Edinburgh International Festival: 2017 line-up
PJ Harvey, Stephin Merritt and a spectacular opening presentation from the creators of Deep Time feature as EIF celebrates its 70th anniversary
Following the spectacular Deep Time event at EIF 2016, the 2017 Edinburgh International Festival kicks off with 59 Productions' latest outdoor production Bloom on 4 Aug. Promising an "immersive environment of colour, texture, sounds and sensations", Bloom is described as an enormous public art event that will see projections and sound mapped across a much larger area than in previous opening night presentations, with the piece celebrating the transformation of the city over EIF's 70-year lifespan.
Music at Edinburgh International Festival 2017
PJ Harvey heads up the EIF music programme this year with two nights at the Edinburgh Playhouse (7 & 8 Aug), while fellow Mercury Prize winner Benjamin Clementine plays Festival Theatre on 10 Aug. Stephin Merritt of the Magnetic Fields presents his 50 Song Memoir project – a half-century of original songs, one for each of his 50 years on Earth, accompanied by unique staging packed with artefacts from across Merritt's life and backed by an expanded Magnetic Fields line-up – over two nights at the King's Theatre (25 & 26 Aug).
Influential Scottish psych folk outfit The Incredible String Band are celebrated in a very special gig at the Playhouse on 17 Aug, and Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker and Chilly Gonzales present their multimedia Room 29 project, inspired by "the ghosts of Room 29 at the Château Marmont Hotel in Hollywood", at the King's from 22-24 Aug. Turner Prize winning artist Martin Creed presents a residency, Words and Music, at the Festival Theatre's Studio space – Words and Music promises "an iconoclastic evening of art and silliness, humour and subversion", and is part of British Council & EIF collaboration Spirit of '47, full details of which will be revealed in May.
Theatre at EIF 2017
At Traverse, EIF sees the world premiere of Meet Me At Dawn, written by Scottish playwright Zinnie Harris and directed by the Trav's Artistic Director Orla O’Loughlin – EIF also hosts the premieres of Harris' adaptations of Aeschylus's Oresteia: This Restless House and a Scottish/Turkish adaptation of Eugène Ionesco’s classic farce Rhinoceros.
Alan Ayckbourn's new play The Divide also receives its world premiere at Edinburgh International Festival, in a co-production with London's Old Vic theatre who were involved in the very first EIF in 1947. The new work "unflinchingly examines a dystopian society of brutal repression, forbidden love and seething insurrection" – it runs at King's Theatre from 7-20 Aug.
Two of the world's leading interpreters of the work of Samuel Beckett – Barry McGovern and director Michael Colgan – collaborate for a brand new production of Beckett's play Krapp's Last Tape at the Church Hill Theatre which runs across the Festival. At the same venue, Flight, the new work from the team behind 2015 EIF hit Dragon, which will see audience members observe the action from their own personal viewing booths with the speech and music played through headphones.
Other highlights at Edinburgh International Festival 2017
Also on the EIF programme are Robert Burns: Chains and Slavery, inspired by recent Burns-related exhibitions from artists Douglas Gordon and Graham Fagan, and featuring live performance from Ghetto Priest and Scots Makar Jackie Kay (17 & 18 Aug, Scottish National Portrait Gallery), and Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s dance piece Rain, set to Steve Reich's much-revered minimalist album Music for 18 Musicians (25 - 27 Aug, Playhouse).
The National Library of Scotland hosts Staffa, a film and music installation by BAFTA-winning filmmaker Gerry Fox and acclaimed composer Ned Bigham with music by the RSNO, and the Festival concludes with the traditional Fireworks Concert at Princes Street Gardens on 28 Aug.
Edinburgh International Festival takes place from 4-28 Aug at venues across Edinburgh; full programme details can be found at the EIF website