What's it like working behind the scenes at the Edinburgh Showcase? Our intern Laura Holmes tells all...
Some photographs shamelessly stolen from Instagram. Particularly from @r_j_hinton our lovely #EdShowcase Project Manager.
As part of my internship in the Theatre and Dance department at the British Council I was lucky enough to return to the Edinburgh Fringe for ten days. The trip for was the department's Edinburgh Showcase, which is all about introducing British talent to global audiences. Hundreds of delegates from more than 60 countries descended on the city to watch a programme of innovative and exciting UK performance selected by the team.
It was a busy week working on the Help Desk organising and sorting tickets for our all of delegates. It’s safe to say I don't want to hear the word "voucher" or "exchange" for at least a few weeks. Ticket trauma aside, one of the most interesting and enjoyable aspects of the internship has been the international element of the work. Where else would you find more than 300 international producers and programmers in one room? It was lovely to put faces to the names I had been emailing in the weeks leading up to the Showcase. I personally haven’t ventured outside Europe, so talking to people from across the globe has been insightful and I was interested to hear their take on the Showcase programme – what works well in one country may not translate in another. Thrown into the mix were some of the UK’s leading theatre and dance artists and companies including Gecko, Inua Ellams, Punchdrunk and Shakespeare's Globe, to name a few, which was enough to make me lament my lack of artistic talent.
Outside the Help Desk, the week included a number of seminars and events. Lyn Gardner, one of The Guardian's theatre critics, and Donald Hutera, dance reviewer for The Times, talked to Andrew from the Theatre and Dance team about the state of UK theatre and dance. Lots of interesting and challenging conversations were had, which can be read over at British Arts's Storify. The Artists and Audiences Talk discussed how programmers could explore new ways of connecting with audiences as audience development becomes ever more important in the face of funding cuts. How can they go beyond a theatre one night stand? The week also saw companies pitching their work to our delegates and an old school Trade Fair.
In between this hectic schedule of events. we did get some time for a good ol’ party. On the Monday evening the opening reception took place against the stunning backdrop of the National Museum of Scotland. I also tried to squeeze in as many shows as I could see. My highlights include:
Kate Tempest’s Brand New Ancients. An absolute tour de force, Tempest is mind blowing. This trailer says more than I ever could.
Victoria Melody’s Major Tom. Aside from being utterly lovely, Victoria Melody’s half lecture half docudrama is a charming and funny look at our fixation with celebrity, beauty and winning. Can I have a basset hound please?
Tom Frankland and Keir Cooper's Don Quijote is an off-the-wall take on Cervantes's novel. A wonderful ending as the book's pages fly above the audience's head – also some excellent torch work.
The closing party was rather special; hats off to Becky Hinton for organising one hell of a party. A dressing-up box, hula hoop acts and a foam machine (see collage above) gave the Showcase the send off it deserved. With that, in six short days, it was over. The less said about the delayed train journey back to London with the world’s worst hangover the better. With only two weeks left, it's most definitely been the highlight of my internship so far and I'm really going to miss the D&D team.
I leave you with a picture of myself stuffing my face with cake, a gift from one of our delegates.
Until next year Edinburgh. Now if you need me I'll be detoxing...
