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AFTER last year’s referendum-related material, this year’s festivals look much lighter politically on the surface. A closer look though reveals that there is plenty to tempt the radical political animal.
Last year’s successes used referendum fever to look deeper into “Scottishness” and this year’s most intriguing material ploughs the same furrow.
Paul Bright’s Confessions of a Justified Sinner is a complex treatment of James Hogg’s 18th-century novel, an early focus on Scotland’s “split personalities.” The novel ranges between family feud and psychological fable and this production by Untitled Projects and the National Theatre of Scotland adds a further layer by telling it as a “metafiction” in which the failed performance never took place — or did it?
This year’s fringe has some political topics, mainly in theatre productions which deal with themes as disparate as the miners’ strike — Undermined — the cold war — The Communist Threat — and Joan Littlewood — Joan, Babs and Shelagh Too.
This year’s Assembly Rooms (AR) shows concentrate more on the spoken word, with well-known stand ups Jo Brand, Alexei Sayle and Mark Thomas appearing in the Talking Comedy series.
Both Brand and Thomas also have their own shows elsewhere as does Mark Steel, who makes a welcome return to the fringe after 19 years away. I’m looking forward particularly to Countrybile, the new show from Elvis McGonagall.
Fair Pley’s innovative Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas, pictured, also returns to the Stand in the Square with some more controversial proposals from academics — ban students from Edinburgh, anyone? This year the producers also target the younger element with The Periodic Fable, a scientific panto for young and old.
After last year’s Israeli company controversy, this year features at least two Palestinian events. Playwright David Greig has crowdfunded 12 Palestinian artists to visit the festival and perform in an all-day programme. And at the AR Mark Thomas and Mark Steel, along with Daniel Kitson and Ivor Dembina, get together for a Free Gaza fundraiser to provide front-line medical support for people in Gaza.
