Summerhall August Festival 2013

"Do you count yourself among the contented or the afflicted?"

An exploration of Cervantes’ novel, combining incredible visual imagery, anarchic performance and original music. The title role will be played by a secret guest performer, unique to each date.

Can the way we kill animals tell us anything about how we deal with our own demise? In a former veterinary demonstration room, two knackermen investigate the pitfalls of being high up the evolutionary chain. Combining beautiful puppetry, new writing and documentary material this show tells a moving and darkly comic tale about the only certainty in life. Death, how it’s become removed from us as a process, how maybe we should reclaim it.

Summerhall's Visual Arts Curator Paul Robertson will be giving guiding tours of a selection of out current exhibitions from the 30th August - 1st September. The exhibitions will include The Vanity Press by Fiona Banner, Images Were Introduced by Michael Nyman, One Hundred Multiples by Laurence Weiner and also one of our permanent exhibitions Phenotype Genotype, a selection works from the Heart Fine Art Archive.

The 2012 multi-award winning Fringe First hit returns to Summerhall. A ‘young’, ‘ugly’ and literally naked woman reveals her bulimic, revolting and public secrets as she struggles with obstinacy, resistance and courage for her own celebrity breakthrough in the society of Thighs and Liberty. Stage Award-Winner Silvia Gallerano resprises her captivating performance in Cristian Ceresoli’s acclaimed play.

The Herald ★★★★
Examiner ★★★★★
The Skinny ★★★★
Fringe Review ★★★★

Mike’s dead Dad’s friend's daughter has asked him to father her child. His boyfriend Bert isn't convinced.

Their housemate Sofia has her own fish to fry. She needs to find a man before it's too late, but her Dad keeps getting in the middle.

A moving and playful portrait of fatherhood by international company Babakas, who mix comedy, contemporary dance and cinema to tell a story that crosses borders and decades.

Winner: Bite Size Commission 2012

A transcription of Krzysztof Penderecki’s compositions performed by An On Bast (live electronics) and Maciej Fortuna (trumpet, live electronics) is a fresh and daring take on musical motifs. The duo is accompanied by VJ Pillow’s visuals inspired by images from the films for which Penderecki composed, creating a unique multi-media experience.

Michael Begg's electronic erosions occupy liminal spaces - thoughts and signals, tender and unresolved, caught at the point of transition.

The Pocket of Resistance is a construct of John Berger's which informed Begg's 2012 album, Dirt On Earth, and this rare solo outing for Begg forms a suitably skewed contribution to Summerhall's celebration of this extraordinary man.

Presented by the Polish Cultural Institute and Summerhall.

Old time vaudevillian, tap dancer and acrobat, Sid Lester helped make variety great and now he wants one last shot. He is resentfully assisted by his daughter Valerie, eager to launch a new career as singer/impressionist and leave her job as a taxicab controller behind. Sid’s performance style is influenced by his old chums Tadeusz Kantor and Tommy Cooper; Valerie’s by Shirley Bassey. Together they attempt to entertain with balloons, a raffle, talking birds, toffees, some singing, jokes, a shuffle step hop, guest spots and interactive games.

Edinburgh's own übertrio s i n k curate a showcase of their recent work. Who knows what will happen?

The world premier of 'Moko and Loupe', a masterful comic short film by Adrian Hornsby, with a score devised and performed live? for sure.

'Dissection Bar', a tune conceived during an improvised performance in Summerhall two summers ago, featuring the infamous Tim Lane on tuned percussion? - quite probably.

Physical and acoustic entanglement in collaboration with inspired dance artist Emma Snellgrove? - yup.

Lyrical, visceral, ecstatic sound like you've never heard before, weaved together by an accordion, sax and violin? Turn up to find out.

A reconnaissance mission into the no man’s land where death borders with storytelling. From Presbyterian silence to the colour of the Día de Muertos, Story’s End surveys the gamut of death, and the tales we tell about it. Live music, film and spoken word brought together by folk noir pioneers The Dead Man’s Waltz, alongside a host of award-winning collaborators.

The Council of Handmade Crap blurs the lines between gesture, voice, text and design to create dreamlike machinery, immersing the audience in a journey through the tragic love story of Edgar and Elizabeth. The Portrait Firm allows the audience to witness sparks fly and emotions soar as the life of Polish artist,
Stanislaw Witkiewicz, becomes a multidimensional fantasy, constantly questioning the artist and his art. Witness crap transform into beauty in this mesmerising promenade performance where the audience are guided through a mysterious world of terror by characters trapped in their own illusion.