AFTER puzzlement about last year’s lack of shows about Scotland’s referendum and a — synthetic — furore over a “ban” at the International Festival, this year’s Edinburgh positively bursts with politics — especially on the referendum but also on the first world war and on austerity policies. 

Much of this is tackled by FairPley, the company that programmes part of the Assembly Rooms/St Andrew Square Garden input to the Fringe. 

Most of the events previewed here are at the Assembly Rooms except where otherwise indicated.

The referendum is addressed directly in The Pitiless Storm by Chris Dolan, FairPley’s production of a single-hander performed by David Hayman,  which deals with with the conflict experienced by a loyal TU official as he faces the impact of inimical policies on his friends and family. 

Other plays directly on the referendum include Keir McAllister’s A Split Decision, a verse satire using the analogy of divorce to satirise a dysfunctional relationship and the sketch-based Now’s The Hour, dealing with young people’s hopes and fears, from the Scottish Youth Theatre (The Stand 3 & 4).

More ubiquitous are shows dealing with Scotland and her people and exploring the history or future of the country. The International Festival weighs in heavily here, with Rona Munro’s three James Plays, exploring power struggles at key points in Scotland’s history (Festival Theatre). There’s a  prevalence of Macbeth references, both directly and indirectly, in a number of productions  and that’s particularly true of  Phillip Differ’s post-indy dystopia MacBraveheart. 

Interestingly, two plays also deal with a particular nationalist cause celebre, the mysterious death in 1985 of SNP lawyer Willie Macrae.

As you might expect, comedy like All Back to Bowie’s (Stand in the Square) and Fred Macaulay’s Frederendum  find the humour in the debate and the music programme has a high proportion of Scottish folk. 

The International Festival neither ignores the first world war nor glorifies its sacrifice. Performances of Britten’s War Requiem (Usher Hall)  and the Kronos Quartet’s Beyond Zero (Festival Theatre) and especially Thalia Theater’s Front (right), based on the work of Remarque and Barbusse, set the tone (Royal Lyceum) which is picked up in the Fringe by the intriguing Forgotten Voices (Pleasance), based on the oral testimonies of WWI veterans. 

Other political issues feature strongly, particularly in the spoken-word programme, from reminiscences about Tony Benn from Tam Dalyell, Denis Canavan and Chis Mullin through to Owen Jones and Polly Toynbee on current policies. 

Another must-see, though, is the play Cuckoo’d (Traverse) from comedian Mark Thomas, in which he tells the story of having his very own BAE spy!

CHRIS BARTTER