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Festival SINNERS

As the Edinburgh Fringe launches its 2012 programme we recall some of our favourite Fringe controversies (cid:129) Kangaroo Theatre raised religious sensitivities in 2006 when the company staged the notoriously scandalous sex scenes of DH Lawrence’s novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover in a house of God. The performers were using a church hall space, but were moved on by operators Zoo Venues.

(cid:129) Jerry Sadowitz causes an almost annual Fringe storm. His material at the 2011 Fringe was called ‘racist’, ‘misogynistic’ and ‘xenophobic’ and dealt with dead schoolchildren and international disasters while they were fresh in the public’s minds. The Scottish comedian and magician continues to peddle his theory that almost any topic, no matter how tragic or taboo, is fair game.

(cid:129) Scott Capurro, another Fringe regular, caused controversy (and walkouts) by ending a gag in his 2000 show with the line, ‘Holocaust Schmolocaust, can’t they find something else to whine about?’ Debate spread across the press about the appropriateness of using the Holocaust in comedy. Capurro responded by questioning why it was ‘OK to laugh at blacks and homos like me, but not OK to joke about Jews?’

(cid:129) 2007 show Jihad: The Musical sparked protests outside the venue it was staged five weeks after a failed terrorist attack at Glasgow Airport. (cid:129) Lastly, 2000 was the year of two religious controversies. Infamous Aussie duo Puppetry of the Penis caused the Church of Scotland to call for a ban due to the chaps’ prolific use of their, er . . . chaps onstage. Also, Steven Berkoff’s Messiah Scenes from a Crucifixion raised hackles for portraying Jesus as ‘a lad’ who uses his own resurrection as propaganda.

12 THE LIST 24 May–21 Jun 2012

Fringe benefits Brian Donaldson takes a deep breath and dives into this year’s Fringe programme

T his could well be another record-breaking

year for the Fringe. Star power comes in the inimitable form of Ray Winstone, who rocks up to promote his play The Two Worlds of Charlie F, at the Pleasance, with whispers of him taking part in an acting masterclass while he’s here; while elsewhere the ‘most watched TV star in the world’, David Hasselhoff will appear. You’ll be less than surprised to hear there’s a massive amount of comedy on show, including a slew of Perrier/ Edinburgh Comedy Award winners such as Brendon Burns, Daniel Kitson, Tim Key, Sean Hughes, Dylan Moran, Al Murray, David O’Doherty and Russell Kane. For fans of silent comedy, The Boy With Tape On His Face is back while Billy The Mime promises to show the dark side of schtum with skits about abortion, child abuse and various tragic celebrity deaths. Music treats include Barb Jungr, Blueflint, Camille O’Sullivan, James Grant and King Creosote while those who fancy a spot of cabaret, can burn some late-night oil with Notoriously Kinky, Lady Carol and Lili la Scala. BOOK FESTIVAL LAUNCH The Edinburgh International Book Festival the largest public celebration in the world of literature, books and the word appears to be just getting bigger and better. Over 200,000 visitors are expected to drop in to the historic Charlotte Square Gardens for over a fortnight of debates and author events, all of which should help you forget all about the running, jumping and synchronised basketball down in London. The cornerstone of this year’s festival is the launch of the Edinburgh World Writers’ Conference 2012-2013 which will bring together leading Scottish and international writers for a series of discussions which will be simultaneously broadcast online. There’ll be more as we can reveal it at list.co.uk. Edinburgh International Book Festival, Charlotte Square Gardens, 11–27 Aug, edbookfest.co.uk

This year’s Made in Scotland showcase will support a dozen Scottish companies producing

theatre, dance and children’s shows, including theatre at the Traverse and outdoor dance at St Andrew Square, and to support the showcase, The Playwrights’ Studio Scotland returns with a programme of talks and workshops.

there’s For kids, there’s Baby Loves Disco, Asking For Trouble with the high-energy Bubblewrap and Boxes, the massively popular Horrible Histories reaches us with tales of Barmy Britain and the potentially hard-to-promote The I Hate Children Children’s Show. In the world of dance, there’s the ever- popular Castle Rocks Breakdance Championships, a dance fusion spectacular called Flash Mob, while the ever-excellent Dance Base programme includes Paola Bianchi, Liz Roche Company and Alessandro Sciarroni. like

Those who to watch shows concerning famous dead people will be enamoured by productions about Steve Jobs, Churchill and Hitler while there’s rumoured to be at least three shows (one from Frisky and Mannish) about The 27 Club, the unofficial society of pop stars such as Hendrix, Cobain, Morrison, Winehouse, Joplin (and many, many more) who expired at that tender age.

edfringe.com