The Festival
So, what’s this Festival thing all about, anyway?
The “Edinburgh Festival” refers to the goings-on in the Scottish capital from the middle of July to the beginning of September every year. The term Edinburgh Festival means a variety of things. Officially, it means the Edinburgh International Festival, which is a festival of the arts: it includes concerts, operas, dance and theatre: some people originally wanted Edinburgh to become “a British equivalent of Salzburg” (see the History page). In addition to the International Festival, various “sub-Festivals” have sprung up: these can be seen listed below. Possibly the most famous “sub-Festival” however is the Festival Fringe, which has co-existed with the official Festival since the beginning. The Fringe is a festival of so much — concerts, theatre, street performances, comedy, musicals — the list goes on. It is an opportunity for amateurs to perform to a potentially massive audience (an estimated 850,000 people were in Edinburgh during the Festival in 2003), but that doesn’t stop celebrities from putting themselves into the Fringe as well: indeed, performances at the Fringe have undoubtedly brought people to fame such as Julian Clary, Fred MacAulay and Jo Brand. Part of the beauty of events on the Fringe is that they can be any length — Come On, Jeeves is only an hour long, and some events at the Fringe might not go on for any longer than fifteen minutes! It›s quite easy to fit lots and lots into one day.
- Edinburgh Festivals — listings for all the festivals collected together
- Edinburgh International Festival
- Edinburgh Festival Fringe
- Edinburgh International Jazz & Blues Festival
- Edinburgh Military Tattoo
- Edinburgh International Book Festival
- Edinburgh International Film Festival
- Edinburgh Mela — an “intercultural” festival
- Edinburgh International Science Festival
What can I do if I come to the Edinburgh Festival?
The sheer number of options available is overwhelming. So much is going on — you can find out programmes for the various Festivals from the websites linked above. One thing you should remember is that when you’re in Edinburgh for the Festival you don’t necessarily think about precisely which Festival’s events you go to — you just go along to the events that tickle your fancy: everything takes place at pretty much the same time, give or take a few days at either end of the Festival Period. Apart from what is put on especially for the Festival, Edinburgh has a lot to see including the castle, various art galleries, museums and churches. It has to be said that there is nothing quite like walking up the Royal Mile during the Festival: it is cut off to traffic during that period to allow for the amazingly diverse (and often very funny) street performances to go on! The Edinburgh Fringe is also home to some serious wackiness — for example, in 2004, some members of the Company went to a play which was performed in a laundrette, about a man who met his left sock coming out of the washing machine! What will you find this year?
