is best in music, drama and the visual arts can be seen and heard.” It features slick performances of fairly mainstream music, dance and drama.

* Fringe Festival - The Fringe is more offbeat and attracts younger audiences. It is regarded as a showcase for new talent, innovative writers, and cutting edge productions.

* Film Festival - Like the International Festival, the Film Festival dates back to 1947, making it the oldest such festival in the world. As part of the movie industry’s annual circuit, it includes both commercial and independent films.

* Book and Jazz Festivals - These smaller off-shoots of the main festival have become popular with their own audiences. Both attract big names in their respective fields.

* Military Tattoo - Part of the International Festival since 1950, the Edinburgh Military Tattoo has become the single most popular event, with more than 200,000 people attending each year. It is staged on the Esplanade of Edinburgh Castle.

* Fireworks - The closing ceremony of the International Festival combines an outdoor concert in Princes Street Gardens with a fireworks display from the castle ramparts.

Venues

Festival events take place at a variety of locations throughout Edinburgh. To visitors interested in architecture and heritage, these venues can be as interesting as the events themselves.

* Edinburgh Castle - Once the seat of Scottish kings, the castle still is headquarters for the army’s Scottish Division. It stands at the western end of the “Royal Mile,” a street scape of 16th and 17th century structures that runs east to Holyrood Palace, the official Scottish residence of the current royal family.

* Edinburgh Festival Theater - The present building opened in 1994, but a Theater has occupied this site for more than 100 years. It is said to be haunted by the ghost of the “Great Lafayette,” who died when part of the Empire Palace Theater, which then stood here, burned down in 1911.

* Edinburgh Playhouse - Designed as a variety Theater and modeled after the Roxy Theater in New York, this building actually opened as a cinema in 1929 in response to the movie craze then sweeping Scotland. It remained a cinema until 1973, when interest in films fell into a slump. Petitions saved it from demolition, gave it heritage status, and reinstated its intended purpose as a live Theater. A major refurbishment in 1993 returned it to its former glory.

* Hawthornden Lecture Theater - Opened in 2004, this 200-seat Theater is located in the Weston Link, an underground passage connecting two 19th century structures, the National Gallery of Scotland and the Royal Scottish Academy Building.

* Hub - Found at the top of the “Royal Mile” near the castle, this is the year-round home of the festival. It hosts some events and performances, and it dispenses information about the entire festival.

* King’s Theater - Opened in 1906, this Theater was headquarters for a British chain that included the Empire Palace Theater and the Royal Lyceum Theater. Built as a variety Theater, it has a long tradition of pantomime. The interior decor is very ornate, with nine boxes on either side of the proscenium and fine examples of Edwardian stained glass in the foyer doors.

* Out of the Blue Drill Hall - Built in 1901 for the Royal Scots Regiment, the building retains the layout used by the army. However, since Out of the Blue bought it in 2003, it has been adapted to incorporate artists’ studios, offices, exhibition space, workshops, rehearsal spaces, conference facilities, a café and a studio Theater.

* Queen’s Hall - Built as the Hope Park Chapel of Ease in 1823, this classical building has a two-story villa facade with a tall steeple. Although it was converted into an 850-seat auditorium in 1979, it still reflects its ecclesiastical origins. Eighteenth century painted panels depicting the 10 Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer, brought from another church in 1950, adorn the stairs.

* Ross Theater - This 2,000-seat open air Theater is situated in Princes Street Gardens, with Edinburgh Castle as its backdrop.

* Royal Lyceum Theater - The Theater opened in 1883, with a two-week run of “Much Ado about Nothing,” featuring Henry Irving and Ellen Terry. Although it presented the occasional film in the early years of the 20th century, the Lyceum has managed to remain a live Theater throughout its history. It has been a key venue for the International Festival since the festival began. The ghost of Ellen Terry is believed to wander the auditorium. A chalk statue of the actress once stood in the foyer, but it was broken up during World War II when chalk was in demand.

* Royal Museum Lecture Theater - This venue is part of the Royal Museum, a magnificent Victorian building that houses international collections of decorative arts, science and industry, archaeology, and nature.

* Usher Hall - Named for Andrew Usher, the philanthropist who financed it, this Beaux Arts style building opened in 1914. Its domed roof was designed to reflect the curvature of the walls, which were made possible by early 20th century developments in reinforced concrete. The interior features decorative plaster panels depicting Scottish artists and musical figures.

The Edinburgh International Festival attracts about 1 million visitors each year, almost doubling the city’s population. Hotels are booked months in advance, and last-minute accommodations are virtually impossible to find.

For those who want to plan in advance, some future festival dates are: August 13 - September 2, 2006; August 12 - September 2, 2007; August 10 - August 31, 2008; and August 16 - September 6, 2009.