EDINBURGH FESTWAL information
Festival tickets 8: information
INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL
The original and most prestigious Edinburgh Festival, at which leading international performers of music, opera, theatre and dance are invited to perform at the city's major venues. The International Festival runs until Sat 30 August.
INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL BOX OFFICE
Tickets for all International Festival events can be bought from the Festival Box Office, 21 Market Street, Edinburgh, 0131 473 2000. Open Mon—Sat 9am—7pm; Sun 10am—5pm. The following venues also sell tickets for all International Festival events: King's Theatre Leven Street,
0131 220 4349;
Queen's Hall Clerk Street,
0131668 2019;
Usher Hall Lothian Road, 01312281155.
Any tickets unsold on the day of the performance are available on the door one hour before curtain up. Half-price tickets for some performances are sold — subject to availability — from 1pm on the day of performance, at the Festival Box Office, 21 Market Street, 0131 473 2000. Limited to two tickets per customer.
Day seats for all opera performances and all shows at the Gateway Theatre are sold for £5 (subject to availability) on the day of the performance, at the main International Festival box office.
BANK OF SCOTLAND FIREWORKS CONCERT
Thu 28 Aug, 10.30pm. This annual spectacular, at the Ross Bandstand in Princes Street Gardens, is one of the highlights of the Festival's final week. This year, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra performs Handel, Shostakovich, Johann Strauss, Sibelius and Chabrier, while spectacular fireworks fill the sky and cascade down the Castle rock. There is only one chance left to buy tickets giving admission to Princes Street Gardens. From 10am on Sun 24 Aug, a limited number of tickets will be offered for sale at the main International Festival box office (maximum four tickets per person). They are expected to sell out quickl , but disappointed punters can join the throng on and around Princes Street to jostle for the best views.
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FESTIVAL FRINGE
Also 50 years old, the Fringe is open to any performer from anywhere in the world who can find a venue, and is consequently the biggest and most varied arts festival in the world. From early morning until late at night, somebody somewhere wants to entertain you. Whether the venue is a theatre, a church hall or a street corner, every art-form known to man is on offer at almost 200 venues around the city. Theatre, dance, comedy, music, visual art and a few other genres defying categorisation are all on offer. The Fringe runs until Sat 30 Aug.
FRINGE BOX OFFICE
Tickets for all shows in the Fringe are available from the Fringe Office, 180 High Street, Edinburgh, 0131 226 5138. Open for bookings in person daily 10am—7pm; or by phone 9am—9pm.
Tickets for Fringe events are also available in person from:
Scottish Gas Mobile Information Centre Princes Street Gardens, by The Mound. Open daily 10am—5.30pm. Fringe Club Teviot Row, Bristo Square. Open daily 10am-7 m.
James Thin Bookse Iers 53—59 South Bridge. Open Mon—Sat 10am-7pm; Sun 11am-5pm.
Waterstone‘s Booksellers 83 George Street. Open Mon-Sat 10am—7pm; Sun 11am—7pm.
FRINGE VENUES The Fringe as a whole is not selectively programmed, but several venues control and programme two or more performance spaces and publish their own brochures (the Assembly Rooms, the Gilded Balloon and the Pleasance share a single brochure) and also oper-ate box offices for their own shows:
Assembl Rooms 54 George Street, 0131 22 2428. Open daily 10.30am—midnight. Tickets for Gilded Balloon events are also sold here. Fringe Club Teviot Row, Bristo Square, 0131 650 4673/226 5138. Open daily 7pm—late.
Gilded Balloon 233—235 Cowgate, 0131226 2151. Open daily 10am— 12.30am. Tickets for Assembly Rooms events are also sold here.
Gilded Balloon II People's Palace, Old Fishmarket Close, 0131 226 2151. Tickets sold at main Gilded Balloon box office and Assembly Rooms.
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Mogwai play Flux (Fringe)
Crying In Public Places in lump! at the Gilded Balloon (Fringe)
Hill Street Theatre 19 Hill Street, 0131 226 6522. Open daily noon—12.30am (until 16 Aug); 9.30am—11pm(18—30 Aug).
Pleasance 60 The Pleasance, 0131 556 6550. Open daily 10.30am—130am . Open for telephone bookings daily 9am—10pm.
Queen's Hall Clerk Street, 0131 668 2019. Open daily Mon—Sat 10am—10pm; Sun noon—8.30pm . Famous Grouse House 5 Chambers Street, 0131 220 5606. Open daily 9.30am—12.15am.
Theatre Worksho 34 Hamilton Place, 0131 226 S425. pen Mon—Sat 9.30am—11pm; Sun 10am—10pm. Traverse Theatre Cambridge Street, 0131 228 1404. Open Mon 10am—8pm; Tue—Sun 10am—10pm (until 17 Aug); Mon 10am—8pm; Tue—Sun 10am—1 1pm (18—30 Aug).
All Fringe venues also sell tickets for their own shows shortly before performances begin.
THE FRINGE CLUB
operates as a venue during the da but from 9.30pm it becomes a kind 0 epicentre for the world’s largest arts festival, with live music, club nights, comedy, cabaret, cheap food and — of course — four bars, which stay open until 3am. Membership costs £5 per day, or £25 for the season (£8 for performers), available from the Fringe Office or the Fringe Club. FLUX
This musical festival within the Frin e is a new initiative to improve the qua ity and variety of contemporary music on offer during the Festival. Flux runs until Sat 31 Aug at the Jaffa Cake, 28 King’s Stables Road, between the Grassmarket and Lothian Road. As well as gigs by some of the UK’s leading bands and musicians, there’s a club every night, Thu—Sun, midnight—5am.
Tickets for Flux events are available
from the Jaffa Cake, or by telephone on 0131 557 6969.
EDINBURGH MELA
An annual festival of multi-cultural arts — again within the Frin e. This year, the Mela incorporates a ce ebration of the founding of Pakistan which, at 50, is the same age as the Festival. Based at Meadowbank Sports Centre, the two- day event takes place on Sat 16 & Sun 17 Aug, and features a broad range of film, music, theatre and dance. Tickets and information: 0131 668 4100.
FRINGE SUNDAY
A gathering of 150,000 fun-seekers in Holyrood Park. Taking place on Sun 17 August, 11am-5pm, it's the biggest free show in the Festival. Fire-eaters, jugglers, buskers, pipe-bands, comedians, musicians and theatre groups gather in what seems like their thousands to entertain the multitude (and encourage people to see their shows). Not to be missed.
FILM FESTIVAL
Scottish Screen Edinburgh International Film Festival is also 50 years old this year, featuring a wide range of Cinematic events from a retrospective of films by B Movie king Edgar G. Ulmer to world premieres of new films; from shorts to full-length features; from complete unknowns to superstars. The Film Festival runs until Sun 24 August, and offers movies, filmmakers’ forums and star appearances. Films are screened at the Filmhouse, the Cameo, the Dominion, the ABC Lothian Road, the new ABC Wester Hailes, the Odeon, the UCI and the Glasgow Film Theatre.
FILM FESTIVAL BOX OFFICE
Tickets for all films (except those at Glasgow Film Theatre) can be bought in person at the Filmhouse, 88 Lothian Road, Edinburgh. Information: 0131
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