The Edinburgh Festival is the world’s largest arts event, a collection of about a dozen sub-festivals that bring three weeks of eclectic events to the Scottish capital every August. Here is our pick of the best of the Middle East-themed offerings at this year’s festival.
THEATRE
Cinema
The world premiere of award-winning theatre company Zendeh's searing drama about one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in modern times. Created and performed by UK-based Iranian Nazli Tabatabai-Khatambakhsh, Cinema tells the story of the night of August 19, 1978, when 700 people entered the Cinema Rex, Abadan, Iran, but only 278 left – the rest were trapped and killed by a devastating fire. Told through the eyes of the cinema's resident cat, Shahrzad, it's a portrait of Iran that looks beyond the newsreels and sound bites.
• Until August 30. Visit www.summerhall.co.uk for more details and ticket information
Border Crossings
Borders and crossings are emerging as a theme at this year's Fringe (see also B-Orders performed by the Palestinian Circus School). In this surreal examination of barriers to entering countries and arbitrary passport controls, from theatre company Theatre 17, award-winning director Thaddeus Phillips takes audiences on a trip around 15 of the world's frontiers, from Prague to Palestine.
• Until August 30. Visit www.summerhall.co.uk for more details
BOOKS
Shifting Sands launch
Palestinian writer and lawyer Raja Shehadeh edits a collection of writing from 15 authors, inspired by talks and debates about the Middle East during last year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival.
Covering a range of subjects, from Arab countries in crisis to the dilemmas facing Iran and Turkey, it reveals how the roots of current conflicts lie in the past, and ends by asking what is it like to be a writer in the Middle East?
• With Raja Shehadeh, co-editor Penny Johnson and contributing authors, Egyptian historian Khaled Fahmy, Kuwaiti novelist Mai Al-Nakib, and Middle East historian Avi Shlaim. August 21, 7.30pm. Visit www.edbookfest.co.uk for more details. For more information about the book visit www.profilebooks.com
How Does It Feel When You Can’t Go Home?
Belonging and exile are recurring themes in The Changing Middle East series of events at the Book Festival. Forced to leave Palestine in 1948, Ghada Karmi has spent most of her life outside her native land. In Return: A Palestinian Memoir, she describes visits to places she has not seen since childhood.
• August 19, 4pm. Visit www.edbookfest.co.uk and www.verso.co.uk for more information
ART
Jean-Etienne Liotard exhibition
The city’s least well-known festival – although the biggest art festival in the UK – the Edinburgh Art Festival commissions new work alongside exhibitions of Old Masters. Liotard, an 18th-century Swiss-French painter, was an adventurous traveller. Nicknamed “The Turk” for wearing flamboyant Turkish dress inspired by spending four years in Constantinople, he painted intimate pastel portraits of Istanbul domestic scenes.
• Scottish National Gallery until September 13. Visit www.nationalgalleries.org and www.edinburghartfestival.com for more information
CULTURE
Edinburgh Arab Festival
Promising to offer a “unique insight into Arab culture”, this two-day festival, organised by the University of Edinburgh’s Islamic and Middle Eastern Department, includes music, art, poetry, fashion, films, photography, calligraphy, language taster classes, and traditional sweets, food and drink.
• August 29 and 30. Visit www.edarabfest.co.uk for more details
MUSIC AND DANCE
The Edinburgh Mela
One of the 12 Edinburgh festivals, the Mela is a weekend of world music and dance, which this year includes award-winning band Juno and its Arab-Andalusian sound, multi-instrumentalist and multi-linguist Suzana Ansar performing in Persian, and Indo-Pakistani singer Kiran Ahluwalia with his Saharan-influenced blues and jazz.
• August 29 and 30. Visit www.edinburgh-mela.co.uk for more details
