With the Edinburgh festivals having effectively being cancelled in 2020, and returning this August in a much smaller sale than the 2019 version, you’d have thought this year might have been a low-key affair.
But despite the fact that all the individual festivals have had to adapt and change with the winds of current policy, the big names have still been enticed to attend alongside those who are ‘doing Edinburgh’ to get their name known.
Ever since it began in 1947, the Edinburgh International Film Festival has quite literally rolled out the red carpet to stars from world cinema, and this year major Hollywood stars have movies in the event’s prime slots as opening and closing films.
Film festival
Nicolas Cage stars in the European launch of Pig (Festival Theatre, Wednesday 18 August), the story of a Portland chef whose beloved truffle-hunting curly-tailed pal has been kidnapped, while on the final night, Billy Crystal writes, directs and stars in Here Today (Filmhouse, Wednesday 25 August).
Crystal plays a veteran comedy writer who develops an unlikely but touching friendship with a New York singer played by Tiffany Haddish.
Twenty-twenty-one marks a unique moment for the Edinburgh International Film Festival as a whole with the event moving back to its original August slot having been a June-only festival since 2008.
Book festival
The Edinburgh International Book Festival is also having a transformation of sorts this year, leaving its spiritual home of Charlotte Square Gardens to camp up at the Edinburgh College Of Art with a series of in-person events both indoors and out, as well as an impressive digital programme.
Among the starry names attending are Salman Rushdie (Friday 20 August), Julia Donaldson (Saturday 14 August) and Kazuo Ishiguro (Sunday 29 August), while the First Minister will be hosting an event in conversation with Booker Prize winner Douglas Stuart (Monday 30 August).
Edinburgh International Festival
Last summer, the Edinburgh International Festival continued to make an impact with its digital schedule, but they are bouncing back for 2021 with a strong in-person programme.
In town are local heroes made good such as Alan Cumming with his cabaret storytelling show (Old College Quad, Saturday 28 & Sunday 29 August), while violin superstar Nicola Benedetti leads an ensemble in a celebration of the Baroque (Edinburgh Academy, Saturday 14 August), presents a multimedia concert entitled The Story Of The Violin (Old College Quad, Tuesday 16 August) and teams up with a variety of artists for a theatre/dance/music hybrid of Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale (Edinburgh Academy, Saturday 21 August).
Irish acting royalty Domhnall Gleeson performs in an absurdist new play from Enda Walsh called Medicine (Traverse Theatre, until Sunday 29 August), Grammy award-winning US soprano Renée Fleming (Old College Quad, Wednesday 25 August) sings the songs of Handel, Fauré and Strauss, while the EIF’s contemporary music strand is filled with the likes of Damon Albarn (Edinburgh Park, Tuesday 24 August), Laura Mvula (Edinburgh Park, Sunday 29 August) and Northumbrian folk siblings The Unthanks (Edinburgh Park, Sunday 22 August).
Edinburgh Fringe
The Edinburgh Fringe is limbering up for a busy month even if it falls far shy of its usual massive number of shows.
Chrissie Hynde plays the songs of Bob Dylan (Queen’s Hall, Sunday 22–Wednesday 25 August), while Del Amitri are at the same venue doing their own tunes (Thursday 26–Saturday 28 August) and the online Shedinburgh showcase of intimate performance (until Monday 30 August) features Mark Thomas, Harry Hill, ex-Harry Potter star Jessie Cave and former Inbetweener Joe Thomas.
Status Quo icon Francis Rossi plays songs and chats about his half-century in the music biz (Brunton Theatre, 27 August), and after making his Fringe debut in 2019, Basil Brush will be back for two different shows, one family-friendly, the other a less restrained affair, humour and language wise (Underbelly George Square, Saturday 21 & Sunday 22 August).
Fringe By The Sea
For those who still want to be part of the Fringe vibe but fancy being a little more out of town, the beautifully scenic North Berwick lays on Fringe By The Sea, with Lulu (Saturday 7 August), Gail Porter (Friday 6 August), Mica Paris (Sunday 8 August), Irvine Welsh (Saturday 14 August) and Basement Jaxx (Friday 6 August) all lighting up this well-established East Lothian festival.
Edinburgh International Book Festival, edbookfest.co.uk; Edinburgh International Film Festival: edfilmfest.org.uk; Edinburgh Festival Fringe: edfringe.com; Edinburgh International Festival: eif.co.uk; Fringe By The Sea: fringebythesea.com.
