Next month, Edinburgh International Festival, Festival Of Books and Edinburgh Festival Fringe return to Scotland's capital and Culture Ireland will once again support Irish artists taking part.
Today, Minister of State at the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin TD announced their plans.
“As Culture Ireland celebrates its tenth anniversary this year”, the Minister said, “the Edinburgh Festivals remain as important a platform for Irish artists to garner world attention and achieve new global opportunities as ten years ago.”
There will be six Culture Ireland-supported productions at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the largest arts festival in the world. Traverse, Edinburgh’s key venue for new writing, hosts two shows – Eimear McBride’s award-winning A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing , (produced by the Corn Exchange Theatre Company and starring Aoife Duffin) and Rough Magic’s production of Sonya Kelly's How To Keep An Alien.
At Dance Base, Fishamble produce Underneath, Pat Kinevane's latest one-man performance, while The New Play Company and ponydance deliver comedy dance in the form of Ponies Don’t Play Football.
Donal O’Kelly’s comic thriller Little Thing, Big Thing, also produced by Fishamble, appears at Assembly George Square Studios and performer and scientist Dr. Niamh Shaw combines both skills with the multimedia To Space at Summerhall.
On August 8, as part of the Edinburgh International Festival, the world premiere of a new chamber opera The Last Hotel opens at the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh. Composed by Donnacha Dennehy and written by Enda Walsh, the opera which is produced by Wide Open Opera and Landmark Productions has already secured international opportunities at the Royal Opera House in London and St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn.
Also featuring in the Edinburgh International Festival programme, Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill will perform with viola da gamba virtuoso Jordi Savall in Celtic Dialogues at the Usher Hall, a musical exploration of the shared roots of early and Celtic music.
Culture Ireland also continues its relationship with the Edinburgh International Book Festival with an extensive programme of readings and appearances featuring Irish award-winning authors from many genres over a two week period.