insiderblmNicola Benedetti, Damon Albarn and Alan Cumming are among the stars appearing at this year’s Edinburgh International Festival.
The festival will return to the capital from 7 August after last year’s event was cancelled because of the pandemic.
Outdoor marquees to stage events and shorter shows with no intervals are among the changes being introduced this year.
The 2021 programme will feature more than 170 performances.
Temporary outdoor structures, designed for live performance, will be erected in Edinburgh Park and Edinburgh University’s Old College Quad but indoor shows are also planned for the city’s theatres.
Organisers say audience members will be seated in bubbles and online access will also be available for 21 free full-length performances.
The opening night event will involve a free large-scale fire night-walk, created by French artist collective Compagnie Carabosse, against the backdrop of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
Festival Director, Fergus Linehan, said: “The programme we are announcing represents a carefully organised return to live performance.
“While so much has been written and said about the challenges of the past 15 months, it is now time to look to the future and to the brilliant musicians, actors, dancers and poets who are getting ready to perform in Edinburgh this August.”
Line-up unveiled
Among the programme’s highlights are Nicola Benedetti in residence across two weeks and the world premiere of Medicine, Enda Walsh’s latest play which stars Star Wars actor Domhnall Gleeson.
Scots actor Alan Cumming is returning to the festival for the first UK performances of his new show Alan Cumming Is Not Acting His Age, while Scottish Opera has a new production of Falstaff by Glasgow-born director Sir David McVicar.
The contemporary music line-up includes Damon Albarn, Nadine Shah, Kathryn Joseph, Anna Meredith and West Lothian indie band The Snuts.
Black Midi and Black Country, New Road are also appearing.
The Royal Lyceum Theatre will play host to live audiences for the first time in over a year, with a programme including the National Theatre of Scotland’s “Lament for Sheku Bayoh”.
‘Breadth and depth’
Leading orchestras performing include the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
Ian Munro, chief executive of Creative Scotland, said: “The breadth and depth of the 2021 Edinburgh International Festival programme is more than we could have dreamt of in the darkest days of lockdown.”
General booking for the festival, which runs from 7 to 29 August, opens on 11 June.
