Irvine Welsh praises Edinburgh Festival
Strange Town documentary catches “bad boy” in reflective mood.
Irvine Welsh at Out Of The Blue - photo credit: Rob Hoon
By Thom Dibdin
Irvine Welsh is seen praising the Edinburgh festivals, in a documentary made by the Strange Town Youth Theatre at Leith’s Out of the Blue Drill Hall, to be broadcast on Wednesday evening on BBC2 Scotland.
Edinburgh Stories is a half hour documentary made by Grace Sutherland with fellow Strange Town members Rosalind and Brad, as part of the L.A.B project (learn @ BBC Scotland). It dares to step away from the well beaten path of the Edinburgh fringe to discover what the festival means to Edinburgh’s residents.
As well as vox pops filmed on the streets of Leith, which generally reflect the differing opinions towards the festival that exist all over Edinburgh, the documentary catches Irvine Welsh, the self-proclaimed bad boy of Scottish literature, in reflective mood.
Welsh says: “I am always kind of slagging off the Edinburgh festival because it is like – I just think somebody needs to be the bad boy sometimes. I think it is great that it is in the city. I love coming here during the festival. I think the city needs it and it gives the place a buzz and an identity.
“I would just like to see a lot more things going on outside the festival. That is one of the things that has been neglected in the sense that if If everything goes into the festival then what happens to the other 48 weeks of the year.”
Filming over the course of last year’s festival, the three teenagers talked to companies coming to Edinburgh to perform at the Leith on the Fringe programme at Out of the Blue. The venue specialised in programming aerial-orientated productions as the programmers behind the venue believe the skill to be an up-and-coming artform in Scotland.
Edinburgh Stories also finds time to focus on Strange Town Youth Theatre itself, following the company from read-through of their show After You’ve Gone to technical rehearsal, the first night and last night, and including an in-depth interview with Strange Town director, Steve Small.
Edinburgh Stories will be broadcast on BBC2 Scotland on Wednesday 29 March at 7pm. Details on the BBC website: www.bbc.co.uk
Strange Town Youth Theatre website: www.strangetown.org.uk
Out of the Blue website: outoftheblue.org.uk
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